Oh Syria the victory is coming

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

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Should never expect anything from the 'Superpowers'

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

The Persians are fools for allowing this dime-store dictator to influence their foreign policy and wrap his tentacles around their nation.

Looks like Silas has a point

Russia wants Iran out of Syria. Iranians aren't so happy about that

First, Moscow said all foreign forces should leave Syria. Now only Syrian soldiers should be on Israel's border. Iranians ask: Can Putin be trusted?

TEHRAN - Partners in the Syrian war and arch sceptics of Washington, Russia and Iran have come together in recent years as both countries pursue a more hands-on role in the Middle East.

Yet doubts about Russia’s reliability are surfacing in Tehran, as a host of regional players begin to pick their way through tensions in southern Syria.

For weeks, there have been signs that Russia is trying limit Iran’s military activity in Syria.

On 17 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that with the Syrian army’s recent victories, foreign forces should withdraw from Syria. When asked for clarification, Putin’s envoy said that the president was referring to Turkish, American, Iranian and Hezbollah soldiers.

Then on Monday, days after the Syrian army dropped leaflets warning rebels in Daraa to put down their weapons, both Israeli and Russian officials said publicly that only Syrian soldiers should be present as the government seeks to retake the southern province.

From Tehran, Russia’s about-face has been a surprise, triggering fierce reaction and a debate over whether Moscow can be trusted any longer.

"As long as terrorism exists and the Syrian government wants, Iran will have a presence [in Syria]", said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi on 21 May.

He added: "No one can force Iran to do something. Iran is an independent country and its policies are determined based the interests of the Islamic republic in the world."

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on 27 May that Iran is in Syria at the request of the government in Damascus.

Conservatives' silence, reformists' criticism

Perhaps not surprisingly, reformist media – which is typically critical of Tehran’s relationship with Moscow – has expressed concern over the Kremlin’s remarks, while hardline outlets, which prefer that Iran avoid the West and approach Russia and China instead, have stayed silent.

According to reformist daily Etemaad, Russia’s new position is a reflection of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Moscow on 9 May, a day after US President Donald Trump announced that America would withdraw from the nuclear deal.

Ahead of the trip, Netanyahu said: “In light of what is happening in Syria at the moment, it is necessary to ensure the continued security coordination between the Russian army and the Israeli Defense Forces.”

And, as Etemaad noted on 20 May, after the meeting, Putin’s envoy named Hezbollah and Iranian forces as those that must leave Syria, but not Israeli forces.

“It has been many years that the Zionist regime has occupied a part of the soil of Syria in the Golan Heights, and [they] have attacked the different parts of the Syrian land in offensive operations in the past few months," the paper said.

Meanwhile, moderate-conservative Tabnak news site - which belongs to Mohsen Rezai, the former commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard - tied Putin's position to the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

"On the heels of US withdrawal from the JCPOA and Iran's need for Russia's support, it is likely that Moscow seeks to get concessions from Iran in Syria, concessions which can make the Russian position regarding the Syrian crisis closer to the West, because one of the West's conditions for negotiations with Russia over Syria has been [forcing] Iran to retreat from Syria,” argued Tabnak on 18 May.

In another reaction, reformist Shargh newspaper reported that Iran’s arch-enemy Saudi Arabia is investing in Moscow to gradually influence Russia’s position towards Tehran.

Shargh wrote on 23 May: "Undoubtedly, Riyadh is pursuing a strategic goal by approaching Moscow. Russia, along with Iran, managed to strengthen its hand in Syria and then along with Tehran and Ankara, [succeeded in] setting up the Sochi summit as an alternative to the Geneva talks.

“Under such circumstances, Riyadh seeks to take advantage of its extensive investments in [Russia] as a leverage against Tehran by consolidating its economic relations with Moscow."

‘Neither ally, nor advocate’

Iranian reformists who spoke to Middle East Eye believe that Russia is seeking to further isolate Iran, now that the US has withdrawn from the nuclear agreement.

Tehran, they said, should seek to strengthen its relationship with Europe and remember that Moscow has a history of stabbing Tehran in the back.

Rasool Hosseini, a reformist foreign policy analyst, told MEE: "Russia has concluded that Iran and the Americans will have more serious tensions. Therefore, it seems that the possibility of more agreements between Tehran and Washington has faded away. Putin is now rest assured that Tehran doesn’t have too many options and it [Russia] seeks to take advantage of this situation."

He added: "Under such circumstances, Tehran should strengthen its ties with Europe in order to prevent Russia from playing with Iran's card during its conflicts with US."

Fereidoun Majlesi, a former Iranian diplomat, urged the government not to rely fully on Russia or any other country.

"Russia is neither an ally, nor an advocate of Iran. A number of figures in Tehran count on Russia while this is not in the interest of the country. Russia will never sacrifice itself for Iran and it will make a decision based on its own interests,” he said.

Russia, Majlesi said, wants to stay in Syria without any rivals.

“If Iran stays in Syria, this will give a pretext to America to deploy its forces there too. That’s why Putin's envoy said all the countries must leave Syria,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iranian conservatives still reason that if Russia is eventually going to fully align with Israel or the US, it needn’t have intervened in Syria in the first place.

Hossein Kanani Moghaddam, a conservative analyst and the secretary of Green Party, told MEE: "If Putin was willing to ally with the US or Israel, they [the Russians] wouldn’t definitely stay in Syria and witness the death of at least 100 Russian military advisers."

However, in remarks indicative of Iran's increasing caution towards the Kremlin, Moghaddam emphasised: "Russia is a strategic partner of Iran, but if [the Russians] are supposed to turn to Israel or America, Iran will revise its relationships with Russia.

"As long as [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad wants, Iran will stay in Syria. What is important is the Syrian government’s decision. Russia can't decide for Syria and only the government of Syria can make a decision about the presence of military forces."

Whether Russia is serious about Iranian forces leaving Syria or not, decision-makers in Tehran will be watching with guarded concern.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/russia-wants-iran-out-syria-iranians-arent-so-happy-about-1850822925

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

[JustTime]

Salaam



Looks like Silas has a point

Russia wants Iran out of Syria. Iranians aren't so happy about that

First, Moscow said all foreign forces should leave Syria. Now only Syrian soldiers should be on Israel's border. Iranians ask: Can Putin be trusted?

TEHRAN - Partners in the Syrian war and arch sceptics of Washington, Russia and Iran have come together in recent years as both countries pursue a more hands-on role in the Middle East.

Yet doubts about Russia’s reliability are surfacing in Tehran, as a host of regional players begin to pick their way through tensions in southern Syria.

For weeks, there have been signs that Russia is trying limit Iran’s military activity in Syria.

On 17 May, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that with the Syrian army’s recent victories, foreign forces should withdraw from Syria. When asked for clarification, Putin’s envoy said that the president was referring to Turkish, American, Iranian and Hezbollah soldiers.

Then on Monday, days after the Syrian army dropped leaflets warning rebels in Daraa to put down their weapons, both Israeli and Russian officials said publicly that only Syrian soldiers should be present as the government seeks to retake the southern province.

From Tehran, Russia’s about-face has been a surprise, triggering fierce reaction and a debate over whether Moscow can be trusted any longer.

"As long as terrorism exists and the Syrian government wants, Iran will have a presence [in Syria]", said Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi on 21 May.

He added: "No one can force Iran to do something. Iran is an independent country and its policies are determined based the interests of the Islamic republic in the world."

Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on 27 May that Iran is in Syria at the request of the government in Damascus.

Conservatives' silence, reformists' criticism

Perhaps not surprisingly, reformist media – which is typically critical of Tehran’s relationship with Moscow – has expressed concern over the Kremlin’s remarks, while hardline outlets, which prefer that Iran avoid the West and approach Russia and China instead, have stayed silent.

According to reformist daily Etemaad, Russia’s new position is a reflection of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s trip to Moscow on 9 May, a day after US President Donald Trump announced that America would withdraw from the nuclear deal.

Ahead of the trip, Netanyahu said: “In light of what is happening in Syria at the moment, it is necessary to ensure the continued security coordination between the Russian army and the Israeli Defense Forces.”

And, as Etemaad noted on 20 May, after the meeting, Putin’s envoy named Hezbollah and Iranian forces as those that must leave Syria, but not Israeli forces.

“It has been many years that the Zionist regime has occupied a part of the soil of Syria in the Golan Heights, and [they] have attacked the different parts of the Syrian land in offensive operations in the past few months," the paper said.

Meanwhile, moderate-conservative Tabnak news site - which belongs to Mohsen Rezai, the former commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guard - tied Putin's position to the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal.

"On the heels of US withdrawal from the JCPOA and Iran's need for Russia's support, it is likely that Moscow seeks to get concessions from Iran in Syria, concessions which can make the Russian position regarding the Syrian crisis closer to the West, because one of the West's conditions for negotiations with Russia over Syria has been [forcing] Iran to retreat from Syria,” argued Tabnak on 18 May.

In another reaction, reformist Shargh newspaper reported that Iran’s arch-enemy Saudi Arabia is investing in Moscow to gradually influence Russia’s position towards Tehran.

Shargh wrote on 23 May: "Undoubtedly, Riyadh is pursuing a strategic goal by approaching Moscow. Russia, along with Iran, managed to strengthen its hand in Syria and then along with Tehran and Ankara, [succeeded in] setting up the Sochi summit as an alternative to the Geneva talks.

“Under such circumstances, Riyadh seeks to take advantage of its extensive investments in [Russia] as a leverage against Tehran by consolidating its economic relations with Moscow."

‘Neither ally, nor advocate’

Iranian reformists who spoke to Middle East Eye believe that Russia is seeking to further isolate Iran, now that the US has withdrawn from the nuclear agreement.

Tehran, they said, should seek to strengthen its relationship with Europe and remember that Moscow has a history of stabbing Tehran in the back.

Rasool Hosseini, a reformist foreign policy analyst, told MEE: "Russia has concluded that Iran and the Americans will have more serious tensions. Therefore, it seems that the possibility of more agreements between Tehran and Washington has faded away. Putin is now rest assured that Tehran doesn’t have too many options and it [Russia] seeks to take advantage of this situation."

He added: "Under such circumstances, Tehran should strengthen its ties with Europe in order to prevent Russia from playing with Iran's card during its conflicts with US."

Fereidoun Majlesi, a former Iranian diplomat, urged the government not to rely fully on Russia or any other country.

"Russia is neither an ally, nor an advocate of Iran. A number of figures in Tehran count on Russia while this is not in the interest of the country. Russia will never sacrifice itself for Iran and it will make a decision based on its own interests,” he said.

Russia, Majlesi said, wants to stay in Syria without any rivals.

“If Iran stays in Syria, this will give a pretext to America to deploy its forces there too. That’s why Putin's envoy said all the countries must leave Syria,” he said.

Meanwhile, Iranian conservatives still reason that if Russia is eventually going to fully align with Israel or the US, it needn’t have intervened in Syria in the first place.

Hossein Kanani Moghaddam, a conservative analyst and the secretary of Green Party, told MEE: "If Putin was willing to ally with the US or Israel, they [the Russians] wouldn’t definitely stay in Syria and witness the death of at least 100 Russian military advisers."

However, in remarks indicative of Iran's increasing caution towards the Kremlin, Moghaddam emphasised: "Russia is a strategic partner of Iran, but if [the Russians] are supposed to turn to Israel or America, Iran will revise its relationships with Russia.

"As long as [Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad wants, Iran will stay in Syria. What is important is the Syrian government’s decision. Russia can't decide for Syria and only the government of Syria can make a decision about the presence of military forces."

Whether Russia is serious about Iranian forces leaving Syria or not, decision-makers in Tehran will be watching with guarded concern.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/ru...out-1850822925

And May Allah divide their ranks until they are at each others throats and May Allah cause them to destroy one another, and May Allah reduce Tehran and Moscow to ruble and May Allah cause their nations to experience grief and sorrow on a level a thousand times worse than Syria, Ameen.

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Russian games in Syria

As the civil war winds down, the once overlapping interests of Moscow and Tehran are disentangling

As the new Cold War gets hotter, Russia now faces a big dilemma in West Asia of defending its allies. When President Vladimir Putin decided to send Russian troops to Syria in September 2015, the regime there of President Bashar al-Assad was on the brink of collapse. The Islamic State (IS) had already declared Raqqah in eastern Syria as its de facto capital. Rebels and jihadists had captured eastern Aleppo, Damascus suburbs, including Eastern Ghouta, Idlib province and southern towns like Daraa and Quneitra; they had also established a strong presence in Hama and Homs. Several rebel factions were breathing down on Damascus and the Mediterranean coastal belt, the stronghold of the regime. Three years later, Mr. Assad is safe, while his regime has recaptured most of the territories it lost in the early days of the war.

A successful partnership

Both Russia and Iran have played a crucial role in this turnaround. Though Russian air power was the most critical factor, especially in the battles for Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta, the Iran-trained militias, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, fought alongside the Syrian army on the ground against the rebels and jihadists. But even when they were partnering in the war against common enemies, the Russians and Iranians had different goals in Syria. For Mr. Putin, the Syrian intervention was a big gamble. He sensed that the Obama administration was indecisive despite its threats against the Assad regime and that the rebels were divided. His immediate plan was to salvage the regime, bolster Russia’s position in West Asia (Syria hosts a Russian naval base at Tartus) and send a message to his rivals in the West.

With the survival of the regime, Mr. Putin has achieved his immediate goal. But in the long run, he doesn’t want Russia to get stuck in Syria, like the Soviet Union or the U.S. later got caught up in Afghanistan. Therefore, Moscow is continuously pressing the Assad regime to be ready for a lasting political solution to the crisis.

Iran, on the other side, does not want any radical change in the current composition of the regime. Its immediate goal, like that of the Russians, was the survival of the regime. This was the common ground that brought both countries together in Syria. If Russia wanted to protect its naval base and expand its influence in West Asia through Syria, Iran does not want to lose its only ally in the region and a vital link with the Hezbollah. But in the long run, Iran wants to build permanent bases in Syria, stretching its military influence from Tehran through Baghdad and Damascus to southern Lebanon. Both Lebanon and Syria share borders with Israel. In Lebanon, Hezbollah has already established a strong military presence along Israel’s northern border. Iran’s plan was to apply strategic pressure on Israel by building more military infrastructure and deploying Shia militias closer towards the Israeli-occupied territories of Syria.

When the war was on in full swing, these apparent differences were played down. The Russians and Iranians fought together alongside Syrian troops. But after Mr. Assad stabilised his rule over most of Syria’s population centres (rebel/jihadist factions now control Idlib province and Daraa and Quneitra, while the Kurdish rebels have established autonomous rule in the northwest), the cracks in the pro-Assad coalition began to emerge.

Some cracks

With the war winding down, Russia may now now be feeling less reliant on Iran, and Tehran is growing wary of Moscow’s game plans. From the early days of the Russian intervention, Mr. Putin has been specific on not widening the scope of the war. There were several attempts aimed at provoking Russia which could have escalated the conflict. In November 2015, a Russian warplane was shot down by Turkey. Russia’s response was a rather tame one, of economic sanctions. The U.S. bombed Mr. Assad’s forces twice since Donald Trump became U.S. President. On both occasions, Mr. Putin overlooked the provocation. He did the same when Israel targeted Hezbollah positions within Syria.

But the crisis escalated despite Mr. Putin’s stance when Israel started directly attacking Iranian positions within Syria. In February, after Israel claimed an Iranian drone entered its air space, it carried out a massive bombing campaign in Syria against Iran. In May, immediately after Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the multilateral Iran nuclear deal, Israel launched another major attack against Iranian targets. Interestingly, when the attack was under way, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in Moscow. He watched Russia’s Victory Day parade in Red Square marking the Soviet victory in the Second World War against Hitler’s Germany. Israeli officials later told their Russian counterparts, “Israel will continue to maintain its operational freedom to act against Iranian entrenchment in all of Syria.”

Russia practically controls Syria’s airspace. But it has entered into deconfliction mechanisms with the U.S. and Israel so that the three countries can carry out air strikes without hurting each other. While the U.S. has mostly carried out strikes against the IS, Israel has used Syrian air space only to attack Iran and Hezbollah, both of which are Russia’s partners in the civil war. Yet, Mr. Putin hasn’t done anything to defend his allies. He has also become more receptive to Turkey expanding its role in Syria. The increasing crack in the Russia-Iran axis was again on display when in May Mr. Putin called for all foreign troops to leave Syria once the war is over. Later Russia’s Ambassador in Damascus clarified that the troops which Mr. Putin referred to include Iran’s. Iran’s Foreign Ministry was quick to respond, saying that it would remain in Syria “as long as the Syrian government wants Iran to help it”.

Lonely Tehran

Mr. Putin is likely conscious of Iran’s vulnerability. Tehran does not have many allies. And after Mr. Trump threw a spanner into the Iran nuclear deal, it also faces the return of biting sanctions. It cannot afford to antagonise the Russians, certainly not at a time when the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Israel are teaming up to contain its influence. This Persian vulnerability allows Mr. Putin to maintain a delicate balancing act in a highly complex war theatre. For how long is now the question. Russia’s tame responses to repeated aggression in Syria by other powers have already cast a shadow on its Syria strategy. Mr. Putin may be balancing his relations with several players for now to avoid a conflagration. But Israel and Turkey are not Russia’s traditional allies. In West Asia, Israel is the strongest ally of the U.S., which remains Russia’s most powerful geopolitical rival. And Turkey is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, an overhang of the Cold War, aimed at checking the West-ward creep of Russia’s influence. In contrast, Tehran is Moscow’s ally and partner, but Russia either doesn’t want to or is not in a position to defend Iran’s interests in Syria.

This is the dilemma that confronts Mr. Putin: how he can restore Russia’s lost glory in the new Cold War if he cannot even defend the interests of his partners in a country (Syria) where he appears to be in control.

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-opinion/russian-games-in-syria/article24148349.ece

[Silas]

I remember when Israel opened prison camps for Palestinians with help from the Soviets. Shine Bet worked with Russian guards to maintain secret compounds where Palestinians were tortured.

Russia has always been willing to involve itself in the Middle East, depending who is giving them what they want. They have no love or respect for Arabs or Iranians.

As I have mentioned before, Putin would like to turn Iran into a Russian puppet state in order to establish a large naval base in the Strait of Hormuz, thus enabling him to cut off oil shipments from the Middle-East, and drive up the price of crude to new heights, filling his empty coffers.

We then have the Jewish-financed and controlled infiltration of Muslim groups in the west and Middle-East, aka the "socialist Muslims". The tactic here is to steer Muslims away from their faith and principles, and into the fold of Marxist radicalism. I once went to a meeting of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) in the states, and sat there listening to a couple guys talk about the revolution of the proletariat, the abolishment of private property (as if that is in the Quran) , the punishment of white people, etc., and I was like "what does this have to do with Islam, Arabs, or the situation in the Middle East?" --I later discovered that mahy of the donors to this organization were Marxist Jews and Zionists. It is controlled-opposition.

In other words, there are always people out there who will be willing to "help you", when in reality, they are furthering their own agenda.

[JustTime]

I remember when Israel opened prison camps for Palestinians with help from the Soviets. Shine Bet worked with Russian guards to maintain secret compounds where Palestinians were tortured.

Russia has always been willing to involve itself in the Middle East, depending who is giving them what they want. They have no love or respect for Arabs or Iranians.

As I have mentioned before, Putin would like to turn Iran into a Russian puppet state in order to establish a large naval base in the Strait of Hormuz, thus enabling him to cut off oil shipments from the Middle-East, and drive up the price of crude to new heights, filling his empty coffers.

We then have the Jewish-financed and controlled infiltration of Muslim groups in the west and Middle-East, aka the "socialist Muslims". The tactic here is to steer Muslims away from their faith and principles, and into the fold of Marxist radicalism. I once went to a meeting of the Arab American Action Network (AAAN) in the states, and sat there listening to a couple guys talk about the revolution of the proletariat, the abolishment of private property (as if that is in the Quran) , the punishment of white people, etc., and I was like "what does this have to do with Islam, Arabs, or the situation in the Middle East?" --I later discovered that mahy of the donors to this organization were Marxist Jews and Zionists. It is controlled-opposition.

In other words, there are always people out there who will be willing to "help you", when in reality, they are furthering their own agenda.

Very well said

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Perceptive comment. Its the same with many popular movements. They get hijacked by those intelligent,intellectual (or sociopaths) types who will lead the masses to a glorious future that they are too stupid to understand. Whats interesting is that many revolutionary movements (wittingly or unwittingly) are backed by the rich and powerful (financiers etc) who use these movements to further their own agendas, (ever heard the term champagne socialists?)

Just one example of how the real grievances of African American community were subverted and used by powerful interests to further their schemes.

Dr. E. Michael Jones returns to discuss his piece "Soros or Cyrus: The Violent Legacy of the Black/Jewish Alliance." We talk about how Jewish support for the Civil Rights Movement was really an attempt to turn black Americans into revolutionaries. When that project failed in the late 1960s, the CIA and Hollywood went to work producing a series of "blaxploitation" films promoting criminal behavior and sexual promiscuity among black youth with the goal of destroying the already weakened black family. Later we discuss how the militarization of the country's police departments and the creation of a black "lumpenproletariat" are part of a divide-and-conquer strategy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kjDo-5NRX8

I didn't realise how sophisticated the techniques the old USSR developed to undermine/subvert societies and nations for its own benefit. Old but relevant.

Deception was my job

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Kurdish women protest after being told to wear the hijab

Turkish-backed jihadi militiamen, who seized the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria earlier this year, have put up posters carrying instructions about obedience to sharia law beside the outline of a woman wearing a full niqab – a black garment shrouding the body and face.

The posters sparked angry street protests by Kurds, who are mostly Muslim but have a secular tradition and have remained in Afrin since the invasion by the Turkish army and Syrian militiamen, often members of jihadi groups, of which Isis and al-Qaeda are more extreme examples.

The posters were taken down after a few days by Turkish military police, but are only the latest sign of pressure on Kurdish women by the jihadis to accept second-class status and to wear the hijab (headscarf) or the niqab.

Gulistan, 46, a teacher from Afrin, told The Independent that the aim of what she described as “the wearing-the-hijab campaign” is to force women to stay in their homes and not to take part in public life as Kurdish women have traditionally been able to do.

“Just because I wear jeans, I always hear words such as ‘whore, disbeliever, dogs of Assad and the Shia’ from strangers in the street,” she says.

“A group of women held protest vigils to demand the removal of the posters,” she adds, explaining that the wearing of the niqab is a social rather than a religious custom and not one that is part of Kurdish tradition.

The demand that Kurdish women, who are mostly Sunni Muslims, wear the hijab or niqab comes from Arab militiamen and from settlers with similar fundamentalist Islamic beliefs who have been forced out of eastern Ghouta by a Syrian government offensive.

Reported to number 35,000, they have taken over Kurdish-owned houses and land abandoned by some 150,000 Kurds who fled the Turkish invasion that began on 20 January and ended with the capture of Afrin city on 18 March.

The United Nations says an estimated 143,000 Kurds remain in the enclave.

Bave Misto, 65, a farmer from the town of Bulbul, north of Afrin city, confirms that Kurds are under pressure to abandon secular practices.

His family is one of less than 100 Kurdish families ho remain in Bulbul, compared to 600 before the invasion.

He says only older people are being allowed to return to their homes and that Arab militiamen, who say they belong to the Free Syrian Army, are barring young men and women from doing so.

Mr Misto says the militiamen are calling on the Kurdish inhabitants of Bulbul to attend mosque, and Arab families displaced from Damascus and Idlib are praying there to five times a day and are “asking our women to put on the hijab”.

He was told by one of his new neighbours, Abu Mohammad from eastern Ghouta, to get his wife to wear the hijab, saying: “It is better for this life and the afterlife.”

Many Kurds in Afrin suspect that the enforcement of fundamentalist Islamic social norms on secular Kurds is intended to encourage the ethnic cleansing of Kurds from Afrin.

During the invasion, several Arab militia units filmed themselves chanting sectarian anti-Kurdish slogans commonly used by Isis and al-Qaeda.

Kurds in Afrin face extreme difficulties in making a living.

Mr Misto owns a small field on the outskirts of Bulbul, in which there are olive and cherry trees, but when he tried to enter it he was told by Arab militiamen that it was full of mines planted by the PKK (the Turkish Kurd organisation, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party), though he was sceptical of this because the militiamen were grazing cattle there.

Mr Misto was able to recover his house from an Arab family who had taken it over with the help of local police, headed by a Turk.

This may be an indication of divisions between different parts of the Free Syrian Army, which is an umbrella organisation, about how to treat the Kurds and whether or not to confiscate their property.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports that Ahrar al-Sham, a jihadi movement closely allied to Turkey, has evicted at gunpoint seven families of displaced people from eastern Ghouta, who had been living in houses in Afrin, because they insisted on paying rent to the Kurdish owners.

The displaced people from Ghouta, who were brought in convoys to Afrin, said that they themselves had been dispossessed of their homes by the Syrian government, but did not think it right to take the homes of others.

SOHR says that Ahrar al-Sham has threatened to imprison the evacuees from eastern Ghouta if they return to the houses they had rented, on the charge of “dealing with Kurdish forces”.

Although there is sporadic guerrilla warfare waged by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units in Afrin, it is unlikely that the demographic changes that followed the Turkish invasion will be reversed.

Gulistan says that life for Kurds who have stayed in the enclave is chronically insecure because they are at the mercy of groups such as Ahrar al-Sham.

She says that her uncle owns a grocery store but this is heavily taxed by the militias, who often take goods without paying for them.

When he appealed to the police, the militiamen then mistreated him even more.

She says one of her neighbours was kidnapped three weeks ago and his wife and brother received a demand for $50,000 in ransom for his release.

SOHR confirms that there is widespread looting and fighting between militia factions, and that one Kurdish official has been tortured to death.

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/kurdish-women-protest-after-being-told-to-wear-the-hijab/

[Abz2000]

Isn't it enlightening that the governments of countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran were allowing men and women to move freely within basic Islamic moral norms - but the strictness appeared when western leaders, media, and ngos began to stir up turmoil?
I've visited Arabia three times in the past and noticed that there were women dressed in headscarves and in niqab according to their own family structure choice and the police never harassed them.
It was only when certain people over-did it and tarted up that those with sound minds in authority stepped in to avoid undue fitnah - after the problem-reaction-solution model.
I know very well that it is possible to fishnet/sheer and stiletto up under niqab and tight burka gowns that leave little to the imagination and still cause fitnah in society - and that also has to be policed if necessary - and that there is usually not much of a problem if men and women are conducting themselves decently and clean-minded in society despite simple headscarves - and this was never policed by sound minded leaders as long as Islamic morality and conduct was respected.

I think it's necessary for females to wear niqab in a society where predatory secularist perverts roam about, and that they must be removed in women only areas where female policing based on taqwa of Allah is present.
And i also believe that any men disguising themselves as women by wearing niqab should be severely punished or even executed.

[JustTime]

Salaam

Another update

Kurdish women protest after being told to wear the hijab

Turkish-backed jihadi militiamen, who seized the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria earlier this year, have put up posters carrying instructions about obedience to sharia law beside the outline of a woman wearing a full niqab – a black garment shrouding the body and face.

The posters sparked angry street protests by Kurds, who are mostly Muslim but have a secular tradition and have remained in Afrin since the invasion by the Turkish army and Syrian militiamen, often members of jihadi groups, of which Isis and al-Qaeda are more extreme examples.

The posters were taken down after a few days by Turkish military police, but are only the latest sign of pressure on Kurdish women by the jihadis to accept second-class status and to wear the hijab (headscarf) or the niqab.

Gulistan, 46, a teacher from Afrin, told The Independent that the aim of what she described as “the wearing-the-hijab campaign” is to force women to stay in their homes and not to take part in public life as Kurdish women have traditionally been able to do.

“Just because I wear jeans, I always hear words such as ‘whore, disbeliever, dogs of Assad and the Shia’ from strangers in the street,” she says.

“A group of women held protest vigils to demand the removal of the posters,” she adds, explaining that the wearing of the niqab is a social rather than a religious custom and not one that is part of Kurdish tradition.

The demand that Kurdish women, who are mostly Sunni Muslims, wear the hijab or niqab comes from Arab militiamen and from settlers with similar fundamentalist Islamic beliefs who have been forced out of eastern Ghouta by a Syrian government offensive.

Reported to number 35,000, they have taken over Kurdish-owned houses and land abandoned by some 150,000 Kurds who fled the Turkish invasion that began on 20 January and ended with the capture of Afrin city on 18 March.

The United Nations says an estimated 143,000 Kurds remain in the enclave.

Bave Misto, 65, a farmer from the town of Bulbul, north of Afrin city, confirms that Kurds are under pressure to abandon secular practices.

His family is one of less than 100 Kurdish families ho remain in Bulbul, compared to 600 before the invasion.

He says only older people are being allowed to return to their homes and that Arab militiamen, who say they belong to the Free Syrian Army, are barring young men and women from doing so.

Mr Misto says the militiamen are calling on the Kurdish inhabitants of Bulbul to attend mosque, and Arab families displaced from Damascus and Idlib are praying there to five times a day and are “asking our women to put on the hijab”.

He was told by one of his new neighbours, Abu Mohammad from eastern Ghouta, to get his wife to wear the hijab, saying: “It is better for this life and the afterlife.”

Many Kurds in Afrin suspect that the enforcement of fundamentalist Islamic social norms on secular Kurds is intended to encourage the ethnic cleansing of Kurds from Afrin.

During the invasion, several Arab militia units filmed themselves chanting sectarian anti-Kurdish slogans commonly used by Isis and al-Qaeda.

Kurds in Afrin face extreme difficulties in making a living.

Mr Misto owns a small field on the outskirts of Bulbul, in which there are olive and cherry trees, but when he tried to enter it he was told by Arab militiamen that it was full of mines planted by the PKK (the Turkish Kurd organisation, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party), though he was sceptical of this because the militiamen were grazing cattle there.

Mr Misto was able to recover his house from an Arab family who had taken it over with the help of local police, headed by a Turk.

This may be an indication of divisions between different parts of the Free Syrian Army, which is an umbrella organisation, about how to treat the Kurds and whether or not to confiscate their property.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports that Ahrar al-Sham, a jihadi movement closely allied to Turkey, has evicted at gunpoint seven families of displaced people from eastern Ghouta, who had been living in houses in Afrin, because they insisted on paying rent to the Kurdish owners.

The displaced people from Ghouta, who were brought in convoys to Afrin, said that they themselves had been dispossessed of their homes by the Syrian government, but did not think it right to take the homes of others.

SOHR says that Ahrar al-Sham has threatened to imprison the evacuees from eastern Ghouta if they return to the houses they had rented, on the charge of “dealing with Kurdish forces”.

Although there is sporadic guerrilla warfare waged by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units in Afrin, it is unlikely that the demographic changes that followed the Turkish invasion will be reversed.

Gulistan says that life for Kurds who have stayed in the enclave is chronically insecure because they are at the mercy of groups such as Ahrar al-Sham.

She says that her uncle owns a grocery store but this is heavily taxed by the militias, who often take goods without paying for them.

When he appealed to the police, the militiamen then mistreated him even more.

She says one of her neighbours was kidnapped three weeks ago and his wife and brother received a demand for $50,000 in ransom for his release.

SOHR confirms that there is widespread looting and fighting between militia factions, and that one Kurdish official has been tortured to death.

https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/kurdis...ear-the-hijab/

The Kurds are devils on this Earth and an illness to this Ummah and a woe and a curse unto the people the Mashriq, it is so sad that these people can claim Salahuddin, Nour ad-Din az-Zengi, and others as their own when today their people are the most humiliated adhering to the destructive and toxic sacrilegious ideologies of Communism, Atheism, and Feminism. The Kurds would sellout their own mothers for the sake of their made up country, and today if you think Israel, the Jewish State is bad it will be nothing compared to the wave that will come with the Kurdish state built upon the framework of the Servant of Satan Ocalan and his perverted racist Communist ideology that has no room for Islam or non-Kurds and only tolerates a society dominated by Kurdish atheists. The PKK has collaborated with Assad in his brutal crimes in murdering Arab Ahlus-Sunnah because the enmity of the Safawis and Kurds towards Arabs is undeniable and blatant. To them it wouldn't matter if Hitler himself conducted the holocaust on Arabs instead of Jews if he promised them their imaginary pseudo-state. This was witnessed in Aleppo when they fought side by side the Nusaryi army and Russia against the Muslims, this was witnessed in Raqqa when they displaced hundreds of thousands of Arabs to repopulate the region with Kurds no different than Israeli settlers, perhaps even worse.

It is a true reflection of their culture how foreign Islam is to the overwhelming majority of the Kurds and it is an even truer reflection of an individual's deen when something as simple and pure as Hijab is a subject of controversy and negativity when so many Muslims in places like Europe suffer and sacrifice to wear such a garment. An environment is what forges the individual and it is clear from the Kurdish environment they were raised in Islam meant nothing and Kurdistan meant everything. To the Kurds, their homeland has exceeded from simple pride to taking place of an idol and this is Shirk.

This Ummah is so divided and yet the only thing they can think of is dividing it further and alienating their Arab brothers who have for decades endured what they have, shared their history, shared their religion and lived among one another without differences. Yet they have not learned the mistake of their ways from over throwing Saddam Hussein in Iraq, to assisting in the Safawi genocide of Sunnis in Iraq and today find themselves pitted against the Safawis they so arrogantly and stupidly stood by who seized Kirkuk from them because the Safawis are so hateful to Ahlus Sunnah, the Kurds are yet to realize their stupidity, arrogance and selfishness and they don't realize the fact they are nothing more than whores for other parties interests and that they contributed to a genocide of Muslim Arabs and now the Safawis and Nusayris are turning their guns on them in Iraq and Syria from Kirkuk to Dier az Zor, and why they may ask, it's because these idiots are yet to realize that the Rafida have nothing but hatred for Muslims regardless of their race they also don't realize the cleverness of the Persians and the fact that when they (the Kurds) are no longer useful they will be slaughtered just like the Arabs they spent so many years fighting, murdering, betraying, and collaborating against and when its no longer profitable there will be no more Western support for them, and the Muslims will be gone and no where to protect them when the Shia hordes of death squads come to swarm them and present them with their own versions East Ghouta and Mosul.

Allah (Ta'Ala) has said;
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مَن يَرْتَدَّ مِنكُمْ عَن دِينِهِ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِي اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَعِزَّةٍ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ وَلَا
يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَةَ لَائِمٍ ذَٰلِكَ فَضْلُ اللَّهِ يُؤْتِيهِ مَن يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ وَاسِعٌ عَلِيمٌ

O you who believe! Whoever turns back among you from his religion, then soon Allah (will) bring a people whom He loves and they love Him, humble towards the believers (and) stern towards the disbelievers; striving in (the) way (of) Allah and not fearing the blame (of) a critic. That (is the) Grace (of) Allah, He grants whom He wills. And Allah (is) All-Encompassing, All-Knowing.

He (Ta'Ala) also says;
هَٰٓأَنتُمْ هَٰٓؤُلَآءِ تُدْعَوْنَ لِتُنفِقُوا۟ فِى سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ فَمِنكُم مَّن يَبْخَلُ ۖ وَمَن يَبْخَلْ فَإِنَّمَا يَبْخَلُ عَن نَّفْسِهِۦ ۚ وَٱللَّهُ ٱلْغَنِىُّ وَأَنتُمُ ٱلْفُقَرَآءُ ۚ وَإِن تَتَوَلَّوْا۟ يَسْتَبْدِلْ قَوْمًا غَيْرَكُمْ ثُمَّ لَا يَكُونُوٓا۟ أَمْثَٰلَكُم

Behold, ye are those invited to spend (of your substance) in the Way of Allah. But among you are some that are niggardly. But any who are niggardly are so at the expense of their own souls. But Allah is free of all wants, and it is ye that are needy. If ye turn back (from the Path), He will substitute in your stead another people; then they would not be like you!


If they are yet to learn the lessons of the people of Nuh (AS) whom he erased or the lesson Allah (AWJ) taught Shaytan then it is that Allah will give them the same treatment for Allah is truthful and the promise of Allah is stronger and more truer than any promise a human will ever make.

And Allah has shown the Safawis and Kurds that he is all seeing and all knowing of their crimes and actions, the quake erupted in the region of Kurdistan though a humiliating people they do not curse and slander the Sahaba or purposefully harm Ahlus Sunnah, while a majority of the deaths where in Iran the homeland of the Safawis where they commit the worst of crimes against Ahlus Sunnah and slander and abuse the Sahaba, and destroy our religion, is this not a sign from Allah?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_I...raq_earthquake

And Allah says:
“And We sent not the signs except to warn” [al-Israa’ 17:59]

“We will show them Our Signs in the universe, and in their own selves, until it becomes manifest to them that this (the Qur’aan) is the truth. Is it not sufficient in regard to your Lord that He is a Witness over all things?” [Fussilat 41:53]

“And whatever of misfortune befalls you, it is because of what your hands have earned. And He pardons much” [al-Shoora 42:30]

“So We punished each (of them) for his sins, of them were some on whom We sent Haasib (a violent wind with shower of stones) [as on the people of Loot (Lot)], and of them were some who were overtaken by As-Saihah [torment — awful cry, (as Thamood or Shu‘ayb’s people)], and of them were some whom We caused the earth to swallow [as Qaaroon (Korah)], and of them were some whom We drowned [as the people of Nooh (Noah), or Fir‘aun (Pharaoh) and his people]. It was not Allaah Who wronged them, but they wronged themselves” [al-‘Ankaboot 29:40]

“Did the people of the towns then feel secure against the coming of Our punishment by night while they were asleep? Or, did the people of the towns then feel secure against the coming of Our punishment in the forenoon while they were playing? Did they then feel secure against the Plan of Allaah? None feels secure from the Plan of Allaah except the people who are the losers.” [al-A’raaf 7:97-99]

And Allah Ta'Ala knows best

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Embedded Tweet

Another update on the situation in Syria

[JustTime]

Ya Allah make southern Syria an incinerator for the Safawis, Assad, and the Russians and make every step they advance a taste of hell on this earth

[Abz2000]

Ya Allah make southern Syria an incinerator for the Safawis, Assad, and the Russians and make every step they advance a taste of hell on this earth

Would you please describe the crimes of those whom you curse so as to distinguish them rather than simply throw out uncontextual names? It may be that you are cursing yourself as an individual and those like you.


“O Allah! The proud and arrogant Quraysh are already here disobeying you and belying Your Messenger. O Allah! I am waiting for Your victory which You have promised me. I beseech You Allah to defeat them (the enemies).”

On the other hand Abu Jahl to prayed to Allah: “Our Lord, whichever of the two parties was less kind to his relatives, and brought us what we do not know, then destroy him tomorrow.”


Allah has mentioned regarding the supplication of Abu Jahl in Quran: “(O disbelievers) if you ask for a judgment, now has the judgment come unto you”
(O disbelievers) if you ask for a judgment, now has the judgment come unto you”

http://wisdomislam.org/two-prayers-a...e-of-badr-iii/

[JustTime]

Would you please describe the crimes of those whom you curse so as to distinguish them rather than simply throw out uncontextual names? It may be that you are cursing yourself as an individual and those like you.


“O Allah! The proud and arrogant Quraysh are already here disobeying you and belying Your Messenger. O Allah! I am waiting for Your victory which You have promised me. I beseech You Allah to defeat them (the enemies).”

On the other hand Abu Jahl to prayed to Allah: “Our Lord, whichever of the two parties was less kind to his relatives, and brought us what we do not know, then destroy him tomorrow.”


Allah has mentioned regarding the supplication of Abu Jahl in Quran: “(O disbelievers) if you ask for a judgment, now has the judgment come unto you”
(O disbelievers) if you ask for a judgment, now has the judgment come unto you”

http://wisdomislam.org/two-prayers-a...e-of-badr-iii/

You're deaf, dumb and blind

[JustTime]

يِـا اهَل الجِنْوبـيّ، صبرً، الـلَّـهَم يّنصَر المؤمنْيّن

[Abz2000]

You're deaf, dumb and blind

Please clarify and mark your targets in dua so that the angels know what to distinguish between if Allah :swt: accepts your dua.

[JustTime]

Please clarify and mark your targets in dua so that the angels know what to distinguish between if Allah :swt: accepts your dua.

Those who are entering Daraa to oppress, murder, rape and steal

[Abz2000]

Those who are entering Daraa to oppress, murder, rape and steal

Only daraa?

[JustTime]

Only daraa?

Everywhere bro, if you are unaware the Syrian, Iranian and Russian militaries are preparing a massive offensive in Suwayda, Daraa, and Quneitra to take the entire southern region of Syria so many people are going to die from this like they did in Ghouta and Aleppo and thus I ask Allah to punish those who cause the suffering.

[Abz2000]

One of my reasons for asking you to refine your dua.



وَاتَّقُوا فِتْنَةً لَّا تُصِيبَنَّ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنكُمْ خَاصَّةً وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ

And guard yourselves against a Fitnah which does not smite exclusively those of you who are wrong-doers, and know that Allah is severe in just requittal.

Quran 8:25



May Allah destroy those who oppress, murder, rape, and steal - globally.

[JustTime]

One of my reasons for asking you to refine your dua.



وَاتَّقُوا فِتْنَةً لَّا تُصِيبَنَّ الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا مِنكُمْ خَاصَّةً وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ


And guard yourselves against a Fitnah which does not smite exclusively on those of you who are wrong-doers, and know that Allah is severe in just requittal.

Quran 8:25



May Allah destroy those who oppress, murder, rape, and steal - globally.

Ameen, and Allah knows best who they are the worst of them, and he knows the sincere and may he elevate them and unite them.

[Abz2000]

Ameen, and Allah knows best who they are the worst of them, and he knows the sincere and may he elevate them and unite them.

Ameen.

And He it is who is in heaven is God, and in the earth God; and he is the Wise, the Knower. And blessed be he unto whom belongs the sovereignty of heavens and earth and what is between them and with him is the knowledge of the hour; and to him you will be returned. And those unto whom they cry instead of him possess no power of intercession, save them who bear witness to the truth in a state of knowledge. If you ask them who created them, they will surely say: Allah. How then are they turned away?( 43:84-88 )

Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala) is the only lord of all:
Lord of the east and the west, there is no God save him. So choose him alone for your defender. (73:9 )


Unto Allah belongs whatsoever is in heavens and whatsoever is in the earth; and whether you reveal what is in yourselves or conceal it Allah will bring you to account for it. He will forgive whom he will and he will punish whom he will and Allah is capable of all things.


He is Allah, than whom there is no other God; the Knower of the unseen and visible. He is the Beneficent, the Merciful. He is Allah, than whom there is no other God, the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One, the Peace, the Keeper of faith, the Guardian, the Majestic, the Compeller, the Superb. Glorified be Allah from all that they ascribe as partners (to him). He is Allah the Creator, the Evolver, the Fashioner. His are the most beautiful names; and He is the Mighty, the Wise.( 59:22-24 )

Hast thou not Turned thy vision to one who disputed with Abraham About his Lord, because Allah had granted him power? Abraham said: "My Lord is He Who Giveth life and death." He said: "I give life and death".Said Abraham: "But it is Allah that causeth the sun to rise from the east: Do thou then cause him to rise from the West." Thus was he confounded who (in arrogance) rejected faith.
Nor doth Allah Give guidance to a people unjust. (Surah Al-Baqara, 258)

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

U.S. Airstrikes Violated International Law in “War of Annihilation” in Raqqa, Syria, Says Amnesty International

As the battle for Raqqa, Syria, raged last October, a family in the Harat al-Badu neighborhood bunkered down in their home in an attempt to survive the fighting between the U.S.-led coalition and Islamic State militants. Mohammed Fayad, a man in his 80s, had lived in the same home in Harat al-Badu for the past 50 years. When the fighting began, Fayad refused to flee the property that he had put a lifetime of labor into, remaining in the home with his daughters and other relatives. As coalition airstrikes began pounding the city, Fayad’s home also became a refuge for other terrified neighbors and their families seeking safety from the attacks.

Their safe haven would not last. On the night of October 11, a coalition airstrike hit Fayad’s home. As Ali Habib, a local man who had been sheltering his family with Fayad, later told researchers from Amnesty International:

I was sitting on a chair holding my little boy and the women were sitting on the floor, huddled together. … I felt the roof of the house collapse on me. I could not move and my little boy was not next to me anymore. … I called my wife, my mother, my daughter, but nobody answered. … I realized that everybody was dead. Then my boy, Mohammed, called out and that gave me the strength to free myself from the rubble and go to him. He had been thrown some 10 meters away by the explosion. We were both injured.

Sixteen people were killed in the strike that hit Fayad’s home, including Fayad, his three daughters, and 11 other relatives and acquaintances.

Fayad’s story is one of many contained in a new report by Amnesty International, an appraisal of the coalition’s four-month anti-ISIS campaign and its impact on civilians living in the city. The report, titled “War of Annihilation,” builds on earlier work by Amnesty International and others that has found that U.S.-led airstrikes have caused massive civilian casualties, and it asks whether the destruction was necessary in order to defeat the Islamic State.

For this latest report, researchers spent two weeks visiting more than 40 locations where coalition strikes took place and interviewing over 110 witnesses and survivors of these attacks. Based on these findings, the report’s authors write that there exists “prima facie evidence that several Coalition attacks which killed and injured civilians violated international humanitarian law,” adding that “Coalition forces did not take adequate account of civilians present in the city and failed to take the precautions necessary to minimize harm to civilians and civilian objects.”

The exact number of civilians who died in coalition strikes on Raqqa last year remains unknown. The independent monitoring group Airwars has estimated that the death toll was at least 1,800, though the true figure may be considerably higher. During the height of the fighting last August, the United Nations issued a statement criticizing the coalition for the “unacceptable price” that its attacks were inflicting on civilians in the city. A U.N. humanitarian mission that traveled to the city this April said they were “shocked by the level of destruction, which exceeded anything they had ever seen before.”

The Amnesty International report documents numerous cases in which entire families were wiped out by coalition air and artillery strikes that hit residential areas of the city. While thousands fled the city during ISIS rule, and many more in advance of the coalition offensive, thousands also remained to protect their homes and property from looting by militants. These individuals found themselves caught in the crossfire between the coalition, its allied ground forces, and ISIS fighters seeking to use residents as human shields.

One airstrike documented in the report took place last June, in the working-class Jezra intersection area of western Raqqa. That strike killed eight members of the Othman Aswad family, including five children between the ages of 8 and 17. The family had been sheltering in a cellar on their property and were killed when a coalition attack leveled the building.

The battle to liberate Raqqa from the Islamic State resulted in the near-total destruction of the city, with an estimated 11,000 buildings destroyed or damaged during the fighting. The U.S. military admitted to the use of “annihilation tactics” during the campaign, and Defense Secretary James Mattis rationalized civilian casualties as a “fact of life.” But for many, the most galling aspect of the battle for Raqqa was that, after many months of fighting, the coalition ultimately allowed safe passage for ISIS fighters to leave the city. This negotiated withdrawal raised serious questions about whether the campaign needed to be waged as brutally as it was.

“Many people in Raqqa are asking why the coalition deemed it necessary to kill so many civilians and destroy the entire city, only to ultimately let the ISIS fighters it was targeting leave,” said Donatella Rovera, a researcher for Amnesty International who conducted field interviews in the city. “If the coalition had deemed it necessary to take certain risks that would lead to them killing civilians, but deemed those necessary risks to target ISIS fighters, why, in the end, did they decide to let the ISIS fighters withdraw from the city with impunity, taking their weapons along with them?”

A statement announcing the withdrawal last October attempted to distance the coalition from the agreement, attributing it to the efforts of local tribal leaders seeking to reduce civilian casualties

Rovera says the level of destruction in the city, coupled with the unwillingness of the coalition to carry out serious investigations of its strikes — including site visits and interviews of the types that independent researchers have conducted — casts doubt on U.S. claims that they take pains to minimize civilian casualties during their operations. The concerns are not limited to Raqqa. U.S. authorities have justified airstrikes in other parts of Syria and Iraq that were alleged to have caused widespread civilian casualties, but in each case, there’s no evidence that the military actually interviewed witnesses and survivors.

“Because the coalition is unwilling to share details of operations and are also unwilling to conduct investigations in a serious manner, it’s impossible to evaluate what decisions caused this massive loss of civilian life and whether it was proportionate,” said Rovera.

“U.S. military officials travel in and around Raqqa, and they meet with local officials regularly,” she added. “There is nothing preventing them from carrying out on-the-ground site visits at places where their strikes took place and interviewing witnesses and survivors. That’s absolutely crucial and that’s what we’d like to see them to do.”

https://theintercept.com/2018/06/05/syria-airstrikes-isis-united-states/?comments=1#comments

[JustTime]

Salaam

Another update

U.S. Airstrikes Violated International Law in “War of Annihilation” in Raqqa, Syria, Says Amnesty International

As the battle for Raqqa, Syria, raged last October, a family in the Harat al-Badu neighborhood bunkered down in their home in an attempt to survive the fighting between the U.S.-led coalition and Islamic State militants. Mohammed Fayad, a man in his 80s, had lived in the same home in Harat al-Badu for the past 50 years. When the fighting began, Fayad refused to flee the property that he had put a lifetime of labor into, remaining in the home with his daughters and other relatives. As coalition airstrikes began pounding the city, Fayad’s home also became a refuge for other terrified neighbors and their families seeking safety from the attacks.

Their safe haven would not last. On the night of October 11, a coalition airstrike hit Fayad’s home. As Ali Habib, a local man who had been sheltering his family with Fayad, later told researchers from Amnesty International:

I was sitting on a chair holding my little boy and the women were sitting on the floor, huddled together. … I felt the roof of the house collapse on me. I could not move and my little boy was not next to me anymore. … I called my wife, my mother, my daughter, but nobody answered. … I realized that everybody was dead. Then my boy, Mohammed, called out and that gave me the strength to free myself from the rubble and go to him. He had been thrown some 10 meters away by the explosion. We were both injured.

Sixteen people were killed in the strike that hit Fayad’s home, including Fayad, his three daughters, and 11 other relatives and acquaintances.

Fayad’s story is one of many contained in a new report by Amnesty International, an appraisal of the coalition’s four-month anti-ISIS campaign and its impact on civilians living in the city. The report, titled “War of Annihilation,” builds on earlier work by Amnesty International and others that has found that U.S.-led airstrikes have caused massive civilian casualties, and it asks whether the destruction was necessary in order to defeat the Islamic State.

For this latest report, researchers spent two weeks visiting more than 40 locations where coalition strikes took place and interviewing over 110 witnesses and survivors of these attacks. Based on these findings, the report’s authors write that there exists “prima facie evidence that several Coalition attacks which killed and injured civilians violated international humanitarian law,” adding that “Coalition forces did not take adequate account of civilians present in the city and failed to take the precautions necessary to minimize harm to civilians and civilian objects.”

The exact number of civilians who died in coalition strikes on Raqqa last year remains unknown. The independent monitoring group Airwars has estimated that the death toll was at least 1,800, though the true figure may be considerably higher. During the height of the fighting last August, the United Nations issued a statement criticizing the coalition for the “unacceptable price” that its attacks were inflicting on civilians in the city. A U.N. humanitarian mission that traveled to the city this April said they were “shocked by the level of destruction, which exceeded anything they had ever seen before.”

The Amnesty International report documents numerous cases in which entire families were wiped out by coalition air and artillery strikes that hit residential areas of the city. While thousands fled the city during ISIS rule, and many more in advance of the coalition offensive, thousands also remained to protect their homes and property from looting by militants. These individuals found themselves caught in the crossfire between the coalition, its allied ground forces, and ISIS fighters seeking to use residents as human shields.

One airstrike documented in the report took place last June, in the working-class Jezra intersection area of western Raqqa. That strike killed eight members of the Othman Aswad family, including five children between the ages of 8 and 17. The family had been sheltering in a cellar on their property and were killed when a coalition attack leveled the building.

The battle to liberate Raqqa from the Islamic State resulted in the near-total destruction of the city, with an estimated 11,000 buildings destroyed or damaged during the fighting. The U.S. military admitted to the use of “annihilation tactics” during the campaign, and Defense Secretary James Mattis rationalized civilian casualties as a “fact of life.” But for many, the most galling aspect of the battle for Raqqa was that, after many months of fighting, the coalition ultimately allowed safe passage for ISIS fighters to leave the city. This negotiated withdrawal raised serious questions about whether the campaign needed to be waged as brutally as it was.

“Many people in Raqqa are asking why the coalition deemed it necessary to kill so many civilians and destroy the entire city, only to ultimately let the ISIS fighters it was targeting leave,” said Donatella Rovera, a researcher for Amnesty International who conducted field interviews in the city. “If the coalition had deemed it necessary to take certain risks that would lead to them killing civilians, but deemed those necessary risks to target ISIS fighters, why, in the end, did they decide to let the ISIS fighters withdraw from the city with impunity, taking their weapons along with them?”

A statement announcing the withdrawal last October attempted to distance the coalition from the agreement, attributing it to the efforts of local tribal leaders seeking to reduce civilian casualties

Rovera says the level of destruction in the city, coupled with the unwillingness of the coalition to carry out serious investigations of its strikes — including site visits and interviews of the types that independent researchers have conducted — casts doubt on U.S. claims that they take pains to minimize civilian casualties during their operations. The concerns are not limited to Raqqa. U.S. authorities have justified airstrikes in other parts of Syria and Iraq that were alleged to have caused widespread civilian casualties, but in each case, there’s no evidence that the military actually interviewed witnesses and survivors.

“Because the coalition is unwilling to share details of operations and are also unwilling to conduct investigations in a serious manner, it’s impossible to evaluate what decisions caused this massive loss of civilian life and whether it was proportionate,” said Rovera.

“U.S. military officials travel in and around Raqqa, and they meet with local officials regularly,” she added. “There is nothing preventing them from carrying out on-the-ground site visits at places where their strikes took place and interviewing witnesses and survivors. That’s absolutely crucial and that’s what we’d like to see them to do.”

https://theintercept.com/2018/06/05/...nts=1#comments

And the worst part about it is, nobody cares and no one is going to own up for their actions.

[Abz2000]

Allah :swt: knows best what He plans - whilst the oppressors also plan, sincere repentance is required.

The one of two horns:

وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَن ذِي الْقَرْنَيْنِ قُلْ سَأَتْلُو عَلَيْكُم مِّنْهُ ذِكْرًا

M. M. Pickthall
They will ask thee of Dhu'l-Qarneyn. Say: I shall recite unto you a remembrance of him.

Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
They ask thee concerning Zul-qarnain. Say, "I will rehearse to you something of his story."


إِنَّا مَكَّنَّا لَهُ فِي الْأَرْضِ وَآتَيْنَاهُ مِن كُلِّ شَيْءٍ سَبَبًا

M. M. Pickthall
Lo! We made him strong in the land and gave him unto every thing a road.

Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
Verily We established his power on earth, and We gave him the ways and the means to all ends.

----

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…. [I]n short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face, on the throne of England; there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face, on the throne of France.

Mrs. Southcott had recently attained her five-and-twentieth blessed birthday, of whom a prophetic private in the Life Guards had heralded the sublime appearance by announcing that arrangements were made for the swallowing up of London and Westminster.

Even the Cock-lane ghost had been laid only a round dozen years, after rapping out its messages, as the spirits of this very year last past (supernaturally deficient in originality) rapped out theirs.

From, A Tale of Two Cities - by Charles Dickens.

(The tafseer of these extraordinary words are quite interesting)
http://dickens.stanford.edu/dickens/...ue1_gloss.html

See also: Revelation Ch.17&18
------

Just came across this after Dhuhr prayer:


31. When Our Messengers came to Abraham with the good news, they said: “We are indeed going to destroy the people of this township: for truly they are (addicted to) crime.”
32. He said: “But there is Lut there.” They said: “Well do we know who is there : we will certainly save him and his following,- except his wife: she is of those who lag behind!”
33. And when Our Messengers came to Lut, he was grieved on their account, and felt himself powerless (to protect) them: but they said: “Fear thou not, nor grieve: we are (here) to save thee and thy following, except thy wife: she is of those who lag behind.
34. “For we are going to bring down on the people of this township a Punishment from heaven, because they have been wickedly rebellious.”
35. And We have left thereof an evident Sign, for any people who (care to) understand.

From Quran Chapter 29.
The Spider.


And he (Pharaoh) said: I am your lord most high,
So Allah siezed him - an instructive lesson for the last and the first.


------


فَأَتْبَعَ سَبَبً

Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
One (such) way he followed,

Yusuf Ali (Orig. 1938)
One (such) way he followed,

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update on Bilal Abdul Kareems situation

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More generally

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[Abz2000]

Salaam

Another update on Bilal Abdul Kareems situation

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More generally

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Do they want him to turn up to an unjust trial and get executed or imprisoned for life via kangaroo trial in a kangaroo court?


More generally


The Turkish government is slowly but surely proving itself to be a crony of the crooked american government.
Last time it was pushing manipulated mujahideen fee sabeel Allah through it's borders to Afghanistan on behalf of the American government. This time it did the same in Syria - again when it suited the foreign policy aims of the crooked American government (they booked me through Turkey on my way to 'Umrah and had someone tell me that the airport gates were open during my long wait in transit - not in a front door fashion but in a winking fashion - so i know), now it's still refusing to come clean or repent - yet is claiming to be of the Muslihoon? Are they not of the crooked secularist British, American, and Israeli Mufsidoon whilst they well know?

[سيف الله]

Salaam

The Sauds have lost their proxy war in Syria, now they have to acknowledge Putin.



MBS with Putin.

Twitter erupted at a funny image of Putin and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia shaking hands after Russia's first World Cup goal

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[JustTime]

Salaam

The Sauds have lost their proxy war in Syria, now they have to acknowledge Putin.



MBS with Putin.

Twitter erupted at a funny image of Putin and the crown prince of Saudi Arabia shaking hands after Russia's first World Cup goal

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I don't see any bowing occurring this is outright slander

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

[JustTime]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-m...-idUSKBN1JK00W

The hypocrisy is more than real, if this was the Kurds or Shias instead of Sunni Arabs the west would be all over it and what a "disgrace" it is but because it's Sunni Arabs defending their land from Nusayris and Rawafids they don't deserve any help or justice. If this was Rojava the US would deploy its entire military to defend them from Assad.

Syrian rebels say U.S. won't intervene in south Syria | Reuters The United States has told Syrian rebel factions they should not expect military support to help resist a Russian-backed government offensive to regain opposition-held parts of Syria bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights....

[Yahya.]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-m...-idUSKBN1JK00W

The hypocrisy is more than real, if this was the Kurds or Shias instead of Sunni Arabs the west would be all over it and what a "disgrace" it is but because it's Sunni Arabs defending their land from Nusayris and Rawafids they don't deserve any help or justice. If this was Rojava the US would deploy its entire military to defend them from Assad.

Syrian rebels say U.S. won't intervene in south Syria | Reuters The United States has told Syrian rebel factions they should not expect military support to help resist a Russian-backed government offensive to regain opposition-held parts of Syria bordering Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights....

A reminder: It's not about race, it's about ideology/religion. There are also many Muslim Kurds and others fighting on the side of the Syrian Opposition.

[JustTime]

A reminder: It's not about race, it's about ideology/religion. There are also many Muslim Kurds and others fighting on the side of the Syrian Opposition.

The overwhelming majority of Kurds are not Muslim

[Abz2000]

A reminder: It's not about race, it's about ideology/religion. There are also many Muslim Kurds and others fighting on the side of the Syrian Opposition.

Syrian "opposition" - or Syrian mujahideen seeking to establish Islam for Allah's sake?

It is true that there are some decent kurds who trust in Allah and believe with certainty in the last day - however, those who have usurped control over resources and taxation ability in the place called Kurdistan have been nurtured by the western kuffar leadership for a very long time.

[Yahya.]

The overwhelming majority of Kurds are not Muslim

Statistics?

Syrian "opposition" - or Syrian mujahideen seeking to establish Islam for Allah's sake?

It is true that there are some decent kurds who trust in Allah and believe with certainty in the last day - however, those who have usurped control over resources and taxation ability in the place called Kurdistan have been nurtured by the western kuffar leadership for a very long time.

It is the same case in nearly all Muslim countries. And Kurdistan is not an exemption.

[Abz2000]

It is the same case in nearly all Muslim countries. And Kurdistan is not an exemption.

True - although Kurdistan is a little different in that it has become a recent western secularist mercenary state openly churning out soldiery and intelligence assets for secularist invaders on a national level unsimilar to most other governorates in the region - its dealing with the secularist extremist American government has been so "atta boy" like that it has been propped up and assisted openly and helped to expand directly with almost every haraam illegal and immoral American invasion in the region.

---At the San Francisco Peace Conference of 1945, the Kurdish delegation proposed consideration of territory claimed by the Kurds, which encompassed an area extending from the Mediterranean shores near Adana to the shores of the Persian Gulf near Bushehr, and included the Lur inhabited areas of southern Zagros.[41][42]

At the end of the First Gulf War, the Allies established a safe haven in northern Iraq. Amid the withdrawal of Iraqi forces from three northern provinces, Iraqi Kurdistan emerged in 1992 as an autonomous entity inside Iraq with its own local government and parliament.

A 2010 US report, written before the instability in Syria and Iraq that exists as of 2014, attested that "Kurdistan may exist by 2030".[43] The weakening of the Iraqi state following the 2014 Northern Iraq offensive by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has also presented an opportunity for independence for Iraqi Kurdistan,[44] augmented by Turkey's move towards acceptance of such a state although it opposes moves toward Kurdish autonomy in Turkey and Syria.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdistan


I acknowledge that the people of the region have been traumatized and confused to such an extent that any straw presented as being possible to clutch at has appeared appealing - and geo-nationalistic slogans of jaahiliyyah have been promoted via an endless massively funded barrage of unrelenting propaganda - but their gullibility does them no credit.

I have zero respect for people who shed the blood of others under slogans of secular jaahiliyyah for the sake of creating an ummah based - not on justice, but on an empty and ignorant namesake





.قَالَ أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِّنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِي مِن نَّارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِن طِينٍ

Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
(Iblis) said: "I am better than he: thou createdst me from fire, and him thou createdst from clay.

Quran 38:76



قَالَ مَا مَنَعَكَ أَلَّا تَسْجُدَ إِذْ أَمَرْتُكَ قَالَ أَنَا خَيْرٌ مِّنْهُ خَلَقْتَنِي مِن نَّارٍ وَخَلَقْتَهُ مِن طِينٍ

Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
(Allah) said: "What prevented thee from prostrating when I commanded thee?" He said: "I am better than he: Thou didst create me from fire, and him from clay."

Quran 7:12





Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying:By Him in Whose Hand is my life, a time would come when the murderer would not know why he has committed the murder, and the victim would not know why he has been killed.

وَحَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ أَبِي عُمَرَ الْمَكِّيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا مَرْوَانُ، عَنْ يَزِيدَ، - وَهُوَ ابْنُ كَيْسَانَ - عَنْ أَبِي حَازِمٍ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، قَالَ قَالَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ "‏ وَالَّذِي نَفْسِي بِيَدِهِ لَيَأْتِيَنَّ عَلَى النَّاسِ زَمَانٌ لاَ يَدْرِي الْقَاتِلُ فِي أَىِّ شَىْءٍ قَتَلَ وَلاَ يَدْرِي الْمَقْتُولُ عَلَى أَىِّ شَىْءٍ قُتِلَ ‏"‏‏.‏

Reference : Sahih Muslim 2908 aIn-book reference : Book 54, Hadith 69USC-MSA web (English) reference : Book 41, Hadith 6949- (deprecated numbering scheme)

https://sunnah.com/muslim/54/69






Narrated Jarir:The Prophet (ﷺ) said to me during Hajjat-al-Wida`: Let the people keep quiet and listen. Then he said (addressing the Muslims), "Do not (become infidels) revert to disbelief after me by striking the necks (cutting the throats) of one another (killing each other).

حَدَّثَنَا حَجَّاجٌ، قَالَ حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنِي عَلِيُّ بْنُ مُدْرِكٍ، عَنْ أَبِي زُرْعَةَ، عَنْ جَرِيرٍ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ لَهُ فِي حَجَّةِ الْوَدَاعِ ‏"‏ اسْتَنْصِتِ النَّاسَ ‏"‏ فَقَالَ ‏"‏ لاَ تَرْجِعُوا بَعْدِي كُفَّارًا يَضْرِبُ بَعْضُكُمْ رِقَابَ بَعْضٍ ‏"‏‏.‏

Reference : Sahih al-Bukhari 121In-book reference : Book 3, Hadith 63USC-MSA web (English) reference : Vol. 1, Book 3, Hadith 122 (deprecated numbering scheme)




An-Nawwas b. Sam`an reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) made a mention of the Dajjal one day in the morning. He (ﷺ) sometimes described him to be insignificant and sometimes described (his turmoil) as very significant (and we felt) as if he were in the cluster of the date-palm trees. When we went to him (to the Holy Prophet) in the evening and he read (the signs of fear) in our faces, he (ﷺ) said:What is the matter with you? We said: Allah's Messenger, you made a mention of the Dajjal in the morning (sometimes describing him) to be insignificant and sometimes very important, until we began to think as if he were present in some (near) part of the cluster of the date-palm trees. Thereupon he (ﷺ) said: I harbor fear in regard to you in so many other things besides the Dajjal. If he comes forth while I am among you, I shall contend with him on your behalf, but if he comes forth while I am not amongst you, a man must contend on his own behalf and Allah would take care of every Muslim on my behalf (and safeguard him against his evil). He (Dajjal) would be a young man with twisted, contracted hair, and a blind eye. I compare him to `Abd-ul-`Uzza b. Qatan. He who amongst you would survive to see him should recite over him the opening verses of Sura Kahf (xviii). He would appear on the way between Syria and Iraq and would spread mischief right and left. O servant of Allah! adhere (to the path of Truth). We said: Allah's Messenger, how long would he stay on the earth? He (ﷺ) said: For forty days, one day like a year and one day like a month and one day like a week and the rest of the days would be like your days. We said: Allah's Messenger, would one day's prayer suffice for the prayers of day equal to one year? Thereupon he (ﷺ) said: No, but you must make an estimate of time (and then observe prayer). We said: Allah's Messenger, how quickly would he walk upon the earth? Thereupon he (ﷺ) said: Like cloud driven by the wind. He would come to the people and invite them (to a wrong religion) and they would affirm their faith in him and respond to him. He would then give command to the sky and there would be rainfall upon the earth and it would grow crops. Then in the evening, their pasturing animals would come to them with their humps very high and their udders full of milk and their flanks stretched. He would then come to another people and invite them. But they would reject him and he would go away from them and there would be drought for them and nothing would be left with them in the form of wealth. He would then walk through the waste land and say to it: Bring forth your treasures, and the treasures would come out and collect (themselves) before him like the swarm of bees. He would then call a person brimming with youth and strike him with the sword and cut him into two pieces and (make these pieces lie at a distance which is generally) between the archer and his target. He would then call (that young man) and he will come forward laughing with his face gleaming (with happiness) and it would be at this very time that Allah would send Jesus, son of Mary, and he will descend at the white minaret in the eastern side of Damascus wearing two garments lightly dyed with saffron and placing his hands on the wings of two Angels. When he would lower his head, there would fall beads of perspiration from his head, and when he would raise it up, beads like pearls would scatter from it. Every non-believer who would smell the odor of his self would die and his breath would reach as far as he would be able to see. He would then search for him (Dajjal) until he would catch hold of him at the gate of Ludd and would kill him. Then a people whom Allah had protected would come to Jesus, son of Mary, and he would wipe their faces and would inform them of their ranks in Paradise and it would be under such conditions that Allah would reveal to Jesus these words: I have brought forth from amongst My servants such people against whom none would be able to fight; you take these people safely to Tur. And then Allah would send Gog and Magog and they would swarm down from every slope. The first of them would pass the lake of Tiberias and drink out of it. And when the last of them would pass, he would say: There was once water there. Jesus and his companions would then be besieged here (at Tur, and they would be so much hard pressed) that the head of the ox would be dearer to them than one hundred dinars and Allah's Apostle, Jesus, and his companions would supplicate Allah, Who would send to them insects (which would attack their necks) and in the morning they would perish like one single person. Allah's Apostle, Jesus, and his companions would then come down to the earth and they would not find in the earth as much space as a single span which is not filled with their putrefaction and stench. Allah's Apostle, Jesus, and his companions would then again beseech Allah, Who would send birds whose necks would be like those of Bactrian camels and they would carry them and throw them where God would will. Then Allah would send rain which no house of clay or (the tent of) camels' hairs would keep out and it would wash away the earth until it could appear to be a mirror. Then the earth would be told to bring forth its fruit and restore its blessing and, as a result thereof, there would grow (such a big) pomegranate that a group of persons would be able to eat that, and seek shelter under its skin and milch cow would give so much milk that a whole party would be able to drink it. And the milch camel would give such (a large quantity of) milk that the whole tribe would be able to drink out of that and the milch sheep would give so much milk that the whole family would be able to drink out of that and at that time Allah would send a pleasant wind which would soothe (people) even under their armpits, and would take the life of every Muslim and only the wicked would survive who would commit adultery like asses and the Last Hour would come to them.

حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو خَيْثَمَةَ، زُهَيْرُ بْنُ حَرْبٍ حَدَّثَنَا الْوَلِيدُ بْنُ مُسْلِمٍ، حَدَّثَنِي عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ، بْنُ يَزِيدَ بْنِ جَابِرٍ حَدَّثَنِي يَحْيَى بْنُ جَابِرٍ الطَّائِيُّ، قَاضِي حِمْصَ حَدَّثَنِي عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ، جُبَيْرٍ عَنْ أَبِيهِ، جُبَيْرِ بْنِ نُفَيْرٍ الْحَضْرَمِيِّ أَنَّهُ سَمِعَ النَّوَّاسَ بْنَ سَمْعَانَ الْكِلاَبِيَّ، ح وَحَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ مِهْرَانَ الرَّازِيُّ، - وَاللَّفْظُ لَهُ - حَدَّثَنَا الْوَلِيدُ بْنُ مُسْلِمٍ، حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنُ يَزِيدَ بْنِ جَابِرٍ، عَنْ يَحْيَى بْنِ جَابِرٍ الطَّائِيِّ، عَنْ عَبْدِ الرَّحْمَنِ بْنِ جُبَيْرِ بْنِ، نُفَيْرٍ عَنْ أَبِيهِ، جُبَيْرِ بْنِ نُفَيْرٍ عَنِ النَّوَّاسِ بْنِ سَمْعَانَ، قَالَ ذَكَرَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم الدَّجَّالَ ذَاتَ غَدَاةٍ فَخَفَّضَ فِيهِ وَرَفَّعَ حَتَّى ظَنَنَّاهُ فِي طَائِفَةِ النَّخْلِ فَلَمَّا رُحْنَا إِلَيْهِ عَرَفَ ذَلِكَ فِينَا فَقَالَ ‏"‏ مَا شَأْنُكُمْ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قُلْنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ذَكَرْتَ الدَّجَّالَ غَدَاةً فَخَفَّضْتَ فِيهِ وَرَفَّعْتَ حَتَّى ظَنَنَّاهُ فِي طَائِفَةِ النَّخْلِ ‏.‏ فَقَالَ ‏"‏ غَيْرُ الدَّجَّالِ أَخْوَفُنِي عَلَيْكُمْ إِنْ يَخْرُجْ وَأَنَا فِيكُمْ فَأَنَا حَجِيجُهُ دُونَكُمْ وَإِنْ يَخْرُجْ وَلَسْتُ فِيكُمْ فَامْرُؤٌ حَجِيجُ نَفْسِهِ وَاللَّهُ خَلِيفَتِي عَلَى كُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ إِنَّهُ شَابٌّ قَطَطٌ عَيْنُهُ طَافِئَةٌ كَأَنِّي أُشَبِّهُهُ بِعَبْدِ الْعُزَّى بْنِ قَطَنٍ فَمَنْ أَدْرَكَهُ مِنْكُمْ فَلْيَقْرَأْ عَلَيْهِ فَوَاتِحَ سُورَةِ الْكَهْفِ إِنَّهُ خَارِجٌ خَلَّةً بَيْنَ الشَّأْمِ وَالْعِرَاقِ فَعَاثَ يَمِينًا وَعَاثَ شِمَالاً يَا عِبَادَ اللَّهِ فَاثْبُتُوا ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قُلْنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا لَبْثُهُ فِي الأَرْضِ قَالَ ‏"‏ أَرْبَعُونَ يَوْمًا يَوْمٌ كَسَنَةٍ وَيَوْمٌ كَشَهْرٍ وَيَوْمٌ كَجُمُعَةٍ وَسَائِرُ أَيَّامِهِ كَأَيَّامِكُمْ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قُلْنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ فَذَلِكَ الْيَوْمُ الَّذِي كَسَنَةٍ أَتَكْفِينَا فِيهِ صَلاَةُ يَوْمٍ قَالَ ‏"‏ لاَ اقْدُرُوا لَهُ قَدْرَهُ ‏"‏ ‏.‏ قُلْنَا يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا إِسْرَاعُهُ فِي الأَرْضِ قَالَ ‏"‏ كَالْغَيْثِ اسْتَدْبَرَتْهُ الرِّيحُ فَيَأْتِي عَلَى الْقَوْمِ فَيَدْعُوهُمْ فَيُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ وَيَسْتَجِيبُونَ لَهُ فَيَأْمُرُ السَّمَاءَ فَتُمْطِرُ وَالأَرْضَ فَتُنْبِتُ فَتَرُوحُ عَلَيْهِمْ سَارِحَتُهُمْ أَطْوَلَ مَا كَانَتْ ذُرًا وَأَسْبَغَهُ ضُرُوعًا وَأَمَدَّهُ خَوَاصِرَ ثُمَّ يَأْتِي الْقَوْمَ فَيَدْعُوهُمْ فَيَرُدُّونَ عَلَيْهِ قَوْلَهُ فَيَنْصَرِفُ عَنْهُمْ فَيُصْبِحُونَ مُمْحِلِينَ لَيْسَ بِأَيْدِيهِمْ شَىْءٌ مِنْ أَمْوَالِهِمْ وَيَمُرُّ بِالْخَرِبَةِ فَيَقُولُ لَهَا أَخْرِجِي كُنُوزَكِ ‏.‏ فَتَتْبَعُهُ كُنُوزُهَا كَيَعَاسِيبِ النَّحْلِ ثُمَّ يَدْعُو رَجُلاً مُمْتَلِئًا شَبَابًا فَيَضْرِبُهُ بِالسَّيْفِ فَيَقْطَعُهُ جَزْلَتَيْنِ رَمْيَةَ الْغَرَضِ ثُمَّ يَدْعُوهُ فَيُقْبِلُ وَيَتَهَلَّلُ وَجْهُهُ يَضْحَكُ فَبَيْنَمَا هُوَ كَذَلِكَ إِذْ بَعَثَ اللَّهُ الْمَسِيحَ ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ فَيَنْزِلُ عِنْدَ الْمَنَارَةِ الْبَيْضَاءِ شَرْقِيَّ دِمَشْقَ بَيْنَ مَهْرُودَتَيْنِ وَاضِعًا كَفَّيْهِ عَلَى أَجْنِحَةِ مَلَكَيْنِ إِذَا طَأْطَأَ رَأَسَهُ قَطَرَ وَإِذَا رَفَعَهُ تَحَدَّرَ مِنْهُ جُمَانٌ كَاللُّؤْلُؤِ فَلاَ يَحِلُّ لِكَافِرٍ يَجِدُ رِيحَ نَفَسِهِ إِلاَّ مَاتَ وَنَفَسُهُ يَنْتَهِي حَيْثُ يَنْتَهِي طَرْفُهُ فَيَطْلُبُهُ حَتَّى يُدْرِكَهُ بِبَابِ لُدٍّ فَيَقْتُلُهُ ثُمَّ يَأْتِي عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ قَوْمٌ قَدْ عَصَمَهُمُ اللَّهُ مِنْهُ فَيَمْسَحُ عَنْ وُجُوهِهِمْ وَيُحَدِّثُهُمْ بِدَرَجَاتِهِمْ فِي الْجَنَّةِ فَبَيْنَمَا هُوَ كَذَلِكَ إِذْ أَوْحَى اللَّهُ إِلَى عِيسَى إِنِّي قَدْ أَخْرَجْتُ عِبَادًا لِي لاَ يَدَانِ لأَحَدٍ بِقِتَالِهِمْ فَحَرِّزْ عِبَادِي إِلَى الطُّورِ ‏.‏ وَيَبْعَثُ اللَّهُ يَأْجُوجَ وَمَأْجُوجَ وَهُمْ مِنْ كُلِّ حَدَبٍ يَنْسِلُونَ فَيَمُرُّ أَوَائِلُهُمْ عَلَى بُحَيْرَةِ طَبَرِيَّةَ فَيَشْرَبُونَ مَا فِيهَا وَيَمُرُّ آخِرُهُمْ فَيَقُولُونَ لَقَدْ كَانَ بِهَذِهِ مَرَّةً مَاءٌ ‏.‏ وَيُحْصَرُ نَبِيُّ اللَّهُ عِيسَى وَأَصْحَابُهُ حَتَّى يَكُونَ رَأْسُ الثَّوْرِ لأَحَدِهِمْ خَيْرًا مِنْ مِائَةِ دِينَارٍ لأَحَدِكُمُ الْيَوْمَ فَيَرْغَبُ نَبِيُّ اللَّهِ عِيسَى وَأَصْحَابُهُ فَيُرْسِلُ اللَّهُ عَلَيْهُمُ النَّغَفَ فِي رِقَابِهِمْ فَيُصْبِحُونَ فَرْسَى كَمَوْتِ نَفْسٍ وَاحِدَةٍ ثُمَّ يَهْبِطُ نَبِيُّ اللَّهِ عِيسَى وَأَصْحَابُهُ إِلَى الأَرْضِ فَلاَ يَجِدُونَ فِي الأَرْضِ مَوْضِعَ شِبْرٍ إِلاَّ مَلأَهُ زَهَمُهُمْ وَنَتْنُهُمْ فَيَرْغَبُ نَبِيُّ اللَّهِ عِيسَى وَأَصْحَابُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ فَيُرْسِلُ اللَّهُ طَيْرًا كَأَعْنَاقِ الْبُخْتِ فَتَحْمِلُهُمْ فَتَطْرَحُهُمْ حَيْثُ شَاءَ اللَّهُ ثُمَّ يُرْسِلُ اللَّهُ مَطَرًا لاَ يَكُنُّ مِنْهُ بَيْتُ مَدَرٍ وَلاَ وَبَرٍ فَيَغْسِلُ الأَرْضَ حَتَّى يَتْرُكَهَا كَالزَّلَفَةِ ثُمَّ يُقَالُ لِلأَرْضِ أَنْبِتِي ثَمَرَتَكِ وَرُدِّي بَرَكَتَكِ ‏.‏ فَيَوْمَئِذٍ تَأْكُلُ الْعِصَابَةُ مِنَ الرُّمَّانَةِ وَيَسْتَظِلُّونَ بِقِحْفِهَا وَيُبَارَكُ فِي الرِّسْلِ حَتَّى أَنَّ اللِّقْحَةَ مِنَ الإِبِلِ لَتَكْفِي الْفِئَامَ مِنَ النَّاسِ وَاللِّقْحَةَ مِنَ الْبَقَرِ لَتَكْفِي الْقَبِيلَةَ مِنَ النَّاسِ وَاللِّقْحَةَ مِنَ الْغَنَمِ لَتَكْفِي الْفَخِذَ مِنَ النَّاسِ فَبَيْنَمَا هُمْ كَذَلِكَ إِذْ بَعَثَ اللَّهُ رِيحًا طَيِّبَةً فَتَأْخُذُهُمْ تَحْتَ آبَاطِهِمْ فَتَقْبِضُ رُوحَ كُلِّ مُؤْمِنٍ وَكُلِّ مُسْلِمٍ وَيَبْقَى شِرَارُ النَّاسِ يَتَهَارَجُونَ فِيهَا تَهَارُجَ الْحُمُرِ فَعَلَيْهِمْ تَقُومُ السَّاعَةُ ‏"‏ ‏.‏

Reference : Sahih Muslim 2937 aIn-book reference : Book 54, Hadith 136USC-MSA web (English) reference : Book 41, Hadith 7015 (deprecated numbering scheme)https://sunnah.com/urn/270150




The Gulf War (2 August 1990 – 28 February 1991), codenamed Operation Desert Shield (2 August 1990 – 17 January 1991) for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm (17 January 1991 – 28 February 1991) in its combat phase, was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq with the claim that the planned invasion was a response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.



A treacherous distraction and pincer attack during a fake ceasefire as propaganda for a world disgusted by the crimes of their governments


The 1991 uprisings in Iraq were a series of popular rebellions in northern and southern Iraq in March and April 1991 in a cease fire of the Persian Gulf War. The "mostly uncoordinated insurgency", often referred to as the Sha'aban Intifada among Arabs and as the National Uprising among Kurds, was fueled by the perception that then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was responsible for systemic social repression and had become vulnerable to regime change. This perception of weakness was largely the result of the outcome of two prior wars: the Iran–Iraq War and the invasion of Kuwait, both of which occurred within a single decade and devastated the economy and population of Iraq


........The Persian Gulf War Coalition established Iraqi no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, and the Kurdish opposition established the Kurdish Autonomous Republic in what is now commonly referred to as Iraqi Kurdistan.


Territorialchanges
Establishment of the Kurdish Autonomous Republic, as well as the Iraqi no-fly zones.


After all that blood and sweat of others, you can now proudly call yourselves by an insignificant name that neither Allah, nor most of the people around the world care about, that doesn't really make a worthy difference .....want a blue peter badge to go with it?

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Some commentary

Ajmal Hussain

The treachery the Syrian people faced was multi faceted, the so called ‘world policeman’ America, Muslim Rulers, Turkey, Saudi, Iran, ‘Rebels’ more interested in cash and controlling checkpoints than removing Asad. But what was the end point sought by ‘rebels’, the removal of Asad and replacing with another stooge?, ‘an emirate’ where punishments are conducted devoid of all the Systems of Islam?

If you don’t have a defined end point which is comprehensive , ie the type of society you wish to create, the system you wish to live by, the key principles that all must unite on etc.. then no real Unity can ever be achieved and the ‘revolution’ is bound to fail. Just like the rest in the ‘Arab Spring’

If however people are united behind a common endpoint and system then as the saying goes ‘no army can stop and Idea whose time has come ‘.

[Yahya.]

@Abz2000 We should be careful in equalling peoples with their respective administrations. You have almost exclusively addressed the state of the Autonomous Kurdistan Administration in Northern Iraq, whereas the Kurdish population there is but a minor part of the whole. But apart from that, it is indispensable to discern that Kurds have not incurred the present political entities themselves, rather these were established through external support (as you have already stated functionally). Hence Kurds are not represented by these entities, even if they may be overwhelmed by them and often compelled to choose one of the lesser evils. For instance the elections in Northern Iraq had a participation rate of 74%. Of course, the proper way would be to organise an independent Islamic movement, but this seems to be an apparent lack although some attempts were made and are still being made in loose manners.

Beyond all this, there is no point in chiding a whole nation which has been afflicted with unfortunate conditions since decades. This is very arrogant of some people (I exclude you), whereas the jahili nationalism of Kurds was only formed as a reaction to Turkish and Arabic nationalism. There was no nationalist revolt by the Kurds during Ottoman rule, this only commenced following the establishment of the nationalistic Turkish Republic. The same goes for the Kurds in other modern countries; Kurdish nationalism only developed as a(n ill) response to the authoritarian, chauvinist politics of the ruler "ethonations". So, before moving on to the Kurds, one has to ponder over one's own people. It is easy to judge others, especially when one doesn't have any knowledge. I ask you, @JustTime foremost, what do you know about the Kurdish people, their culture and history, besides modern politics and political history? Yet even the last is most probably not exclusively centred around the Kurdish people. Then you even dare to say "the overwhelming majority" of Kurds weren't Muslims! Using such an emphasis, where do you get this self-confidence from? Allah will held you accountable for this. This is the minor level of what your master Saddam has done. First you oppress, then forget the oppression and blame the oppressed for their reaction. No matter how wrong this reaction may be, it is very shameful that you overlook your own deeds and concentrate on the victims, whereas a great part of the Kurdish people does not even support the political agendas of the West as a blessing of Allah despite being oppressed from all sides for a long time and being forsaken by the ummah the same while.

Leaving behind such pro-Saddamist thoughts, neutral people must also consider the psychological condition of the Kurds before making any judgements about them.
I am not into discussing which people were more virtuous. That would be nonsense. I just want to halt such ethnocentric, counterproductive attitudes. What do you think would be the reaction of a Kurd like reading such statements about his people? A Kurd who is already rejected by most of his neighbours. They will just distance themselves further from the ummah and start believing that "they only have themselves as a nation", raising to the bait of Western ideologies. If you know about Kurds, this is actually one of the reasons why some of them distance themselves from non-Kurdish Muslims/Islamic organisations; because they feel themselves to be ill treated and seen as a second class people among the peoples of the Islamic naiton. And such arrogant statements like the one above are but confirming this notion in their minds.

[JustTime]

@Abz2000 We should be careful in equalling peoples with their respective administrations. You have almost exclusively addressed the state of the Autonomous Kurdistan Administration in Northern Iraq, whereas the Kurdish population there is but a minor part of the whole. But apart from that, it is indispensable to discern that Kurds have not incurred the present political entities themselves, rather these were established through external support (as you have already stated functionally). Hence Kurds are not represented by these entities, even if they may be overwhelmed by them and often compelled to choose one of the lesser evils. For instance the elections in Northern Iraq had a participation rate of 74%. Of course, the proper way would be to organise an independent Islamic movement, but this seems to be an apparent lack although some attempts were made and are still being made in loose manners.

Beyond all this, there is no point in chiding a whole nation which has been afflicted with unfortunate conditions since decades. This is very arrogant of some people (I exclude you), whereas the jahili nationalism of Kurds was only formed as a reaction to Turkish and Arabic nationalism. There was no nationalist revolt by the Kurds during Ottoman rule, this only commenced following the establishment of the nationalistic Turkish Republic. The same goes for the Kurds in other modern countries; Kurdish nationalism only developed as a(n ill) response to the authoritarian, chauvinist politics of the ruler "ethonations". So, before moving on to the Kurds, one has to ponder over one's own people. It is easy to judge others, especially when one doesn't have any knowledge. I ask you, @JustTime foremost, what do you know about the Kurdish people, their culture and history, besides modern politics and political history? Yet even the last is most probably not exclusively centred around the Kurdish people. Then you even dare to say "the overwhelming majority" of Kurds weren't Muslims! Using such an emphasis, where do you get this self-confidence from? Allah will held you accountable for this. This is the minor level of what your master Saddam has done. First you oppress, then forget the oppression and blame the oppressed for their reaction. No matter how wrong this reaction may be, it is very shameful that you overlook your own deeds and concentrate on the victims, whereas a great part of the Kurdish people does not even support the political agendas of the West as a blessing of Allah despite being oppressed from all sides for a long time and being forsaken by the ummah the same while.

Leaving behind such pro-Saddamist thoughts, neutral people must also consider the psychological condition of the Kurds before making any judgements about them.
I am not into discussing which people were more virtuous. That would be nonsense. I just want to halt such ethnocentric, counterproductive attitudes. What do you think would be the reaction of a Kurd like reading such statements about his people? A Kurd who is already rejected by most of his neighbours. They will just distance themselves further from the ummah and start believing that "they only have themselves as a nation", raising to the bait of Western ideologies. If you know about Kurds, this is actually one of the reasons why some of them distance themselves from non-Kurdish Muslims/Islamic organisations; because they feel themselves to be ill treated and seen as a second class people among the peoples of the Islamic naiton. And such arrogant statements like the one above are but confirming this notion in their minds.

The Kurdish history of deviance is ancient, considering their vile culture for that pathed the way for their vile Ocalan-PKK ideology that pollutes their people today. If you review Kurdish history and their people today, the concept of Jineology which is a very extreme form of feminism isn't knew or Ocalan's creation, it goes back to Kurdish tribes encouraging their women to fight wars, which is ubsurd.

Then in the 19th century you will find that their leaders in Northeastern Iraq collaborated closely with the British against Turkish rule, and some of their leaders were even women, then you will also find in the early 20th century in Iraq the devil worshipping Yazidis and so called "Muslim" Kurds fought Arabs and Turks alike with aid from Europe, collaborating with Satanists against Muslims is a major act of disbelief, and today in Iraq you see them collaborating with Iran and the Rafida against the Muslims, against Arab Muslims.

In Syria when the Turkish invaded Afrin, though I am not a fan of Erdogan, but in their invasion of Afrin the Kurdish YPG rallied together with Atheists from Europe and America that fight for the sake of Anarchism, Communism and Feminism, they also rallied together with Iran which supplied them with Anti-Tank missiles and jeeps, and they fought side by side with the Nusayris and Rafida militias of "National Defense Force" and the Rafidi "Liwa al-Baqir" against mostly Sunni Arab groups, and after Afrin was liberated from those YPG dogs and geopolitical whores, they began murdering displaced Sunni Arabs from East Ghouta and the Yarmouk camp after everything they endured.

In Raqqa these animals forced Arabs to join their ranks, with threats of arrest, seized their properties, and evicted thousands just for being Arabs, and the media never reports this but there have been protests since the so-called "liberation" by the coalition of Sodomites, Communists, Feminists and Kurdish nationalists, and the YPG has used live fire on unarmed civilians just because they demand YPG leaves the city, and prior to "liberating" Raqqa they excluded Liwa Jabhat Thuwar ar-Raqqa, a group of locals from Raqqa, just because they were Arabs.

In Hasakah they are now seizing more Sunni Arab villages with assistance from the so called "Popular Mobilization Forces" which everyone knows is a collection of Iranian death squads that rampaged their way through northern and western Iraq killing everyone they saw, and this is who the Kurds take as allies.

In 2004 after the US invasion of Iraq, in Qamishili they rioted attacking Sunni Arabs and proudly proclaimed that they'd die for Bush and celebrated the overthrow of Saddam.

In the 1970s and 80s during Saddam's war on Iran they sided with Iran, and Iraqi Rafidi militias that today compose the "Popular Mobilization Force", against Saddam they worked with the CIA, IRGC and Syrian governement of Hafez al-Assad who murded the Muslims of Hama against Saddam.

When the US invaded Iraq they were on the frontlines yet again with Rafidi militias and "Operation 'Iraqi Freedom'" coalition fighters against Saddam's government.

During Maliki's sectarian rule in Iraq, after all the years he oppressed Sunni Arabs and Kurds alike in 2014 the Kurds yet again proudly collaborated with the Rafidi Mobilization Forces against the Arab revolution against Iran and their puppets in Iraq.

If these "Muslim" Kurds truly opposed the oppression and deviant ways of their rulers like Barzani and Rojava where is the rebellion? Where is the opposition? In 2011 the world witnessed the mass Pan-Arab revolution against the most corrupt and vile and sadistic of leaders, like in Tunisia and Egypt, and the world has witnessed the Iraqi, Syrian, Libyan and Yemeni revolutions against oppression and the misguided ways of Assad, Maliki, Hezbulshaytan, Ghaddafi, and the Houthis.

The only Kurdish rebellions have been those against the Muslims inspired by the most irrational and fanatical level of arrogance in race known to man, that would put some Neo-Nazi white nationalist movements to shame, all the Kurdish rebellions have been against Muslim Arabs and Muslim Turks with aid from foreign powers and fought side by side with open Satanists like Yazidis and Rafidi groups.

In Afghanistan when their king was deposed and replaced by a Communist with a very similar ideology to that of the YPG in Syria, he began revoking and changing laws either derived or inspired by the Sharia of Allah (AWJ), and the Afghan people unanimously rebelled, and the Afghans are ethnically diverse Pashtuns, Tajiks, Uzbeks and more all took up what arms they could and mobilized in rebellion to the point that the Soviets had to intervene, in Somalia likewise there was a rebellion against Communist rule there in the 70s and 80s by masses of the population.

Yet among the Kurds we see no similar movement or opposition to the vile, degenerate and corrupt ways of Rojava and Barzani we only see the populace rallying for them and dying for the sake of them.

The Kurdish population as a whole are the most irrational, deluded, and misguided people on Earth, there's no way to describe these geopolitical whores aside from stupid, all them are idiots, their race is collectively a populace of idiots. They have murdered, pillaged, stolen, displaced, evicted thousands of people for nothing more than the sake of their enormous arrogance, they are the most vile and twisted group of people on Earth, and the only reason they are blessed with the privilege to call themselves "Muslims" is because Allah blessed them with the honor of living with Arabs, yet instead they are unappreciative and commit the worst of crimes and atrocities against them, yet again for the sole purpose of their toxic and sickening level of arrogance.

So yes, I reaffirm my stance the overwhelming majority of Kurds are not Muslim.

[JustTime]

Ya Rahman, bless the people of Sham with an army of the upmost sincere and righteous, Ya Rahman eradicate the vile sadistic Bashar, Ya Rahman end the terror of the Safawis in the Mashriq region, Ya Rahman punish the Rafida, punish them with suffering and pain thousands of times more intense and harsher than anything they've done until the scales are imbalanced, Ya Rahman make Daraa an oven from the Nusayris, Ya Rahman make Idlib a volcano for the Nusayris, Ya Rahman make Julan and Yarmouk the land of thousands of Khalid Ibn Walids, Ya Rahman make Dier az Zor a second red sea and drown them with your punishment, Ya Rahman make Damascus the glory of our Ummah, Ya Rahman make Aleppo the biggest regret for the Russians, Ya Rahman make Qalamoun a mountain for the sincere, Ya Rahman make Latakia the forests of the angles, Ya Rahman make the deserts of Homs and Tadmur an ocean of tragedies for the Iranians and Russians, Ya Rahman make Hama a spring of glory,
Ya Rahman do not abandon the people of Sham

[Yahya.]

@JustTime

I will not try defending a race, because discussing about the virtue of races is forbidden. The Prophet (peace be upon him says):

Even if your "analysis" were true, there is no point in demoting a particular race, because it is counterproductive to dawah efforts. Did the prophet slander the Arabs in such a way, although they were firm disbelievers? No, instead his praised their good aspects to win over their trust. Now it's your choice whether you are going to stick to your conviction (true or not) and propagate the disbelief of Kurds, or turn away from that and adopt a more subtle approach.

Below is an interview with a Kurd on the Kurdish people, maybe it will give you an insight.

[JustTime]

@JustTime

I will not try defending a race, because discussing about the virtue of races is forbidden. The Prophet (peace be upon him says):

Even if your "analysis" were true, there is no point in demoting a particular race, because it is counterproductive to dawah efforts. Did the prophet slander the Arabs in such a way, although they were firm disbelievers? No, instead his praised their good aspects to win over their trust. Now it's your choice whether you are going to stick to your conviction (true or not) and propagate the disbelief of Kurds, or turn away from that and adopt a more subtle approach.

Below is an interview with a Kurd on the Kurdish people, maybe it will give you an insight.

This video has many flaws and you can't blame Muhaysini, Abu Hasan or the Kurdish man interviewed as they don't know any better, but the reality is the Kurdish man they interviewed even stated he supported Masoud Barzani and Barzani supports the PKK-PYD/Rojava they disagree politically but the reality is he favors them, and the dispute is no different than the traditional Liberal-Conservative political dispute that exists in most Democratic countries like the United States with the Republican and Democrats or UK with Labour and Conservatives and so on, admittedly yes, Barzani is a lesser evil to the Leftists from PKK-PYD and KCK organization as a whole but the facts are that Barzani's hands are wet with the blood of Arab Muslims just like Rojava.

This video is exaggerating and excluding a lot of important details, for example Muhaysini asked "Who would let their wives fight this is contrary to Kurdish culture" when history shows that Kurdish tribes in Northeastern Iraq would encourage their women to fight in place of men and this goes back to the 1500s, and their greater history of using women in battle goes back further just read about it here,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_women_in_warfare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_women

And yes the Prophet (SAAWS) did condemn the barbaric and vile ways of the Jahil Arabs on many occasions, and yes he did praise aspects of the Arab culture even the Jahils, because for one he was an Arab and secondly Arabs are descendants of Ibrahim and retained a lot of his virtues in their culture.

The video also claims that Kurds never fought Muslims when many Kurds did in fact support the Byzantine and Zoroastrian empires that ruled over the Jazeera region of Iraq and Sham and you can look it up too.

The video also claims that Kurdish nationalism is a Zionist invention yet the history of the Kurdish nationalist movement as we know it today goes back far before Israel was a country, and what enabled the groups like the PKK was actually the Soviet Union and other Communists. Again with Barzani he presents himself as a 'Conservative' even though he was born in a short lived Soviet puppet state created in Northern Iran after World War 2 and his family/clan after the Soviet puppet state was annexed by Iran moved into Iraq and worked closely with Iraqi Communists and Leftists by gathering a large amount of Kurdish support to overthrow the Iraqi king.

And when Iraq was a Communist country the Kurds had total power over the state even though the leader of the country was Abd al-Karim Qasim who was an Arab, under his rule the Kurds had so much power they replaced Arabic as the official language of the country with Kurdish and during the rule of Qasim his policies were so unpopular and the Kurds had so much influence in the country's politics that there was a popular Arab uprising led by Saddam Hussein and his family and friends to restore proper order to Iraq, it was in fact Arabs who saved Iraq from a Kurdish attempt to change Iraq's demographics from Arab majority to Kurdish majority with support from Israel and the Soviet Union, and when the Iraqi Baath Party saved Iraq this outraged the Israelis and the Soviets and other Communist movements and states and this prompted the Kurds to yet again rebel with Israeli and Iranian (Shah era) support.

This video has many inaccuracies and is incorrect in many ways

[JustTime]

Here is a list of individuals who support Assad, it's something worth noting,

Richard Spencer - Atheist
Tucker Carlson - Hates Islam supports Homosexuality and Gay marriage
Tulsi Gabbard - Supports Abortion and drugs and fought Muslims in Iraq
Mike Cernovich - Fornicator/Rapist
Milo Yiannopoulos - Homosexual and Hates Islam
Hassan Nasrallah - Rafidi
Nikolaos Michaloliakos - Greek Nationalist calls for every Mosque in Greece to be shut down, hates Islam
Kim Jong Un - Mushrik
Abdal Fattah al-Sisi - Taghout
Ali Khamenei - Rafidi
Larry Holmes - Communist

Allah (Ta'Ala) said:

بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تَتَّخِذُوا۟ عَدُوِّى وَعَدُوَّكُمْ أَوْلِيَآءَ تُلْقُونَ إِلَيْهِم بِٱلْمَوَدَّةِ وَقَدْ كَفَرُوا۟ بِمَا جَآءَكُم مِّنَ ٱلْحَقِّ يُخْرِجُونَ ٱلرَّسُولَ وَإِيَّاكُمْ ۙ أَن تُؤْمِنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ رَبِّكُمْ إِن كُنتُمْ خَرَجْتُمْ جِهَٰدًا فِى سَبِيلِى وَٱبْتِغَآءَ مَرْضَاتِى ۚ تُسِرُّونَ إِلَيْهِم
بِٱلْمَوَدَّةِ وَأَنَا۠ أَعْلَمُ بِمَآ أَخْفَيْتُمْ وَمَآ أَعْلَنتُمْ ۚ وَمَن يَفْعَلْهُ مِنكُمْ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ سَوَآءَ ٱلسَّبِيلِ

O believers, take not My enemy and your enemy for friends, offering them love, though they have disbelieved in the truth that has come to you, expelling the Messenger and you because you believe in God your Lord. If you go forth to struggle in My way and seek My good pleasure, secretly loving them, yet I know very well what you conceal and what you publish; and whosoever of you does that, has gone astray from the right way.

Quran 60:1

[JustTime]

Syria’s Assad Has Become Israel’s Ally

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/.premium-syria-s-assad-has-become-israel-s-ally-1.6240499
Israel wants Assad to remain in power. Both Israel and the Syrian president now depend on Russia, and when Israel threatens Syria over Iran, it should know it's threatening Putin, too














Zvi Bar'el







Jul 03, 2018 2:44 PM
6comments

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Syrian President Bashar Assad, left, greeting Syrians following the prayers of the first day of Eid al-Fitr, in Tartous, Syria, June 15, 2018. Sana/AP

• Assad forces roll through rebel-held towns near Israeli border as some 160,000 civilians flee the fighting
  
  
• Everything you need to know about the Syrian refugee crisis on Israel's doorstep
  
  
• Israel fears Iran may target senior officials abroad
  
  

Early in 2012, the year after the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, the Foreign Ministry drafted recommendations on Israel’s position regarding Syrian President Bashar Assad.
As Haaretz reported at the time, the ministry said Israel should denounce the slaughter in Syria and call for Assad’s ouster. It argued that Israel shouldn’t be the only Western country not to condemn Assad, since that would feed conspiracy theories that Israel preferred the mass murderer to remain in power.
The Israeli foreign minister at the time, Avigdor Lieberman, accepted this recommendation, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed it. Netanyahu denounced the slaughter and the Syrian army and charged that “various leaders have no moral qualms about killing their neighbors and their own people as well.” But he never mentioned Assad as the person responsible or demanded his ouster. Israel’s UN ambassador during that period, Ron Prosor, said Assad has “no moral right to lead his people,” but that was it.
>> To Get Iran out of Syria, Israel and the U.S. must cooperate with Putin
These diplomatic acrobatics and the Lieberman-Netanyahu dispute only fed the conspiracy theories, and Syrian rebel leaders were convinced that Israel wanted Assad to remain in power. They were right.
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Now that Assad has regained control of most of Syria and is waging a final battle against rebels in the south, Israel is acting as if it is now reformulating its policy and becoming “reconciled” to Assad’s continued rule. Several weeks ago, Israel reportedly told Russia it wouldn’t oppose that, as if the decision were in its hands or as if Israel even had any leverage over what kind of government is in power in Syria after the war ends.
But Israel isn’t merely “reconciled” to rule by Assad. It also feared the prospect that the various rebel militias might succeed in ousting him, sparking a new civil war among the rebels themselves.
Position papers drafted by the Israeli army and the Foreign Ministry over the past two years didn’t actually voice support for the Syrian president, but their assessments show that they viewed his continued rule as preferable or even vital for Israel’s security. Israel’s close cooperation with Russia, which gave Israeli forces a free hand to attack Hezbollah and Iranian targets in Syria, added the Israelis to the unofficial coalition of Arab states that support Assad’s continued rule.
>> Israel delivers Arab humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, who met with the head of Syrian intelligence in 2015, said that same year that “Egypt and Syria are in the same boat.” Egyptian delegations visited Damascus despite Syria’s ouster from the Arab League, and in a 2017 interview, Al-Sissi even said that “Egypt supports the armies of states like Iraq, Libya and Syria.”
King Abdullah of Jordan was one of the first leaders to denounce Assad and demand his ouster. But he later reversed himself, thereby angering Saudi Arabia. And following conversations between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian officials, even Riyadh is no longer publicly opposing Assad’s continued tenure.


Russia’s military intervention in Syria, which began in 2015, was initially viewed by Israel as ineffective and doomed to fail. But in reality, it bolstered Assad’s status domestically, created a coalition with Iran and Turkey and neutralized the intervention of Arab states such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. And since the United States had withdrawn from the arena even before that, Israel ostensibly had to make do with the lesser evil.
>> Assad is preparing to retake Southwest Syria and Israel will have to decide whether to intervene | Analysis
But the Russian coalition is no love affair. Tehran and Moscow are at odds over control of the de-escalation zones. Turkey, which invaded Kurdish areas of northern Syria, threatens Russia’s desire for a united Syrian state.
Therefore if Israel’s goal is to oust Iran from Syria, Russia — rather than the United States or the Arab states — is the only power capable of limiting Iran’s operations there and perhaps even getting it to leave.
Assad is deeply dependent on Russia, even more than on Iran. And that’s convenient for Israel, because it means Syria’s foreign policy, including its future policy toward Israel, will be vetted by the Kremlin, thereby at least ensuring coordination with Israel and a reduction in the threat from Syria. In exchange, Israel has committed not to undermine Assad’s rule.


Moreover, Israel has insisted that the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement that followed the Yom Kippur War remains in effect, meaning Israel won’t accept Syrian forces in parts of the Golan Heights demilitarized under that agreement. Officially, UN observers oversee the agreement’s implementation. But in practice, it was the Assad regime that ensured that Syria upheld the agreement and that kept the border quiet for decades. Israel, which has a low opinion of UN observers, also used its military deterrence to persuade Assad that upholding the agreement served his interests.
Now Russia is effectively joining this supervisory force, and it sees eye to eye with Israel about the need to keep the border quiet. Therefore Israel ought to wish Assad sweeping success and a long life. And when Israeli ministers threaten his continued rule if he lets Iranian forces set up shop near Israel’s border, they should know they’re also threatening Russia — as well as Israel’s new strategic partner in the presidential palace in Damascus.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

British Air Force Lost Special Forces Plane on Covert Syria Mission

The British Royal Air Force targeted pro-Assad forces after a fight between coalition and pro-Assad forces broke out in the desert on the border between Jordan, Syria and Iraq

The British Royal Airforce directly targeted pro-Syrian regime forces near the border with Iraq and Jordan last month, The Sunday Times reports. One Syrian army officer was killed and seven others were injured.

The attack took place a month ago, when a RAF Typhoon fighter jet dropped a 500lb Paveway IV bomb on pro-Assad forces during a firefight near a British and American Special Forces base in the desert near al-Tanf on the Jordanian-Iraqi border. The bomb was dropped in response to the regime forces' attempt to approach the base. The base is used to train a Syrian rebel group fighting ISIS, Maghawir al-Thowra (MaT).

The base is surrounded by a 34-mile "deconfliction zone," which pro-Assad militias have been instructed by the U.S. to stay out of.

This is the first time that the British military bombed pro-Assad forces since it took part in a series of airstrikes in Syria with the Western Coalition in April, in response to Assad's reported use of chemical weapons against civilians in rebel-held territories.

In a separate incident, the Sunday Times reported that a £44 million transport aircraft has been seriously damaged in an accident in the Syrian desert. The damage was caused after a heavy landing during a covert mission. The aircraft, a C-130J Hercules, was used by the British SAS (Special Forces) in special missions in Iraq and Syria.

There have been various scuffles between the coalition forces and the pro-Assad Shi'ite militias which control the border area.

On June 21, several Maghawir al-Thowra combatants and coalition "consultants" fell under fire from from outside the zone. The firing came from an area not known to be under ISIS control, according to the British Ministry of Defense.

The forces withdrew in order to defuse the situation, but one position persisted in firing upon them, said the Ministry statement.

It said the retaliatory strike was "wholly proportionate," but refused to disclose the identity of the forces attacked.

Maghawir al-Thowra is a rebel group compromising of defectors of the Syrian Arab Army (pro-Assad), and the remnants of other rebel groups established in the Syrian Civil War.

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/british-air-force-lost-special-forces-plane-on-covert-syria-mission-1.6223598

[Abz2000]

All rebels deserve to be punished according to the measure of their rebellion, and Allah is the True King of the Dominion of the heavens and the earth.

[JustTime]

What is happening in Syria is a genocide against Muslims

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update, may Allah reward him for his tireless efforts.

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[JustTime]

It's amazing how Assad and his idiotic supporters claim to support him because he is "Anti-Israel", when the reality is, yes any and every Muslim would oppose Israel and their transgressions in Palestine, on that same note we would also condemn actions taken against our Ummah anywhere and everywhere regardless of race,class and ethnicity. So why is it when a Rafidi or Nusayri murders our brothers it is okay but a Jew it isn't? This is the hypocriasy shown when it comes to the Jahils, Murtadin, and Munafiqeen when it comes to Assad whilst ignoring the Shia lienage to Judaism (Ibn Saba). If you think Assad is clean of oppression you are wrong, and if you think he is going to destroy Israel you are not only wrong but stupid as well. No he has no intentions to retake Golan, next for those of you who don't know history you would know of his father's crimes in the 1980s from murdering thousands of Muslims in Aleppo and Hama to how they besieged Palestinians with their Rafidi allies like the Amal Movement, and the crimes of the Nusayri Assad clan against our Palestinian brothers and sisters didn't end in the 80's just this year in 2018 Bashar continued the legacy of his father in harming Palestinians by brutally assaulting the Yarmouk Camp in Damascus using seige and starve tactics, barrel bombs, countless cowardly airstrikes and various assaults without regard for civlians, the situation in the Yarmouk Camp was so bad that a Murtad so called "Islamic Scholar" who praised Bashar condemned him for his ruthless sadistic brutality, and when the Nusayri army entered the Yarmouk camp Palestinians certainly weren't celebrating they left, and those who survived the brutality of Assad's Nusayri Army and their cowardly "Tiger Forces" led by the Nusayri Russian asset Suheil Hassan, they were left in a state of displacement, homelessness, and sorrow. The Palestinians of the Yarmouk Camp who foolishly counted on Assad and his fiery "Anti-Zionist" rhetoric were not targted by Israel, ISIS, the FSA, HTS or anyonr but Bashar it was Bashar the so called anti-Zionist who utilitzed the strongest of his forces and the most of Russia's coward aerial forces to slaughter them in their camp just like how his father besieged the Palestinians he supposedly supported in Lebanon in the 80s with his Rafidi allies from the Amal Movement, May Allah Damn the Nusayris and Assad and give victory to those whom he opposes.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

All rebels deserve to be punished according to the measure of their rebellion, and Allah is the True King of the Dominion of the heavens and the earth.

Im not sure what your trying to say bro, whatever the rights and wrongs of this conflict, its understandalbe why many would rebel against the Assad regime.

Caution distressing images

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[Abz2000]

@Junon - i believe that rebellion is a destructive trait and that it is the position of the followers of iblees and his anarchist dupes.

A true Muslim believer knows no rebellion and only knows obedience to Allah and progresses forwards in the establishment of justice.
If any rebel in Allah's kingdom - whether leader or common citizen - is to be fought against, a true Muslim believer fights from a position of sound authority and analysis of Allah's will so as not to fall to destruction since a person's duty is to obey and serve Allah in sincerity and truth.

All rebels are dupes of Satan and are usually cannon fodder who don't really know what's good for themselves and get used like muppets.

[JustTime]

@Junon - i believe that rebellion is a destructive trait and that it is the position of the followers of iblees and his anarchist dupes.

A true Muslim believer knows no rebellion and only knows obedience to Allah and progresses forwards in the establishment of justice.
If any rebel in Allah's kingdom - whether leader or common citizen - is to be fought against, a true Muslim believer fights from a position of sound authority and analysis of Allah's will so as not to fall to destruction since a person's duty is to obey and serve Allah in sincerity and truth.

All rebels are dupes of Satan and are usually cannon fodder who don't really know what's good for themselves and get used like muppets.

Murtad Wallahi

[Abz2000]

Murtad Wallahi

Who?

[سيف الله]

Salaam

@Junon - i believe that rebellion is a destructive trait and that it is the position of the followers of iblees and his anarchist dupes.

A true Muslim believer knows no rebellion and only knows obedience to Allah and progresses forwards in the establishment of justice.
If any rebel in Allah's kingdom - whether leader or common citizen - is to be fought against, a true Muslim believer fights from a position of sound authority and analysis of Allah's will so as not to fall to destruction since a person's duty is to obey and serve Allah in sincerity and truth.

All rebels are dupes of Satan and are usually cannon fodder who don't really know what's good for themselves and get used like muppets.

This old debate. The difference between what you can hope for rather than what can be actually achieved. Getting past all the complexity of the conflict (rebels being hijacked, geopolitical power games etc) Assad brought a lot of this on himself by his unreasonable behaviour.

Finally have to say that's a rather callous and cruel attitude you display to those who fight for their freedom (describing the rebels as 'muppets' really?). Disappointing :hmm:

[Abz2000]

Salaam



This old debate. The difference between what you can hope for rather than what can be actually achieved. Getting past all the complexity of the conflict (rebels being hijacked, geopolitical power games etc) Assad brought a lot of this on himself by his unreasonable behaviour.

Finally have to say that's a rather callous and cruel attitude you display to those who fight for their freedom (describing the rebels as 'muppets' really?). Disappointing :hmm:

@Junon - if you put yourself in the correct matrix and accept that Allah :swt: is the True King - then you will accept the fact that those who rebel against Allah are the party of Satan the persistent rebel.
If you position yourself in false matrices - you will inevitably take other false ones as gods besides Allah and will be worthy of condemnation.

Taaghoot are not worthy of my worship whereas Allah is worthy - therefore rebelling against taaghoot is a waste of mental and physical energy other than using the terms for the sake of debate in order to put things in correct perspective - and it is hateful and foolish to put them on the pedestal of Allah :swt: - rather it is more fitting that a person obeys Allah and that he/she strives in Allah's cause in order to make the true guidance of Allah :swt: uppermost from a position of truthful and just authority and not from a position of falsehood and rebellion.

Consider - would your leader ever claim to be rebelling against you if you commited a crime against Allah and he/she was taking the appropriate and just measures to rectify the situation in submission and obedience to Allah :swt: ?
It would be much more inappropriate to put the faithful servants of the Most High Allah :swt: in a position of rebellion when they are dealing with rebels in Allah's Kingdom.

Rebellion is more aligned with kufr and cheekiness - and there are only two verses in the Quran that i know of which describes those who commit kufr of taaghoot.
And these verses are a fitnah as can be seen in context.


لَا إِكْرَاهَ فِي الدِّينِ قَد تَّبَيَّنَ الرُّشْدُ مِنَ الْغَيِّ فَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِالطَّاغُوتِ وَيُؤْمِن بِاللَّهِ فَقَدِ اسْتَمْسَكَ بِالْعُرْوَةِ الْوُثْقَىٰ لَا انفِصَامَ لَهَا وَاللَّهُ سَمِيعٌ عَلِيمٌ

M. M. Pickthall
There is no compulsion in religion. The right direction is henceforth distinct from error. And he who rejecteth false deities and believeth in Allah hath grasped a firm handhold which will never break. Allah is Hearer, Knower.

اللَّهُ وَلِيُّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يُخْرِجُهُم مِّنَ الظُّلُمَاتِ إِلَى النُّورِوَالَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَوْلِيَاؤُهُمُ الطَّاغُوتُ يُخْرِجُونَهُم مِّنَ النُّورِ إِلَى الظُّلُمَاتِ أُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ

M. M. Pickthall
Allah is the Protecting Guardian of those who believe. He bringeth them out of darkness into light. As for those who disbelieve, their patrons are false deities. They bring them out of light into darkness. Such are rightful owners of the Fire. They will abide therein.

أَلَمْ تَرَ إِلَى الَّذِي حَاجَّ إِبْرَاهِيمَ فِي رَبِّهِ أَنْ آتَاهُ اللَّهُ الْمُلْكَ إِذْ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ رَبِّيَ الَّذِي يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ قَالَ أَنَا أُحْيِي وَأُمِيتُ قَالَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ يَأْتِي بِالشَّمْسِ مِنَ الْمَشْرِقِ فَأْتِ بِهَا مِنَ الْمَغْرِبِ فَبُهِتَ الَّذِي كَفَرَ وَاللَّهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ

M. M. Pickthall
Bethink thee of him who had an argument with Abraham about his Lord, because Allah had given him the kingdom; how, when Abraham said: My Lord is He Who giveth life and causeth death, he answered: I give life and cause death. Abraham said: Lo! Allah causeth the sun to rise in the East, so do thou cause it to come up from the West. Thus was the disbeliever abashed. And Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk.

From Quran, Chapter 2 - Al Baqarah


قَدْ كَانَتْ لَكُمْ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ فِي إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ إِذْ قَالُوا لِقَوْمِهِمْ إِنَّا بُرَآءُ مِنكُمْ وَمِمَّا تَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِكَفَرْنَا بِكُمْ وَبَدَا بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمُ الْعَدَاوَةُ وَالْبَغْضَاءُ أَبَدًا حَتَّىٰ تُؤْمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَحْدَهُ إِلَّا قَوْلَ إِبْرَاهِيمَ لِأَبِيهِ لَأَسْتَغْفِرَنَّ لَكَ وَمَا أَمْلِكُ لَكَ مِنَ اللَّهِ مِن شَيْءٍ رَّبَّنَا عَلَيْكَ تَوَكَّلْنَا وَإِلَيْكَ أَنَبْنَا وَإِلَيْكَ الْمَصِيرُ

M. M. Pickthall
There is a goodly pattern for you in Abraham and those with him, when they told their folk: Lo! we are guiltless of you and all that ye worship beside Allah. We have done with you. And there hath arisen between us and you hostility and hate for ever until ye believe in Allah only - save that which Abraham promised his father (when he said): I will ask forgiveness for thee, though I own nothing for thee from Allah - Our Lord! In Thee we put our trust, and unto Thee we turn repentant, and unto Thee is the journeying.

Quran, Chapter 60, Verse 4



Other than that piece of emergency code to be used in Allah's work in submission and obedience to Him - the term Kaafir is used to refer to the ungrateful rejecter of Allah, of true justice - and is generally used to refer to criminals.

Now i expect that you won't call Ibraheem :as: a kaafir despite his rhetorical argument, or ask me to generally support kuffaar after knowing the general differences between common usage of the terms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUAie-X3u8I

Secularist leaders are more fitted to be referred to as rebels worthy of punishment than are Muslim believers in Allah :swt:


قَالَ أَلْقُوا فَلَمَّا أَلْقَوْا سَحَرُوا أَعْيُنَ النَّاسِ وَاسْتَرْهَبُوهُمْ وَجَاءُوا بِسِحْرٍ عَظِيمٍ

M. M. Pickthall
He said: Throw! And when they threw they cast a spell upon the people's eyes, and overawed them, and produced a mighty spell.


وَأَوْحَيْنَا إِلَىٰ مُوسَىٰ أَنْ أَلْقِ عَصَاكَ فَإِذَا هِيَ تَلْقَفُ مَا يَأْفِكُونَ

M. M. Pickthall
And We inspired Moses (saying): Throw thy staff! And lo! it swallowed up their lying show.

Quran Chapter 7, Verses 116-117


وَلَوْ فَتَحْنَا عَلَيْهِم بَابًا مِّنَ السَّمَاءِ فَظَلُّوا فِيهِ يَعْرُجُونَ

M. M. Pickthall
And even if We opened unto them a gate of heaven and they kept mounting through it,

لَقَالُوا إِنَّمَا سُكِّرَتْ أَبْصَارُنَا بَلْ نَحْنُ قَوْمٌ مَّسْحُورُونَ

M. M. Pickthall
They would say: Our sight is wrong - nay, but we are folk bewitched.

Quran, Chapter 15, Verses 14-15




6. And remember, Jesus, the son of Mary, said: “O Children of Israel! I am the Messenger of Allah (sent) to you, confirming the Torah (which came) before me, and giving Glad Tidings of a Messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad.(The Praised One)” But when he came to them with Clear Signs, they said, “this is evident sorcery!”
7. And who does more wrong than one who invents falsehood against Allah, even as he is being invited to Islam? And Allah guides not those who do wrong.
8. Their intention is to extinguish Allah's Light (by blowing) with their mouths: But Allah will complete His Light, even though the Unbelievers may hate it..
9. It is He Who has sent His Messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth, that he may proclaim it over all religion, even though the Pagans may detest (it).

[Yahya.]

This video has many flaws and you can't blame Muhaysini, Abu Hasan or the Kurdish man interviewed as they don't know any better, but the reality is the Kurdish man they interviewed even stated he supported Masoud Barzani and Barzani supports the PKK-PYD/Rojava they disagree politically but the reality is he favors them, and the dispute is no different than the traditional Liberal-Conservative political dispute that exists in most Democratic countries like the United States with the Republican and Democrats or UK with Labour and Conservatives and so on, admittedly yes, Barzani is a lesser evil to the Leftists from PKK-PYD and KCK organization as a whole but the facts are that Barzani's hands are wet with the blood of Arab Muslims just like Rojava.

This video is exaggerating and excluding a lot of important details, for example Muhaysini asked "Who would let their wives fight this is contrary to Kurdish culture" when history shows that Kurdish tribes in Northeastern Iraq would encourage their women to fight in place of men and this goes back to the 1500s, and their greater history of using women in battle goes back further just read about it here,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_women_in_warfare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurdish_women

And yes the Prophet (SAAWS) did condemn the barbaric and vile ways of the Jahil Arabs on many occasions, and yes he did praise aspects of the Arab culture even the Jahils, because for one he was an Arab and secondly Arabs are descendants of Ibrahim and retained a lot of his virtues in their culture.

The video also claims that Kurds never fought Muslims when many Kurds did in fact support the Byzantine and Zoroastrian empires that ruled over the Jazeera region of Iraq and Sham and you can look it up too.

The video also claims that Kurdish nationalism is a Zionist invention yet the history of the Kurdish nationalist movement as we know it today goes back far before Israel was a country, and what enabled the groups like the PKK was actually the Soviet Union and other Communists. Again with Barzani he presents himself as a 'Conservative' even though he was born in a short lived Soviet puppet state created in Northern Iran after World War 2 and his family/clan after the Soviet puppet state was annexed by Iran moved into Iraq and worked closely with Iraqi Communists and Leftists by gathering a large amount of Kurdish support to overthrow the Iraqi king.

And when Iraq was a Communist country the Kurds had total power over the state even though the leader of the country was Abd al-Karim Qasim who was an Arab, under his rule the Kurds had so much power they replaced Arabic as the official language of the country with Kurdish and during the rule of Qasim his policies were so unpopular and the Kurds had so much influence in the country's politics that there was a popular Arab uprising led by Saddam Hussein and his family and friends to restore proper order to Iraq, it was in fact Arabs who saved Iraq from a Kurdish attempt to change Iraq's demographics from Arab majority to Kurdish majority with support from Israel and the Soviet Union, and when the Iraqi Baath Party saved Iraq this outraged the Israelis and the Soviets and other Communist movements and states and this prompted the Kurds to yet again rebel with Israeli and Iranian (Shah era) support.

This video has many inaccuracies and is incorrect in many ways

I agree that there are some inaccuracies in the video. Being a Kurd our brother tries to manifest the virtue of his people, which is not a bad thing in itself. As I had said, there is no point in scolding a whole nation or making such classifications. Even if such happens in your mind, which you cannot influence - and are not held accountable of with the grace of Allah-, one must suppress the desire to give a voice to such notions which eventually lead to chauvinism. Like any other nation, Kurds have both meritorious deeds and faults. Overseeing the faults and emphasising on the meritorious stances of peoples is the prophetic methodology. If you continue on this way, you are only satisfying your Arab ego and displaying your insensate rancour, which will distance you from your Kurdish brothers - if that's a point of concern for you.

[Periwinkle18]

Ameen ya rabb

may Allah help all our brothers and sisters there breaks my heart everytime I read about Syria least we can do is make dua for our brothers and sister and send money in order to help them out somehow

[JustTime]

May Allah damn the Majoos Rafida Shias

[JustTime]

Syrian Arab Army captured Maskan Jallin and Tell al-Ashari, while the Russian Military Police entered the city of Tafas in western Daraa.
Syrian Arab Army and the Syrian Arab Air Force aided the Free Syrian Army in repelling Islamic State-affiliated Jaysh Khalid ibn al-Walid’s attack on the village of Hayt in western Daraa. Jaysh Khalid ibn al-Walid’s shelling of the locality reportedly killed four and wounded six civilians.
Free Syrian Army successfully expelled Hayat Tahrir al-Sham from the city of Inkhil, after the latter entered the locality and demanded evacuation of the locality within 24 hours in order to start a military operation against the Syrian Arab Army and allies. Free Syrian Army wounded two elements of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and destroyed an armored vehicle during clashes between the two in and around Inkhil. Two civilians were also wounded in the clashes between the two.
https://syrianwardaily.com/2018/07/1...-of-july-2018/

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Israel, Saudi and UAE suggested Trump-Putin deal: Report

Officials from the three countries privately encouraged Trump to work closely with Putin on Syria and reconsider Ukraine-related sanctions

Emirati, Israeli and Saudi officials separately suggested a diplomatic deal to Donald Trump where Russia would curb Iranian influence in Syria in exchange for lifting Ukraine-related sanctions, the New Yorker magazine reported on Tuesday, citing current and former US officials.

Floating the deal happened in conversations before Trump's election in 2016, during the transition and after his inauguration, according to the report. They may be of interest to special counsel Robert Mueller who is investigating foreign influence on US elections and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The UAE's powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed made the suggestion before the elections to a "longtime American interlocutor," the magazine reported.

Between the election and Trump's inauguration, Israel's ambassador to the US Ron Dermer also proposed that the new administration work closely with Moscow to persuade Russian President Vladimir Putin to "push the Iranians to leave" Syria, according to the report.

Israel has made Iranian military presence in Syria a top priority in its bilateral talks with Russia.

"Our position on Syria is clear," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in May. "We believe that there is no place for any Iranian military presence, anywhere in Syria."

At a private dinner in the United States in March 2017, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir and his UAE counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed also recommended a US deal with Russia involving sanctions and Syria, the New Yorker reported.

"Their message was: 'Why don’t we lift the Ukrainian sanctions on Russia in exchange for getting the Russians to push Iran out of Syria,'" the magazine quoted an attendee of the dinner as saying, without revealing his identity.

The UAE's contacts with the Trump campaign have become a target of Mueller's investigation.

In January 2017, Trump confidant Erik Prince met with the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund Kirill Dmitriev, who is close to Putin, at the Seychelles islands. Prince was at the islands at the invitation of the UAE crown prince.

Leaked emails obtained by MEE revealed earlier this month that Trump’s closest advisers were willing to exchange inside information about US government appointments with Yousef al-Otaiba, the Emirati ambassador to Washington.

Correspondence between Otaiba and Tom Barrack, a longstanding friend of Trump and a billionaire fundraiser, revealed that Barrack offered to bring Trump, then a candidate, to meet the Emirati ambassador for coffee in April 2016.

It also showed how the Republican platform for 2016 was altered to remove a call for the publication of 28 pages of allegedly incriminating documents from the 9/11 inquiry; and how Otaiba sought information about top appointments from Barrack while Trump was president-elect.

The pages were eventually published days before the GOP platform was released.

Meanwhile, Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn has reportedly joined a Washington firm that lobbies for Qatar. Flynn was forced out of the administration in February 2017 for failing to disclose that he discussed sanctions in a phone conversation with Russia's ambassador to the US while Barack Obama was still president.

Last year, the UAE and Saudi Arabia imposed sanctions on Qatar, accusing it of financing militants and being close to Iran, accusations that Doha denies.

Both Qatar and the Saudi-led bloc are vying for influence in Washington.

Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is said to be cooperating with the Mueller investigation, had done lobbying work for Turkey before the 2016 elections.

He will now be director of global strategy at Stonington Global LLC, which lobbies for Doha.

"The general's uniquely American story and his commitment to national security, freedom and counter-terrorism are an inspiration to millions of Americans, and we are excited to work with him to promote these values around the world," said company founder Nick Muzin.

However, the ex-general denied that he joined the company, calling the statement a "misunderstanding".

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/israel-saudi-and-uae-suggested-trump-putin-deal-report-523368789

More generally

[Abz2000]

Edited.


Hasbuna Allah wa ni'ma al wakeel ni'ma al maulaa wa ni'ma an nasueer.

[JustTime]

https://nedaa-sy.com/en/week_issues/42

With the media prelude by the Syrian regime and Iran in mid-June to start the military campaign on the province of Daraa, there was a lot of speculation and military analysis almost all in favor of the scenario of the eastern Ghouta is unlikely to recur in the southern province for military and political reasons.

Expectations that Russia and the Iranian militias will not carry out the attack for political reasons related to the existence of the agreement to reduce the escalation signed with the United States, but Washington shocked the factions of the southern front with a clear message that it would not "interfere" if the province of Deraa is attacked.

The reasons for the collapse of the revolutionary factions in Daraa governorate can be summarized as follows:

First: the weakness of fortifications : It can be said that the military fortifications of the factions were limited to the points of contact with the militias of the regime in the region of Lajat, Naima and al-Yadouda and the fronts of the city of Daraa known as "Daraa al-Balad", despite the frequent reports of the Russian campaign, but there was no work on the establishment of second defense lines that can be used in the event of the collapse of the contact points.

The Daraa al-Balad front line was able to withstand a great deal during the campaign days, and the stationing forces over there managed to destroy about 12 vehicles, including 8 tanks, and carried out counter-attacks in which they retrieved points near the air base, while the collapses were rapid after the "Basr al-Harir" front line because of lack of the fortifications and the fact that the areas are flatlands and easy to collapse and the nature of their composition is different from the city.

Russia's use of the air force, rocket and artillery shells have greatly reduced the possibility of resistance, especially in light of the use of thermal and smart missiles to target the mechanisms and even movements of individuals.

Second: Closing the border and the difficulty of the humanitarian situation: The military operation has been preceded by understandings between Russia and Jordan in order to close the border in the face of others and not allow the entry of wounded, whether fighters or civilians.

Russian warplanes continued to target both civilians and combatants without the possibility of being transferred to a safe area, which was a great psychological pressure on the fighters on the fronts. In addition, some 200,000 displaced persons were trapped and deployed on the border, without the most basic needs of food and drink, and the death and injury of dozens of them due to bad conditions and aerial bombardment.



Third: Regional Interventions: In late June, the Al-Quds Al-Arabi newspaper published leaks in which the Vice President of the Syrian Negotiating Committee Khaled Al-Mahameed led an UAE-American project to hand over the cities and towns of Daraa and Quneitra to Russia after deporting the fighters, who reject the settlement to northern Syria.

Al-Mahameed turned into an alternative plan after he was confronted by another Free Army factions opponent to such a project, where Shabab al-Sunnah led by Ahmad al-Awda held a separate agreement with the Russians and the Iranian militia had been facilitated to pass through the military road towards the front lines of the city via Bosra al-Sham, which became available , which led to the acceleration of the fall of the eastern areas of the city.







Fourth: Intelligence breakthroughs: The Syrian regime's intelligence used some of the figures attributed to it, which has tribal ties with residents of areas in the province of Daraa in order to penetrate the decision of those areas.

The mayor of al-Karak town played an important role in persuading the inhabitants of the town to allow the Assad forces and the Iranian militias go into. The intelligence relations of the regime allowed the so-called "notables" to enter the town without confrontations. The same experiment was repeated in Ebta', which had a great military impact in terms of widening the engagement front lines, and surprise of the revolutionary factions with attacks from areas they did not expect, in addition to the negative moral impact.

There is no doubt that the fragmentation of the military decision and the decentralization of the resolution throughout the province and the outbreak of the factionalism is a factor that can not be overlooked, and we have seen its reflection on the negotiation stage experienced by almost every single geographical bloc.

[JustTime]

'Amir b. Sa'd reported on the authority of his father that one day Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) came from a high, land. He passed by the mosque of Banu Mu'awiya, went in and observed two rak'ahs there and we also observed prayer along with him and he made a long supplication to his Lord. He then came to us and said: I asked my Lord three things and He has granted me two but has withheld one. I begged my Lord that my Ummah should not be destroyed because of famine and He granted me this. And I begged my Lord that my Ummah should not be destroyed by drowning (by deluge) and He granted me this. And I begged my Lord that there should be no bloodshed among the people of my Ummah. but He did not grant it.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Trump and Putin have met in Helsinki. Bilals take.

Another interpretation

Blurb

The Russian military is ready to work with the US colleagues on all the areas discussed by the two presidents during the Helsinki summit, namely cooperation in Syria and mutual reduction of the strategic nuclear arsenals.

[urkahnkhan]

@Junon - i believe that rebellion is a destructive trait and that it is the position of the followers of iblees and his anarchist dupes.

A true Muslim believer knows no rebellion and only knows obedience to Allah and progresses forwards in the establishment of justice.
If any rebel in Allah's kingdom - whether leader or common citizen - is to be fought against, a true Muslim believer fights from a position of sound authority and analysis of Allah's will so as not to fall to destruction since a person's duty is to obey and serve Allah in sincerity and truth.

All rebels are dupes of Satan and are usually cannon fodder who don't really know what's good for themselves and get used like muppets.

What rebellion? Are you claiming rebellion against Assad is against ALLAH(Swt) or Am I misunderstanding something. Assad and his followers are the lowest of any creation of Allah on earth and could have an argument when it comes to all time lowest. They are certainly strong candidates in that category let alone anything else. Whomever removes one of them from life itself is noble

[Abz2000]

The explanation is to be found here:

Oh Syria the victory is coming

Enough of the wishy washy nonsense.
Leaders and citizens either submit to Allah and establish His guidance or go head to head against Him and make clear that they are frauds falsely claiming Godhood - they can take the consequesnces for their actions without their plan being dark and dubious - and without confusing the foolish and weak minded amongst them with twisted illusions.


Allah عزوجل has sent us to deliver you from worshipping the creation to worshipping the creator of the creation and to deliver you from the constriction of this world to the vastness of this world and the after life. And from the oppressions of religions to the justice of Islam.

[urkahnkhan]

The explanation is to be found here:

Oh Syria the victory is coming

Enough of the wishy washy nonsense - leaders and citizens either submit to Allah and establish His guidance or go head to head against Him and make clear that they are frauds falsely claiming Godhood - they can take the consequesnces for their actions without their plan being dark and dubious - and without confusing the foolish and weak minded amongst them with twisted illusions.

I could hardly pick up anything meaningful in all of that to be fairly honest with you. Try to be straightforward so that I can understand what you are saying.

1. Are you saying fighting against Assad is ''HARAM''

2. Are you saying these who are fighting against Assad themselves are ''Taghoot''

3. Are you saying that both sides are taghoot

Whatever you are trying to imply It's not coming out straightforward

[Abz2000]

I could hardly pick up anything meaningful in all of that to be fairly honest with you. Try to be straight forward so that I can understand what you are saying.

I find it amazing that something quite so simple and explained in such intricate detail can appear too advanced to an individual abouve the age of puberty.

1. Are you saying fighting against Assad is ''HARAM''

I am stating that obeying and serving Allah - the true King and Ruler of the heavens and of the earth, of the east and of the west and all that is between - is a right and duty of every individual. The man Assad is not the focal point of the universe and therefore does not deserve my energy in terms of rebellion - rather, obeying and serving Allah is my duty and your duty - just as it is the duty of Assad, Putin, Trump, Rothschilds, Elizabeth, Trump, Sally Sixpack, and Joe Soccermom.

Have some dignity .... rebelling against a cat or child or "man cat" if they do wrong is below you if you have any self respect .....

2. Are you saying these who are fighting against Assad themselves are ''Taghoot''

Again the straw man assad .... that was quite a twisted and sweeping generalisation which it is impossible to answer so generally given the confusion and turmoil caused by foolish secularists who have been preparing to attack Syria for over a decade - it either indicates your ill intentions or your lack of understanding of the varying intentions of those involved.O servants of Allah :swt: - hold fast to Allah in order to hold fast to the just truth with stability, and to be successful.

Anyone rebelling against Allah :swt: is taaghoot, and anyone who submits to Allah :swt: , obeys Allah :swt: , and seeks to get others - whether leaders or citizens - to obey Allah :swt: to do the same - are righteous.

3. Are you saying that both sides are taghoot

If you had presented me with any genuine object or matrix which i could analyse to determine whether it has two sides - i could possibly have responded from an informed perspective.

Let me inforn you of the only real two sides though - they are the sides within each individual which will have all data extracted and put on the scales of true justice, and will lead you to either paradise - or hell.

Let none of us be fooled by the distracting foolish games of fools - the foolish Anti X.

[urkahnkhan]

I find it amazing that something quite so simple and explained in such intricate detail can appear too advanced.



I am stating that obeying and serving Allah - the true King and ruler - is a right and duty of every individual. The man Assad is not the focal point of the universe and therefore does not deserve my energy in terms of rebellion - rather, obeying and serving Allah is my duty and your duty - just as it is the duty of Assad, Putin, Trump, Rothschilsds, and Elizabeth, and Trump.
Have some dignity .... rebelling against a cat or child or "man cat" if they do wrong is below you if you have any self respect .....




Again the straw man assad .... that was quite a twisted and sweeping generalisation which it is impossible to answer so generally given the confusion and turmoil caused by foolish secularists who have been preparing to attack Syria for over a decade - it either indicates your ill intentions or your lack of understanding of the varying intentions of those involved.
O servants of Allah :swt: - hold fast to Allah in order to hold fast to the just truth and be successful.
Anyone rebelling against Allah :swt: is taaghoot and anyone who submits to Allah :swt: , obeys Allah :swt: , and seeks to get others - whether leaders or citizens - to obey Allah :swt: to do the same - are righteous.



If you had presented me with any genuine object or matrix which i could analyse to determine whether it has two sides - i could possibly have responded from an informed perspective.

Let me tell you about the only real two sides though - they are the sides within each individual which will have all data extracted and be put on the scales of true justice, and will lead you to either paradise - or hell.

Let none of us be fooled by the distracting foolish games of fools.

Now I get it. Are you a pacifist what in the world?

You are trying to speak about tawheed yet again you can't realize the fact on the ground? You can't tell truth from falsehood in the political landscape of this world.

Do you happen to be Madkhali or perhaps Takfari sect. I know that sort of tone. I have heard it before. ''I'm not going to rebel against murderes vile dictator who is firuan level'' Is this what the Sahaba or true muslim would do? If you are not willing to rebel then what is there left to serve Allah with? If you can't rebel against a tyrant? how can there be any good in anyone beyond that stage

[Abz2000]

Now I get it. Are you a pacifist what in the world?

You are trying to speak about tawheed yet again you can't realize the fact on the ground? You can't tell truth from falsehood in the political landscape of this world.

Do you happen to be Madkhali or perhaps Takfari sect. I know that sort of tone. I have heard it before. ''I'm not going to rebel against murderes vile dictator who is firuan level'' Is this what the Sahaba or true muslim would do? If you are not willing to rebel then what is there left to serve Allah with? If you can't rebel against a tyrant? how can there be any good in anyone beyond that stage

Are you a waste -man ?
Do you define yourself by rubbish and your relationship to it?
or by Allah :swt: and your relationship to Justice and truth in Allah's sight?

[urkahnkhan]

Are you a waste -man ?
Do you define yourself by rubbish and your relationship to it?
or by Allah :swt: and your relationship to Justice and truth in Allah's sight?

Amazing. You have nothing to add to this topic instead of going around relationship with Allah and truth etc etc. Truth has already become casualty in your narrative.

It's a very intense moment in syria people are being killed in the thousands for being ahlul tawheed and you are saying they have no right to defend themselves?

I don't even know I why would continue this topic. May Allah show you the truth

[Abz2000]

Amazing. You have nothing to add to this topic instead of going around relationship with Allah and truth etc etc. Truth has already become casualty in your narrative. It's a very intense moment in syria people are being killed in the thousands for being ahlul tawheed and you are saying they have no right to defend themselves? I don't even know I why would continue this topic. May Allah show you the truth

Refrain from making up false speech and attributing it to me - my narrative is easy to sift through from page one of this thread - and this thread began in 2012 when the governments and media of America, France, Britain, and their allies had already begun the destabilization campaign before that - and were funding troll groups within the populace - and within media, government, and non-government organizations to foment chaos in the country and wider region based on heat and cant of jaahiliyah - using cliches such as "pro-democracy protests" in order to begin a civil war as a pretext for another illegal invasion of a land where Islaam has a rich history and was flourishing again.

What i am saying is that all people -including those in government have a right and a duty to serve and obey Allah :swt: - now go and study Islam - starting with the Quran - in order to understand what this entails.

[urkahnkhan]

Refrain from making up false speech and attributing it to me - my narrative is easy to sift through from page one of this thread - and this thread began in 2012 when the governments and media of America, France, Britain, and their allies had already begun the destabilization campaign before that - and were funding troll groups within the populace - and within media, government, and non-government organizations to foment chaos in the country and wider region based on heat and cant of jaahiliyah - using cliches such as "pro-democracy protests" in order to begin a civil war as a pretext for another illegal invasion of a land where Islaam has a rich history and was flourishing again.

What i am saying is that all people -including those in government have a right and a duty to serve and obey Allah :swt: - now go and study Islam - starting with the Quran - in order to understand what this entails.

I'm not attributing anything to you. By the way your just a peasant Your opinions dosen't fly beyond you keep that in mind.

Here is a hadith from the Prophet(sa) regarding our current situation and in this time of fitnatul duhamia

The Prophet (saws) said, “At the end of time there will be a trial in which people will be sorted (fitnatul Duhaima) in a similar way to that in which gold is sorted from metal. Therefore do not rebuke the people of Syria rather, rebuke the evil people among them, because amongst them are the Abdals (Awliya). Allah will send a flood from Heaven (an event) that will disperse their groups in a way that if foxes were to attack them they would be victorious. Then Allah will send a man (to the people of syria) from the perfumed musked children of the Messenger, praise and peace be upon him, amongst approximately 12-15,000 under three banners and their password is ‘Die, die!’ And they will be fought by the people of 7 banners under each is a man seeking the kingdom (Syria). They will be killed, defeated, then the Hashimite (leader of the black flags) will appear, so Allah will restore unity and favors to the people and this will be the case until the Dajjaal (the lying, false messiah) comes.”

I'm not saying all of the rebels are on haqq for example FSA and all the other secularist are not but HTS and some other few pro-islamic groups are indeed on Haqq and may Allah reward them Jannatul Firdows there works are well appreciated according to Hadith and islamic evidence they are doing good work.

The Prophet (pbuh) Said: “So do not rebuke the people of Syria but rebuke the evil people among them because amongst them are the Abdals (Awliya). A flood is about to be sent down upon the people of Syria (the Arab spring), which will disperse their groups (cause a civil war) in such a way, that if foxes (deceptive and cunning groups) attacked they would be beaten. At that time a man from the Family of my House will come (to the people of Syria) under 3 banners; between 12-15,000 and their password is – ‘Die, die.’ Then, there will come 7 banners and under each will be one man seeking the kingdom (Syria). Allah will kill all of them and restore unity and favors upon the hearts of Muslims, and those who were far (the Syrians who emigrated) come close.

Another hadith chain that is similar..

Al-Hakim narrated from ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (ra) that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “There will be at the end of time a trial that will sort out men as gold is sorted out from metal (fitnatul Duhaima). So do not revile the people of Sham, but revile their evil ones (the dictators and their group), for among them are the Abdal
[Awliya/Saints]. A flood is about to be released upon the people of Sham (the Arab spring) that will split their unity, so that even if foxes (ISIS and Al Qaeda) attack them they would defeat them. At that time, a man from my household will come out with three banners (to the people of Syria). The one who estimates highly will say that they are fifteen thousand. And the one who estimates lower will say that they are twelve thousand. Their sign will be: “Amit, amit [kill, kill].” They will meet in battle seven banners, and under each of those banners will be a man seeking the kingdom (Syria). Allah will kill all of them, and restore to the Muslims their unity and bounty and their far ones and near ones (the Syrians who emigrated will come back).” (These Ahadith are found in the references of Abu Dawud, Ahmad, Ibn Majah and At-Tabarani and al Hakim reported them).

I'm not Syrian nor Arab but a non-arabic speaking muslim. There are good believers amongst the people of Shaam and they deserve more then repsect and our Duas.

''Qurrah ibn Iyas reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If the people of Syria (al-Shām) are corrupted, then there will be no good in you. A group among my nation will continue to be supported, unharmed by those who fail them until the establishment of the Hour.”
Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2192
Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to At-Tirmidhi''


Not only that but Mahdi himself will come to Syria and the Angels rest their wings in Shaam.

“O tooba (a tree in paradise/glad tidings) for the Al-Shaam!, O tooba (a tree in paradise/glad tidings) for the Al-Shaam!, O tooba (a tree in paradise/glad tidings) for Al-Shaam!” They said: “O Messenger of Allah! How did they get this?” He replied “The angels of Allah have rested their wings upon Al-Shaam.”

And not to forget Isa banu Maryam will descent there trying to assist people who are being fought there. All in all you shouldn't rush yourself on this people while there is some very good souls amongst them and struggling for haqq

[Abz2000]

@urkahnkhan

You may have gotten a wrong estimate of the One for Whom i actually work - i am openly telling you to be very careful unless you want to suffer the just consequences of your insolence.
This is the work of Allah which you are striving against and the casualties you are careless of can justify a massive response against you and yours.
Do not stray too far beyond your limits.

Also do not for a second falsely assume that Allah is unaware of precisely who and what you are - despite the fact that you hide behind a cloak of hypocrisy and falsehood.

The warning is genuine, calm, open, and sincere.


لُعِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِن بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ عَلَىٰ لِسَانِ دَاوُودَ وَعِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ ذَٰلِكَ بِمَا عَصَوا وَّكَانُوا يَعْتَدُونَ

M. M. Pickthall
Those of the Children of Israel who went astray were cursed by the tongue of David, and of Jesus, son of Mary. That was because they rebelled and used to transgress.

Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
Curses were pronounced on those among the Children of Israel who rejected Faith, by the tongue of David and of Jesus the son of Mary: because they disobeyed and persisted in excesses.

Quran, Chapter 5, Verse 78

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Assad is back for good in Syria - and with Trump’s blessing

A US-Russia peace plan has huge implications for the Middle East

Amid the confusion and the almost deafening cries of treachery and collusion over Donald Trump’s relations with Russia, few noticed the most tangible outcome of this week’s Helsinki summit. In the lead-up to his face-to-face talk with Vladimir Putin, senior US and Russian diplomats — in close coordination with leaders from mutual ally Israel — brokered a deal among all the warring parties (bar the Islamist terrorists) finally to end the devastating seven-year Syrian civil war. As is often the case with Trump, the hype tends to drown out the message but it was there for anyone paying close enough attention. The US, Russians and Israelis have agreed on a solution to Syria. His name is Bashar al-Assad.

The summit agreed on the need for a permanent ceasefire between Syria and Israel (the two countries have been in a state of war since 1948) and the Syrian government will offer guarantees regarding the Jewish state’s security. With Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said to be behind Israel, and Turkey scrambling to fall into line behind Russia, it’s a done deal. Assad, in short, is here to stay — and the West must now begin the process of coming to terms with the fact that it backed the losing side in the Syrian civil war.

Given America was close to going to war against Assad not so long ago, it’s quite a shift — and one that has been some time in preparation. Last month, Trump quietly abandoned the US-backed Islamist rebels in south-western Syria. This was the birthplace of an uprising against Assad that began as a peaceful student protest but quickly drew in every major regional player, as well as key Nato members and Russia. Most of the rebels surrendered, and have been given safe passage to their last redoubt in the north. Those who remain now await what promises to be a final, devastating onslaught from the Syrian army and their allies in the Russian Air Force. And yes, we should expect the two to act in tandem: Syria is now, to all intents and purposes, a Russian protectorate.

The Syrian rebels who spent so long begging for American help and arms can now expect to be entirely abandoned. As part of the de-escalation process, Trump is said to be eager to withdraw the 2,000 or so US special forces still stationed in Syria. This way he could (rightly) claim to be honouring his campaign pledge to keep US soldiers out of interminable foreign conflicts whenever possible, while — in a ‘Mission Accomplished’ photo op — announcing the defeat of Islamic State in Syria. And all in time for US midterm elections in November.

None of this would have been possible without the Israelis’ consent. Days before the Helsinki summit, Benjamin Netanyahu dropped his own diplomatic bombshell following yet another meeting with Putin in Moscow (they have met at least nine times during the past 18 months). Israel, he said, would have no problem working with an Assad regime in Syria in the future. This is despite his repeated calls for regime change, and the Israeli air force bombing military targets inside the country dozens of times over the past few years.

So why is Bibi now keen on Assad? Because his main concern is routing the Iranian forces who have been settling down in Syria — often with Russian connivance. Israel also wants fighters from Hezbollah to return to Lebanon, and for Syria’s own forces to stay away from the border areas with Israel. If Russia would agree to this, Israel would be content to accept that Syria is under Russian management — and that the Kremlin has its own naval base on the Mediterranean.

Putin seems to have convinced Netanyahu that he would do everything in his power to see off the Iranians, and keep everyone far from the Israeli border. Given the almighty mess inside Syria, that is as much as Israel should reasonably expect of Putin in the short term. And what do the Iranians get in return? In what appears to be compensation for selling them out, Putin announced $50 billion in direct Russian investment in Iran’s oil and gas sectors — up from precisely nada the day before. Hezbollah can now retreat to southern Lebanon and Iran can even save face by saying its revolutionary guard has seen off Assad’s enemies.

Israel seems rather impatient for this new deal to begin, and has been bombing the bejesus out of Hezbollah and Iranian regime targets in Syria — even as the summit was convening. No one in Moscow has said anything significant about them publicly. And as a further concession, Putin has shelved plans to sell Assad Russia’s formidable S-400 air-defence systems, which would have been used to successfully repel further Israeli strikes. Trump now has a new red line: getting Iran out of Syria. ‘I made clear we will not allow Iran to benefit from our successful campaign against Isis,’ he said in Helsinki.

And as for Assad? The man Trump was calling a ‘monster’ as recently as April? The President is now willing to look the other way. Trump’s adviser John Bolton said that Assad’s continued rule in Syria is no longer a ‘strategic issue’ for the US. As comebacks go, this is rather extraordinary. Assad has gone from being the focus of western ire —with the House of Commons even taking a vote on whether to bomb his army — to being there for good.

As one seasoned Middle Eastern observer has drily noted, the West and its allies threw everything at him — but to no avail. Assad is now the first Arab leader to survive an attempt at regime change coordinated by the West, Gulf Arabs and Israel since Egyptian strongman Gamal Abdul Nasser emerged unscathed from the Suez debacle back in 1956. Even his alleged use of chemical weapons — punished by Trump himself in a missile strike three months ago — has not derailed his campaign.

The impotence of Assad’s enemies was almost comically illustrated when last week Syria was given the rotating presidency of the UN-backed Conference on Disarmament. Quite something for a leader judged by the UN to have used chemical weapons as a routine weapon of war.

Far more important for Assad is that, in the eyes of most of the Syrian people, he is a hero — and not least for having saved their bacon by wiping out Islamic State. An annual survey of Arab public opinion published last week revealed that the US (84 per cent) and Israel (90 per cent) are still perceived by Arabs as the greatest threats to regional security, ahead of Syrian allies Iran and Russia. More to the point, according to the same survey an overwhelming majority of Arabs (81 per cent) were also found to view US foreign policy towards Syria negatively.

No one is likely to congratulate Trump for having skilfully navigated the Syrian minefield. But his decision to leave Syria’s fate to the Syrians (and their new friends in Russia) is the bravest and most logical decision by a US president when it comes to the Middle East since Eisenhower ordered Britain, France and Israel to withdraw from Suez. His comments at the Helsinki press conference underlined how little interest he has in the conflict: he sees it as someone else’s war. And if American withdrawal means handing Russia a large sphere of influence in the Middle East, another Mediterranean asset to go along with Ukraine, then so be it.

We had best get used to this American disinterest. Once, Washington policed the Middle East because it thought it would always depend on the region for its energy. Now America will soon be energy self-sufficient — and the expectation of this is visibly shaping its foreign policy. Last year the US produced 90 per cent of its domestic energy needs. So why should the US continue to spend blood and treasure keeping peace in the Middle East? Fracking means it can now finally leave, as long as the Saudis remain willing to help control oil prices.

Under Trump, Americans can now envisage a time when their country isn’t directly involved in a military conflict in the combustible Arab world — with all sides desperate to end the disastrous Saudi-led war on Yemen, and US troops playing an ever more marginal role in Iraq — for the first time in living memory. While it would be naive to hope that the terror threat in the West has disappeared, it is true to say that Islamic State is now effectively defeated and al-Qaeda is a shadow of its former self. Thankfully, even war against Iran remains a distant neocon fantasy, with Trump opting instead for economic sanctions as a way of bringing about regime change in Tehran. (It won’t work, but that’s another story.) He also achieved almost overnight what many had thought impossible: getting the Saudis to abandon their hateful Wahhabi ideology and to stop funding terror abroad.

The result of the Helsinki summit Syrian peace initiative that Trump pulled out of his hat, then, promises to be a win-win for everyone other than the terrorists over there and the warmongers in our midst. Russia gets a proxy in Syria and keeps its warm-water naval port on the Mediterranean coast, as a reward for its brilliant military gamble and massive financial investment in saving Assad. The US gets out of the quagmire. The Gulf Arabs’ paranoia about Iranian expansionism is less acute. Israel gets rid of the threat on its border posed by Iran and Hezbollah. And even the latter can console themselves with the knowledge that their sacrifices prevented a genocide against their fellow shia.

And the West? Well, the West is proving itself to be a bit of an irrelevance. But bearing in mind how much death and destruction our reckless military interventions have caused in the region over the past few decades — to those on the receiving end, most obviously, but to us too, in the form of our soldiers’ deaths and the blowback from Islamist terrorism and the migrant crisis — that is perhaps the best outcome of all. Putin is filling the vacuum, but only the most unhinged anti-Putin fanatic believes that Russia has plans to invade Europe.

And come to think of it, the Putin–haters should be happiest of all. Having to deal with the permanent headache that is trying to resolve the Arab world’s intractable conflicts is something one really should wish on one’s worst enemy.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/2018/07/assad-is-back-for-good-in-syria-and-with-trumps-blessing/

[Abz2000]

Although it's a survey, and surveys are a picture of the personal interactions of the surveyor (often like a random lottery) - the answers appear quite reflective of general perception despite the country perceived as being the greatest threat to world peace having the biggest propaganda machine.



@Junon - what does America plan to do with it's weapons industry?

[urkahnkhan]

@urkahnkhan

You may have gotten a wrong estimate of the One for Whom i actually work - i am openly telling you to be very careful unless you want to suffer the just consequences of your insolence.
This is the work of Allah which you are striving against and the casualties you are careless of can justify a massive response against you and yours.
Do not stray too far beyond your limits.

Also do not for a second falsely assume that Allah is unaware of precisely who and what you are - despite the fact that you hide behind a cloak of hypocrisy and falsehood.

The warning is genuine, calm, open, and sincere.


لُعِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِن بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ عَلَىٰ لِسَانِ دَاوُودَ وَعِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ ذَٰلِكَ بِمَا عَصَوا وَّكَانُوا يَعْتَدُونَ

M. M. Pickthall
Those of the Children of Israel who went astray were cursed by the tongue of David, and of Jesus, son of Mary. That was because they rebelled and used to transgress.

Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
Curses were pronounced on those among the Children of Israel who rejected Faith, by the tongue of David and of Jesus the son of Mary: because they disobeyed and persisted in excesses.

Quran, Chapter 5, Verse 78

Are you telling me that Salafi brothers like Abduallah Muhaysin and the likes of Bilal Abdulkarim etc etc are not in servitude to Allah and all the other salafi brothers who arrived to join them.

What has happened to people is genuinely sad when someone confronts me on this. What has even happened to the forum. This is absolutely madness. You are speaking about guys who have left their richness, houses, wives and kids to persuade the mercy of Allah by doing the work in. There only hope is to bring back Islam and it's not an easy task but to come here and say otherwise deserve instant ban

[Abz2000]

Are you telling me that Salafi brothers like Abduallah Muhaysin and the likes of Bilal Abdulkarim etc etc are not in servitude to Allah and all the other salafi brothers who arrived to join them.

What has happened to people is genuinely sad when someone confronts me on this. What has even happened to the forum. This is absolutely madness. You are speaking about guys who have left their richness, houses, wives and kids to persuade the mercy of Allah by doing the work in. There only hope is to bring back Islam and it's not an easy task but to come here and say otherwise deserve instant ban

The satanic secularist leadership is proving itself, like Pharaoh, to be so desperate to hold onto a false notion of authority by committing crimes that they are skinning themselves openly by attempting to conjure such easy to see through false illusions - with the apparent aim of duping the least intelligent in society.
It's actually quite ironically amusing when it's done so plainly and stupidly.

Now stop dogging me and don't ruin the thread with stupid and false ad hominem.

[Abz2000]

Here are a few other news reports i had pulled out of the newspapers at the time of escalation of the secularist engineered bloodshed:


https://www.islamicboard.com/world-a...ml#post1520689

https://www.islamicboard.com/world-a...ml#post1520700

https://www.islamicboard.com/world-a...ml#post1520715

Iblees vowed to mislead only the fools when he said:

قَالَ فَبِعِزَّتِكَ لَأُغْوِيَنَّهُمْ أَجْمَعِينَ
إِلَّا عِبَادَكَ مِنْهُمُ
الْمُخْلَصِينَ

Then with Your Power, Honour, Highness, i shall lead astray all of them

Except those of Your servants sincerely and exclusively devoted to You.

Quran 38:83

[xboxisdead]

Salaam

Another update, may Allah reward him for his tireless efforts.

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You made me cry! :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry: :cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry::cry:

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another viewpoint of what the Syrian conflict was all about.

Blurb

In this edition of Probable Cause Sibel Edmonds breaks down the fog of war and exposes the information warfare campaigns being waged by all sides, in light of the recent military strikes against Syria for their alleged use of chemical weapons. Edmonds also explains what sets Newsbud apart from the rest as she examines the big picture.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

Bilal is suing the US government

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Curse of Isis

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Some good news

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update. He has a point, why would Israel and western powers go to such lengths to get these people out? Compare and contrast with the drone assassination attempts on Bilal Kareem and the harassment other humanitarians.

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White Helmet is Seeking Refuge



Time Of Israel reports this morning that overnight Israel transported 800 White Helmet workers and their families from southwest Syria to Jordan. The IDF says it acted at the request of the United States and European countries.

The Jordanian government, which has in recent years consistently refused to accept Syrian refugees, said they had made an exception in this case as the United Kingdom, Canada and Germany had agreed to take in the White Helmet rescuers and their families.

Those amongst us who aren’t followers of the various Guardians of Judea outlets have been suspicious of the White Helmet’s humanitarian agenda for a while.

Whitney Webb wrote in July 2017 that “over the past two years, enlightening information has been revealed that thoroughly and unequivocally debunks the ‘humanitarianism’ of the White Helmets in Syria, sometimes referred to as the Syrian Civil Defense.”

The western media has offered enthusiastic support for the White Helmets and the media has somehow failed to report on “the group’s ties to terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, their doctoring of footage, their role in executing civilians and their use of children – both dead and alive – as props for producing pro-intervention propaganda. Also absent from the news is how the White Helmets have received over $123 million from 2013 to 2016 from the U.S. and UK governments, as well as Western NGOs and Gulf state monarchies.”

Webb also reported on the White Helmets’ “shady ties to known terrorist organizations like Syria’s al-Qaeda branch Al-Nusra Front.”

In recent months we have been asked to accept that the so-called ‘gas attack’ in Duoma was the ‘event’ that led to an orchestrated American, British and French missile assault on Syrian government facilities. Reports of the ‘gas attack’ were based on a video propagated by the White Helmets. But here is Dr Rahaibani’s account of the Douma incident, brought to us by Robert Fisk, probably one of the few reliable journalists left among the British press.

“I was with my family in the basement of my home three hundred metres from here on the night but all the doctors know what happened. There was a lot of shelling [by government forces] and aircraft were always over Douma at night – but on this night, there was wind and huge dust clouds began to come into the basements and cellars where people lived. People began to arrive here suffering from hypoxia, oxygen loss. Then someone at the door, a “White Helmet”, shouted “Gas!”, and a panic began. People started throwing water over each other. Yes, the video was filmed here, it is genuine, but what you see are people suffering from hypoxia – not gas poisoning.”

Today’s news from Israeli suggests that the West has supported the White Helmets all along, and so has given refuge to its interventionist allies.

Supporters of the Syrian government have accused the White Helmets of being politically affiliated with the rebel groups. Russia and the Syrian government have repeatedly accused them of staging chemical attacks in opposition areas for propaganda purposes as shown in the video above.

In its defence, the White Helmets, founded in 2013, regards itself as a genuine humanitarian body that rescues the wounded in the aftermath of air strikes, shelling or blasts in rebel-held territory. The White Helmets have rescued thousands of civilians trapped under rubble or caught up in the fighting in battered opposition-held zones in the various fronts of Syria’s conflict.

I have no doubt that many of the White Helmet workers are genuine humanitarians. But if the White Helmets are solely rescue workers, I wonder why hundreds of them are seeking to escape Syria and why Israel, the USA and Britain are instrumental in providing refuge.

http://www.gilad.co.uk/writings/2018/7/23/white-helmet-is-seeking-refuge

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

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More generally

[سيف الله]

Salaam

More analysis.

Syria – 7 Years On

The Syrian government and its Russian-Iranian allies have turned the tide on the rebels that rose up as part of the Arab Spring in 2011. The rebels have not helped themselves by being consumed by infighting. Western powers and their surrogate states like Turkey, Saudi and Iran have facilitated the demise of the popular revolution against Assad as they consider him to be a better option than a potential popular Islamic alternative.

No doubt the rebels have tried hard and the civilian population has suffered immeasurable pain. Hundreds of thousands have died and millions have been injured. Millions have been displaced, finding themselves as refugees either in their own land or across the world. Women and children have been horrifically abused and endured traumas such as rape, torture, trafficking and exploitation.

There has not emerged from this revolution a consistent message or unified front that could face off against the tyrant. Whilst initially there were dramatic gains against the dictator these have been reversed as the global colonial powers settled upon providing him with either direct or indirect backing. Russia, Iran and groups like Hezbollah are the most visible and direct support to Assad but not the only ones. America and its allies like Turkey and Saudi have played key roles in arming and funding some of the rebel factions, which has led to these groups becoming dependent upon their patrons for supplies. This has compromised their ability to autonomously follow their own political and military objectives and has thus seen the revolution hijacked by foreign powers.

Slowly all the gains made by the rebels over the past few years are being reversed due to a combination of direct assaults by Assad and distractions such as the Turkish operations against Kurds in Operation Euphrates Shield during the fall of Aleppo and Operation Olive Branch whilst the assault on Eastern Ghouta has recently been taking place. This should be a sobering reminder to those who wish to see the end of colonial exploitation of Muslim lands and the reign of tyrants that armed action by civilians against a state and its foreign allies is not the way to bring change.

The existence of multiple groups, all with arms and with varying objectives, may have brought some initial setbacks to the incumbent regime but due to issues related to logistics such as availability of supplies, operational planning and political disunity the regime has managed to mount a comeback. Whilst some may point to the decimation of Assad’s Alawite forces and reliance upon foreign players, this is irrelevant when considering that all these players are united against the goals of the opposition to rid Syria of its current regime and political status domestically as well as internationally.

The most important lesson to learn from the Syria debacle is that the rebels failed to establish a consensus on the political aims of the revolution. Their lack of clear ideological and political aims made them easy prey for foreign powers who were looking to exploit and subvert the revolution.

Bashar al-Assad may have the upper hand, but he still has to regain the whole nation, despite his armed forces being decimated. He will need significant external support for this, from foreign powers who are not as invested as he is in Syria.

Ultimately we must remember that victory is from Allah (swt) and only when He (swt) decides will the situation change. Until then we must do our best to follow the Prophetic method which clearly remains the gold standard process for change despite the passing of almost one and a half thousand years. The victory of the tyrant in Damascus and his brutal allies should not be a cause of losing hope in the promise of Allah (swt), for this is a certain promise.

http://www.hizb.org.uk/syria/syria-7-years-on/

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Even the White Helmets have been rescued from Syria – so are we about to see the final battle of the war?

Thanks to Donald Trump, it’s all over for the ‘rebels’ of Syria because they have been betrayed by the Americans – surely and finally by Trump himself in those secret discussions with Vladimir Putin


Will it be the Last Battle? For three years, Idlib has been the dumping ground for all of Syria’s retreating Islamist militias, the final redoubt of every combatant who has chosen to fight on, rather than surrender to the Syrian army and the Russian air force – and to Hezbollah and, to a far smaller degree, the Iranians.

Brigadier general Suheil al-Hassan, the “Tiger” of Syrian military legend and myth – who can quote the poet Mutanabi by heart but prefers to be compared to Erwin Rommel rather than Bernard Montgomery – will surely take his “Tiger Forces” with him for the final reckoning between the Damascus regime and the Salafist-inspired and western-armed Islamists who dared to try, and very definitely failed, to destroy Bashar al-Assad’s rule.

Thanks to Donald Trump, it’s all over for the “rebels” of Syria because they have been betrayed by the Americans – surely and finally by Trump himself in those secret discussions with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, perhaps the most important of the “unknowns” of that translators-only chat – as they have by the Gulf Arabs.

Three weeks earlier, the Americans had told the rebels of southwestern Syria below the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights that they were on their own, and could expect no more military assistance. Even the White Helmets, the first-responder heroes or propagandists of the rebel war (take your pick, but be sure they will soon be described as “controversial”) have been rescued with their families from the rebel lines by the Israelis and dispatched to safety in Jordan.

The Israelis are a bit miffed that they weren’t thanked by the White Helmets’ civil defence units for their humanitarian assistance – but what do they expect when they spent their time attacking Iranian, Hezbollah and Syrian forces during the war, supplying medical aid to the Nusrah Islamist fighters who came to their lines and never – ever – bombed Isis? Do the White Helmets want to be associated with Israel right now?

But the Israelis got what they really wanted: a Russian promise that the Iranians will stay far away from the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan plateau. It’s all a bit odd, since there are precious few Iranian troops in Syria – and you can forget the humbug from the Washington “experts” – but it fits in with Benjamin Netanyahu’s morbid and theatrical conviction that Iran is “a noose of terror” round Israel’s neck. In any event, Putin knows a thing or two about the Syrian war: bombs talk, but so does cash.

For why else has Putin just announced a $50bn (£38bn) dollar Russian investment in Iran’s oil and gas industry? Isn’t this simply a downpayment for Iran’s past investment in Syria’s war? A “thank you but you can go now” gift from Moscow in return for a, no doubt, triumphal march-past in Tehran of Iran’s returning “victorious” forces, back from their Islamic revolutionary duties in Syria?

After meeting Putin in the Kremlin less than two weeks ago, Ali Akbar Velayati, “Supreme Leader” Khamenei’s senior adviser on foreign affairs, agreed that their talks “focused on Russian-Iranian cooperation … as well as the situation in the region, including developments in Syria”. And there you have it. Iran’s economy is propped up, but it’s got its Syrian marching orders from Putin.

None too soon for the Iranians, no doubt. It was quite a shock for me to see the rich and wealthier middle class Iranians flooding into Belgrade this past month, bringing their cash and treasures to the west through one of the few European countries still permitting visa-free entry for the sanctioned Iranians. Cheap flights from Tehran and other Iranian cities are landing daily in Serbia, and Belgrade’s hotels are packed with Farsi-speaking guests, all set – presumably – for new lives in the west. The European Union, needless to say, is threatening the Belgrade president that if he doesn’t block the profitable Iranian “tourists”, it will end the no-visa travel which Serbian citizens enjoy in the rest of Europe.

Meanwhile the Syrian army, fighting the last no-surrender Islamist groups around Deraa, will also return to the edge of the United Nations buffer zone on Golan where it was based before the civil war began in 2011. In other words, the “Southern Front” will be resolved, leaving only the Idlib Redoubt and the city of Raqqa which remains in the hands of militias who are still loyal – if they can be expected to be much longer, given the fact that Trump is ratting on them – to the US. Putin can probably solve this problem, if he hasn’t already done so in his Trump pow-wow.

But Idlib is a bigger deal. No doubt, we shall see further Russian-sponsored “reconciliation” talks between the Syrian authorities and the rebel groups inside the province. There will be agreements, private and public, whereby those who wish to return to government-controlled territory may do so. But given the fact that Idlib contains those Islamists and their families who earlier rejected such offers in other cities – many of them were bussed from Ghouta and Yarmouk in Damascus and from Homs and other towns where they surrendered, directly to Idlib province – their future looks pretty bleak.

We all like wars to have a “final battle”, of course. Jerusalem and Baghdad – strangely enough – were the only enemy “capital” cities invaded by the Allies during the First World War. And we know that the fall of Berlin to the Russians ended the European bit of the Second World War. We’ll leave out the fall of Saigon for obvious reasons (the wrong side won), and the various Middle East “capital” conquests (Jerusalem in 1967, Beirut in 1982, Kuwait in 1990, Baghdad in 2003), because they all left bloody legacies which continue to this day.

But we should remember one thing. The Syrian army is used to pitch battles. So is the Russian air force. Certainly, Nusrah’s siege of the government-held Jisr al-Shugour military hospital in Idlib – and the massacre of many of its army defenders and their families three years ago – is unlikely to be forgotten when the last battle begins. Moscow is not going to welcome any Islamists “home” to Chechnya. And Ankara will not want to scatter Idlib’s veterans across the plains of Anatolia – especially when Erdogan is still obsessed with an attempted “Islamist” coup two years ago, tens of thousands of whose alleged supporters still languish in Turkey’s luxurious prisons.

The west is certainly not going to help. There’s the old UN donkey, I suppose, which could be led into Idlib on a “temporary” peace-keeping mission – but that will not commend itself to a Syrian president who intends to return every square kilometre of the country to the regime’s exclusive control. An even tinier dumping ground might be available if the rebels of Idlib are shunted into the northern enclave of Afrin – already largely controlled and populated by Turkey’s erstwhile friends from Isis. Certainly, the west won’t want the detritus of the Islamist army which it helped to arm. Political asylum for the White Helmets is likely to be the full extent of its generosity, along with the usual aid to refugees.

But we must also remember that those nations which have so long sought the overthrow of Assad will now be trying – ever so slowly – to reestablish some form of relationship with the regime in Damascus. French diplomats, speak it not, have been taking tourist trips in and out of Syria from Lebanon for almost a year. So have discrete envoys from other European nations. The Americans will want to play their own little role – Trump-like and weird as it may be – and there, at this critical moment, Putin will be on hand.

But what of the five million Syrian refugees whose host countries – European, of course, but also Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Egypt – would dearly love them to go “home”. And therein lies, perhaps, the clue to this “end of war”.

The Russians are ready to supply guarantees of safe passage home to refugees – what these promises are worth remains an open question when many thousands of the homeless are fearful of the regime – and Moscow’s men are reported to have already arrived in Lebanon, which hosts up to a million and a half Syrians, to chat about the logistics. Gulf Arabs – particularly Qatar – are said to be interested in financially rebuilding Syria. So if they won’t surrender militarily, can the Idlib “rebels” be bought off? Not least by the Arab nations which supported them in the first place. These are early days. But all wars come to an end. And that’s where history restarts.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/white-helmets-syria-civil-war-rebels-army-assad-trump-putin-a8465066.html

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

The Bilal Abdul Kareem show, Intense.

Blurb

Today's Topics for the Bilal Abdul Kareem
-Why is Bilal Abdul Kareem Challenging the US Gov't in Court
-Pakistan Elections: Something New in Imran Khan

Pro regime populations are leaving their remaining enclaves in Idlib province. Though I think he's too optimistic Assads intentions.

Embedded Tweet

Embedded Tweet

Buses that left were stoned by rebels.

[JustTime]

The Syrian Army entering Quneitra, Wallahi these "people", the Nusayris and Rafida are Mushrikin

- - - Updated - - -

Salaam

Another update

The Bilal Abdul Kareem show, Intense.

Blurb

Today's Topics for the Bilal Abdul Kareem
-Why is Bilal Abdul Kareem Challenging the US Gov't in Court
-Pakistan Elections: Something New in Imran Khan

Pro regime populations are leaving their remaining enclaves in Idlib province. Though I think he's too optimistic Assads intentions.

Embedded Tweet

Embedded Tweet

Buses that left were stoned by rebels.

Allowing them to leave was stupid there was absolutely no benefit in letting them leave, in fact the Rafida, Nusayris, Atheists and others who stupidly and arrogantly support the Nusayri Bashar loved to moan and cry about Fuah and Kafriya and mock Ghouta and Aleppo yet they ignore the fact the Rafida Safawi state of Iran and Russia dropped supplies to these two Mushrik villages weekly these people are worse than animals, nothing but ugly, filthy, lying vindictive animals that deserve nothing but the worst in this life and the next.

[JustTime]

I'm not attributing anything to you. By the way your just a peasant Your opinions dosen't fly beyond you keep that in mind.

Here is a hadith from the Prophet(sa) regarding our current situation and in this time of fitnatul duhamia

The Prophet (saws) said, “At the end of time there will be a trial in which people will be sorted (fitnatul Duhaima) in a similar way to that in which gold is sorted from metal. Therefore do not rebuke the people of Syria rather, rebuke the evil people among them, because amongst them are the Abdals (Awliya). Allah will send a flood from Heaven (an event) that will disperse their groups in a way that if foxes were to attack them they would be victorious. Then Allah will send a man (to the people of syria) from the perfumed musked children of the Messenger, praise and peace be upon him, amongst approximately 12-15,000 under three banners and their password is ‘Die, die!’ And they will be fought by the people of 7 banners under each is a man seeking the kingdom (Syria). They will be killed, defeated, then the Hashimite (leader of the black flags) will appear, so Allah will restore unity and favors to the people and this will be the case until the Dajjaal (the lying, false messiah) comes.”

I'm not saying all of the rebels are on haqq for example FSA and all the other secularist are not but HTS and some other few pro-islamic groups are indeed on Haqq and may Allah reward them Jannatul Firdows there works are well appreciated according to Hadith and islamic evidence they are doing good work.

The Prophet (pbuh) Said: “So do not rebuke the people of Syria but rebuke the evil people among them because amongst them are the Abdals (Awliya). A flood is about to be sent down upon the people of Syria (the Arab spring), which will disperse their groups (cause a civil war) in such a way, that if foxes (deceptive and cunning groups) attacked they would be beaten. At that time a man from the Family of my House will come (to the people of Syria) under 3 banners; between 12-15,000 and their password is – ‘Die, die.’ Then, there will come 7 banners and under each will be one man seeking the kingdom (Syria). Allah will kill all of them and restore unity and favors upon the hearts of Muslims, and those who were far (the Syrians who emigrated) come close.

Another hadith chain that is similar..

Al-Hakim narrated from ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (ra) that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said: “There will be at the end of time a trial that will sort out men as gold is sorted out from metal (fitnatul Duhaima). So do not revile the people of Sham, but revile their evil ones (the dictators and their group), for among them are the Abdal
[Awliya/Saints]. A flood is about to be released upon the people of Sham (the Arab spring) that will split their unity, so that even if foxes (ISIS and Al Qaeda) attack them they would defeat them. At that time, a man from my household will come out with three banners (to the people of Syria). The one who estimates highly will say that they are fifteen thousand. And the one who estimates lower will say that they are twelve thousand. Their sign will be: “Amit, amit [kill, kill].” They will meet in battle seven banners, and under each of those banners will be a man seeking the kingdom (Syria). Allah will kill all of them, and restore to the Muslims their unity and bounty and their far ones and near ones (the Syrians who emigrated will come back).” (These Ahadith are found in the references of Abu Dawud, Ahmad, Ibn Majah and At-Tabarani and al Hakim reported them).

I'm not Syrian nor Arab but a non-arabic speaking muslim. There are good believers amongst the people of Shaam and they deserve more then repsect and our Duas.

''Qurrah ibn Iyas reported: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “If the people of Syria (al-Shām) are corrupted, then there will be no good in you. A group among my nation will continue to be supported, unharmed by those who fail them until the establishment of the Hour.”
Source: Sunan al-Tirmidhī 2192
Grade: Sahih (authentic) according to At-Tirmidhi''


Not only that but Mahdi himself will come to Syria and the Angels rest their wings in Shaam.

“O tooba (a tree in paradise/glad tidings) for the Al-Shaam!, O tooba (a tree in paradise/glad tidings) for the Al-Shaam!, O tooba (a tree in paradise/glad tidings) for Al-Shaam!” They said: “O Messenger of Allah! How did they get this?” He replied “The angels of Allah have rested their wings upon Al-Shaam.”

And not to forget Isa banu Maryam will descent there trying to assist people who are being fought there. All in all you shouldn't rush yourself on this people while there is some very good souls amongst them and struggling for haqq

Jazak Allah Khayr Akhi for refuting his deviance and the false information he spreads May Allah unite the righteous and sincere in this life and the next regardless of their origins, groups, nationalities, madhabs, and anything else that might serve to divide the sincere and righteous everywhere.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Syria opposition turns to political path

Several rounds of UN-sponsored talks in Switzerland have failed

Riyadh: The Syrian opposition’s chief negotiator, Nasr Al Hariri, called for a renewal of UN-brokered peace talks while acknowledging “significant military losses” by rebel forces, in an interview with AFP.

The rebels have “not lost the war” ravaging his country since 2011, the head of the Syrian Negotiation Commission insisted Thursday, playing down the likelihood of an all-out regime assault on the last major rebel bastion of Idlib in northwestern Syria.

Al Hariri took aim at the international community for having allowed regime ally Russia to determine the course of the war since its 2015 military intervention.

“By international consensus, military and non-military support for the opposition has been stopped, as well as political support to a great extent,” he said in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Moscow, meanwhile, has been allowed “to intervene as it wants”.

“Militarily, the opposition has lost considerable ground. All we have left is the political process, on the basis of the Geneva declaration and (UN) Resolution 2254,” he said, referring to calls for the formation of a transitional government and free elections.

Several rounds of UN-sponsored talks in Switzerland have failed over the opposition’s demand for the ouster of President Bashar Al Assad, a condition which his regime has ruled out. The government has since Russia’s military intervention in September 2015 notched up a string of battlefield victories and now controls more than 60 percent of Syrian territory.

Al Hariri said Turkish “guarantees” over Idlib would likely bar a regime assault on the northwest province.

“It will be difficult for the regime, Iran and Russia to launch any operation unless Turkish troops withdraw,” said the opposition negotiator, a trained cardiologist.

But on the same day, Al Assad told Russian media his regime’s next priority would be retaking Idlib province, currently dominated by rebels.

“Now Idlib is our goal, but not just Idlib,” Assad said, in comments carried Thursday on Russian newswires.

“The military - and it is at their discretion - will decide priorities and Idlib is one of these priorities,” he said.

Al Hariri voiced bitterness at Western and Arab supporters of the opposition that in 2012 formed a Friends of Syria group which has faded since Russia’s intervention.

“May it rest in peace,” he said, while also lambasting international efforts.

“Unfortunately, today Syrian blood has become a commodity on international markets and bazaars,” Al Hariri said.

He pointed to a reluctant acceptance that Moscow would play a key role in any settlement.

“We are not counting on the regime... Our wager is on the state (Russia) that is supporting the regime, even if it continues to battle alongside it and to commit crimes with it.”

The war in Syria has killed more than 400,000 people since it began in 2011 with a brutal regime crackdown on protesters.

https://gulfnews.com/news/mena/syria/syria-opposition-turns-to-political-path-1.2257894

[JustTime]

http://media.cagle.com/38/2013/06/18/133350_600.jpg

...

[JustTime]

Salaam

Another update

Syria opposition turns to political path

Several rounds of UN-sponsored talks in Switzerland have failed

Riyadh: The Syrian opposition’s chief negotiator, Nasr Al Hariri, called for a renewal of UN-brokered peace talks while acknowledging “significant military losses” by rebel forces, in an interview with AFP.

The rebels have “not lost the war” ravaging his country since 2011, the head of the Syrian Negotiation Commission insisted Thursday, playing down the likelihood of an all-out regime assault on the last major rebel bastion of Idlib in northwestern Syria.

Al Hariri took aim at the international community for having allowed regime ally Russia to determine the course of the war since its 2015 military intervention.

“By international consensus, military and non-military support for the opposition has been stopped, as well as political support to a great extent,” he said in the Saudi capital Riyadh.

Moscow, meanwhile, has been allowed “to intervene as it wants”.

“Militarily, the opposition has lost considerable ground. All we have left is the political process, on the basis of the Geneva declaration and (UN) Resolution 2254,” he said, referring to calls for the formation of a transitional government and free elections.

Several rounds of UN-sponsored talks in Switzerland have failed over the opposition’s demand for the ouster of President Bashar Al Assad, a condition which his regime has ruled out. The government has since Russia’s military intervention in September 2015 notched up a string of battlefield victories and now controls more than 60 percent of Syrian territory.

Al Hariri said Turkish “guarantees” over Idlib would likely bar a regime assault on the northwest province.

“It will be difficult for the regime, Iran and Russia to launch any operation unless Turkish troops withdraw,” said the opposition negotiator, a trained cardiologist.

But on the same day, Al Assad told Russian media his regime’s next priority would be retaking Idlib province, currently dominated by rebels.

“Now Idlib is our goal, but not just Idlib,” Assad said, in comments carried Thursday on Russian newswires.

“The military - and it is at their discretion - will decide priorities and Idlib is one of these priorities,” he said.

Al Hariri voiced bitterness at Western and Arab supporters of the opposition that in 2012 formed a Friends of Syria group which has faded since Russia’s intervention.

“May it rest in peace,” he said, while also lambasting international efforts.

“Unfortunately, today Syrian blood has become a commodity on international markets and bazaars,” Al Hariri said.

He pointed to a reluctant acceptance that Moscow would play a key role in any settlement.

“We are not counting on the regime... Our wager is on the state (Russia) that is supporting the regime, even if it continues to battle alongside it and to commit crimes with it.”

The war in Syria has killed more than 400,000 people since it began in 2011 with a brutal regime crackdown on protesters.

https://gulfnews.com/news/mena/syria...path-1.2257894

Turkey is what made the rebels loose, Operation Euphrates shield was the biggest tragedy in Syria after the Astana & Sochi agreements, Turkey will only "gurantee" Idlib for as long as the money continues to flow from there after this and if Russia is clever enough Idlib will be under Nusayri control, leaving Afrin and the OES zone in North Aleppo and you just wait and see the PKK and those subhuman Rafida death squads will be crwaling all over the place in Azaz and Afrin and when Russia's "peace keeping" military police show up that's it, shows over.

The rebels involved in Turkey's war for personal gain should be ashamed of themselves, truly they have sacrificed Deen for Dunya at the expense of the Syrian people, Turkey took advantage of their feelings in response to the crimes of the YPG and their alliance with the Nusayris but tricked them into giving up everything to fight the YPG. When we as Muslims see things like Operation Euphrates Shield and Operation Olive Branch we can clearly see why when the Dajjal comes so many will indeed accept him, the lessons learned here should be that if indivduals were weak enough, ignorant enough, and naive enough to accept their own destruction and accept the slaughter of their own people for selfish interests, it's no wonder the Dajjal will be supported by the majority and be so welcomed even though so blatantly evil.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update, rebels are preparing for Assads assault.

More analysis.

Syria's Idlib emerges as Achilles heel in Russia-Turkey partnership

There are indications that the Syrian army will launch an operation against rebel forces in Idlib in September, after completing operations in the south of the country in Daraa and Quneitra. The possibility of such an operation against Idlib, where more than 100,000 militants have amassed following rebel evacuations from all over Syria, has made Turkey nervous. On July 14, in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that such an operation will be the end of the Astana process that Iran and Russia initiated with Turkey.

On his way to the BRICS summit in South Africa, Erdogan repeated that he will raise the issue with Putin during their meeting there.

“Current developments in Syria regarding both Tel Rifaat and Manbij are not progressing in the desired direction as of now," Erdogan said. "The only areas where the events are going as desired are Afrin, Jarablus and al-Bab. All these [areas] are fully under our control in the terrain of 4,000 square kilometers [1,545 square miles] we control. We have also held some talks and reached some agreements regarding Manbij and Tel Rifaat. We will certainly discuss all these thoroughly during our one-on-one meeting. One of the challenging issues here is the Daraa issue, and there is also the Idlib issue. Anything can happen in those places.”

While conveying his concerns to Putin in Johannesburg, Erdogan had many cards in his hand to play: the future of the Astana process; Turkey’s efforts to incorporate the Syrian opposition into the political process; the cooperation of the Turkish government in delivering stability to liberated areas of eastern Aleppo and the eastern Ghouta region; providing assistance in evacuating armed groups; and the presence of Turkish troops at 12 observation posts established in Idlib.

Erdogan also expressed his concerns about possible civilian casualties and a new wave of immigrants, as the population of Idlib has already surpassed 2 million due to the influx of internally displaced persons.

However, developments on the ground make such scenarios avoidable. Ankara was not expecting the Daraa and Quneitra fronts to collapse so quickly after the United States and Israel changed their course. Turkey was hoping to at least add Tel Rifaat and Manbij to its holdings to boost its bargaining power before Idlib moved out of its reach.

In addition to Turkey’s reactions, other factors changed the situation in Idlib. Above all, with the continuous collapse of opposition fronts, not many forces were prepared to stall the Syrian army, which now feels encouraged to recover Jarablus, Azaz, al-Bab and Afrin — territories that are under Turkish control — as well as areas near the Euphrates front line that have been under the control of the predominately Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces. On July 26, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that the military priority is Idlib.

“No matter what Russia has promised to Turkey, the Idlib operation will be carried out," Syrian media reported, citing sources close to Damascus. "Russia and Syria have agreed on opening safe corridors for the civilians in Idlib to relocate to government-controlled areas."

Reports from Hama and Latakia suggest that military preparations are already underway.

Jihadi groups had besieged the Shiite settlements of Fuah and Kefraya in the Idlib region, but those settlements were evacuated July 17 as a result of a prisoner swap between the government and opposition groups besieging the area. Thus the armed groups lost their deterrent power in the face of an Idlib operation.

Following the evacuations, Russia’s need for Turkey’s help diminished considerably compared with previous years, meaning that Putin has fewer reasons to ease Erdogan’s concerns.

One also has to bear in mind that Turkey’s moves around Manbij, such as making deals with the Americans, strengthened the impression that Turkey was playing both sides whenever possible, and that should Ankara obtain more concessions from the United States regarding the Kurds, then Turkey might revert to its original pro-West axis.

Turkey’s tendency to return to factory settings and to its efforts to strengthen ties with NATO allies, such as during the July 11 NATO summit in Brussels, was also noted by Moscow.

Moreover, the Russians are increasingly determined to take a firm position against opposition groups after attacks by homemade unmanned aerial vehicles have increased against the Russian air base at Khmeimim near Latakia.

Another important factor is that all the anti-Russia Northern Caucasus fighters have assembled in Idlib. Russia was hoping from the outset to settle its accounts with these homegrown enemies away from home territory.

Despite all these developments, it is still too early for Russia and Turkey to dismantle the Astana process. While the bilateral relations that had deteriorated due to the Syria crisis are normalizing, the economic ties between the two countries have just started to gain the upper hand. Despite their discord over Idlib, both Putin and Erdogan are aware they need each other. Everyone is now wondering how these two leaders will tackle what has become the Achilles heel of Russia-Turkey relations. Everyone is aware that Idlib cannot be left in the hands of al-Qaeda-minded organizations. It is clear there will be an operation, but how?

Tough battles are unavoidable in Idlib, and the Daraa model of opposition — handing over heavy weapons and agreeing to a regime of non-hostility — will not work. Turkey is alarmed by the possible consequences of an operation against a region that it had promised to defend. Turkey expects a new wave of immigration as well as an influx of armed groups along the Turkish border, possibly even penetrating Turkish territory.

What are Turkey’s options for the impending operation? The first question is whether those 12 Turkish army observation posts will actually be a deterrent against the operation. It won’t be possible for Turkey to indefinitely postpone an operation with its limited presence in Idlib.

The option, then, is to implement the Afrin scenario in Idlib. It should, however, be remembered that the militant groups gathering in Idlib are fervently motivated by Islamic ideology and refuse to participate in the reconciliation process advocated by the Russians. These groups also firmly reject any dialogue with the regime and consider the Astana and Geneva processes as treason. These factors will make for a tough mission full of risk factors for Turkey in Idlib.

Another scenario is for Turkey to end its partnership with Russia and to turn to the United States. Yet looking at the performance of the Donald Trump administration, this doesn’t sound promising. Washington wants Ankara on its side unconditionally in an economic and political embargo against Iran, and would therefore not be too concerned about Ankara's worries. Moreover, as long as the Pentagon’s support for Kurds continues, a consistent and comprehensive American-Turkish partnership is not likely to take hold in Syria. Ankara’s most critical hope is for the United States to sever its ties with Kurds.

Ankara has another serious worry: If the Kurds distance themselves from the Americans and develop a dialogue with Damascus, their de facto autonomy in Rojava could gain legal recognition. This is not all that far-fetched, given the reported dialogue efforts between the Kurds and Damascus. The most recent was on July 26, when the Kurds sent a delegation to Damascus headed by Ilham Ahmed, the president of Syrian Democratic Council, and Ibrahim Kaftan, the president of the Future Syria Party.

Prior to that meaningful visit to Damascus, Aldar Khalil, the chairman of the influential Movement for a Democratic Society, indicated that Kurds could join the Idlib operation. “Turkey must leave Syrian territory," he said. "If we are asked to play a role at Idlib that would contribute to the liberation of Afrin, we are ready.”

In other words, an alternative to the cooling of the Turkish-Russia partnership could mean a new equation of an Idlib shared by the Kurds.

In sum, Turkey’s claim of sponsorship of armed groups in Idlib is forcing Ankara to choose between bad and worse options. Turkey's sponsorship aspirations in Idlib are also proving difficult to achieve due to the clandestine efforts of the Islamic State to find openings for its affiliates in Idlib; the growing strength of al-Qaeda-associated groups; and escalating clashes between all these factions. The following al-Qaeda-linked groups are striving to increase their influence in Idlib and make the area ungovernable: Huras al-Din (Guardians of Religion Organization), which was set up Feb. 27 with a pact among Jaish al-Malahim, Jaish al-Badiya, Jaish al-Sahil, Saraya al-Sahil and Jund al-Aqsa. Although certain groups insist on Turkey acting as a guarantor at Idlib, Ankara may one day opt to give up Idlib. But that doesn’t sound feasible.

The current rulers of Idlib are among the most irreconcilable and fanatic factions of the war, making the likelihood of an operation a strong possibility.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/07/turkey-russia-syria-astana-on-verge-of-collapse-due-to-idlib.html#ixzz5MrePm2A9

[JustTime]

Salaam

Another update, rebels are preparing for Assads assault.

More analysis.

Syria's Idlib emerges as Achilles heel in Russia-Turkey partnership

There are indications that the Syrian army will launch an operation against rebel forces in Idlib in September, after completing operations in the south of the country in Daraa and Quneitra. The possibility of such an operation against Idlib, where more than 100,000 militants have amassed following rebel evacuations from all over Syria, has made Turkey nervous. On July 14, in a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that such an operation will be the end of the Astana process that Iran and Russia initiated with Turkey.

On his way to the BRICS summit in South Africa, Erdogan repeated that he will raise the issue with Putin during their meeting there.

“Current developments in Syria regarding both Tel Rifaat and Manbij are not progressing in the desired direction as of now," Erdogan said. "The only areas where the events are going as desired are Afrin, Jarablus and al-Bab. All these [areas] are fully under our control in the terrain of 4,000 square kilometers [1,545 square miles] we control. We have also held some talks and reached some agreements regarding Manbij and Tel Rifaat. We will certainly discuss all these thoroughly during our one-on-one meeting. One of the challenging issues here is the Daraa issue, and there is also the Idlib issue. Anything can happen in those places.”

While conveying his concerns to Putin in Johannesburg, Erdogan had many cards in his hand to play: the future of the Astana process; Turkey’s efforts to incorporate the Syrian opposition into the political process; the cooperation of the Turkish government in delivering stability to liberated areas of eastern Aleppo and the eastern Ghouta region; providing assistance in evacuating armed groups; and the presence of Turkish troops at 12 observation posts established in Idlib.

Erdogan also expressed his concerns about possible civilian casualties and a new wave of immigrants, as the population of Idlib has already surpassed 2 million due to the influx of internally displaced persons.

However, developments on the ground make such scenarios avoidable. Ankara was not expecting the Daraa and Quneitra fronts to collapse so quickly after the United States and Israel changed their course. Turkey was hoping to at least add Tel Rifaat and Manbij to its holdings to boost its bargaining power before Idlib moved out of its reach.

In addition to Turkey’s reactions, other factors changed the situation in Idlib. Above all, with the continuous collapse of opposition fronts, not many forces were prepared to stall the Syrian army, which now feels encouraged to recover Jarablus, Azaz, al-Bab and Afrin — territories that are under Turkish control — as well as areas near the Euphrates front line that have been under the control of the predominately Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces. On July 26, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that the military priority is Idlib.

“No matter what Russia has promised to Turkey, the Idlib operation will be carried out," Syrian media reported, citing sources close to Damascus. "Russia and Syria have agreed on opening safe corridors for the civilians in Idlib to relocate to government-controlled areas."

Reports from Hama and Latakia suggest that military preparations are already underway.

Jihadi groups had besieged the Shiite settlements of Fuah and Kefraya in the Idlib region, but those settlements were evacuated July 17 as a result of a prisoner swap between the government and opposition groups besieging the area. Thus the armed groups lost their deterrent power in the face of an Idlib operation.

Following the evacuations, Russia’s need for Turkey’s help diminished considerably compared with previous years, meaning that Putin has fewer reasons to ease Erdogan’s concerns.

One also has to bear in mind that Turkey’s moves around Manbij, such as making deals with the Americans, strengthened the impression that Turkey was playing both sides whenever possible, and that should Ankara obtain more concessions from the United States regarding the Kurds, then Turkey might revert to its original pro-West axis.

Turkey’s tendency to return to factory settings and to its efforts to strengthen ties with NATO allies, such as during the July 11 NATO summit in Brussels, was also noted by Moscow.

Moreover, the Russians are increasingly determined to take a firm position against opposition groups after attacks by homemade unmanned aerial vehicles have increased against the Russian air base at Khmeimim near Latakia.

Another important factor is that all the anti-Russia Northern Caucasus fighters have assembled in Idlib. Russia was hoping from the outset to settle its accounts with these homegrown enemies away from home territory.

Despite all these developments, it is still too early for Russia and Turkey to dismantle the Astana process. While the bilateral relations that had deteriorated due to the Syria crisis are normalizing, the economic ties between the two countries have just started to gain the upper hand. Despite their discord over Idlib, both Putin and Erdogan are aware they need each other. Everyone is now wondering how these two leaders will tackle what has become the Achilles heel of Russia-Turkey relations. Everyone is aware that Idlib cannot be left in the hands of al-Qaeda-minded organizations. It is clear there will be an operation, but how?

Tough battles are unavoidable in Idlib, and the Daraa model of opposition — handing over heavy weapons and agreeing to a regime of non-hostility — will not work. Turkey is alarmed by the possible consequences of an operation against a region that it had promised to defend. Turkey expects a new wave of immigration as well as an influx of armed groups along the Turkish border, possibly even penetrating Turkish territory.

What are Turkey’s options for the impending operation? The first question is whether those 12 Turkish army observation posts will actually be a deterrent against the operation. It won’t be possible for Turkey to indefinitely postpone an operation with its limited presence in Idlib.

The option, then, is to implement the Afrin scenario in Idlib. It should, however, be remembered that the militant groups gathering in Idlib are fervently motivated by Islamic ideology and refuse to participate in the reconciliation process advocated by the Russians. These groups also firmly reject any dialogue with the regime and consider the Astana and Geneva processes as treason. These factors will make for a tough mission full of risk factors for Turkey in Idlib.

Another scenario is for Turkey to end its partnership with Russia and to turn to the United States. Yet looking at the performance of the Donald Trump administration, this doesn’t sound promising. Washington wants Ankara on its side unconditionally in an economic and political embargo against Iran, and would therefore not be too concerned about Ankara's worries. Moreover, as long as the Pentagon’s support for Kurds continues, a consistent and comprehensive American-Turkish partnership is not likely to take hold in Syria. Ankara’s most critical hope is for the United States to sever its ties with Kurds.

Ankara has another serious worry: If the Kurds distance themselves from the Americans and develop a dialogue with Damascus, their de facto autonomy in Rojava could gain legal recognition. This is not all that far-fetched, given the reported dialogue efforts between the Kurds and Damascus. The most recent was on July 26, when the Kurds sent a delegation to Damascus headed by Ilham Ahmed, the president of Syrian Democratic Council, and Ibrahim Kaftan, the president of the Future Syria Party.

Prior to that meaningful visit to Damascus, Aldar Khalil, the chairman of the influential Movement for a Democratic Society, indicated that Kurds could join the Idlib operation. “Turkey must leave Syrian territory," he said. "If we are asked to play a role at Idlib that would contribute to the liberation of Afrin, we are ready.”

In other words, an alternative to the cooling of the Turkish-Russia partnership could mean a new equation of an Idlib shared by the Kurds.

In sum, Turkey’s claim of sponsorship of armed groups in Idlib is forcing Ankara to choose between bad and worse options. Turkey's sponsorship aspirations in Idlib are also proving difficult to achieve due to the clandestine efforts of the Islamic State to find openings for its affiliates in Idlib; the growing strength of al-Qaeda-associated groups; and escalating clashes between all these factions. The following al-Qaeda-linked groups are striving to increase their influence in Idlib and make the area ungovernable: Huras al-Din (Guardians of Religion Organization), which was set up Feb. 27 with a pact among Jaish al-Malahim, Jaish al-Badiya, Jaish al-Sahil, Saraya al-Sahil and Jund al-Aqsa. Although certain groups insist on Turkey acting as a guarantor at Idlib, Ankara may one day opt to give up Idlib. But that doesn’t sound feasible.

The current rulers of Idlib are among the most irreconcilable and fanatic factions of the war, making the likelihood of an operation a strong possibility.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/orig...#ixzz5MrePm2A9

This is some real far-fetched propaganda and a poor attempt for a scare campaign to make the Kurds and Assad sound powerful.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Turkey to clear Idlib of militants to prevent Syrian government assault

Talks between Russia, Turkey and Iran have focused on Idlib, as Syrian President Assad warns the northwestern province is next target

Turkey is working to clear al-Qaeda and Islamic State-affiliated groups from Idlib, staving off a major offensive by Damascus against the last rebel-held stronghold in Syria.

According to a Turkish diplomatic source who has been working on Syria for six years, Ankara is working with other opposition groups in Idlib to eliminate the militants. Most of Idlib is controlled by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), formerly al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria.

Delegates from Turkey, Iran and Russia gathered in Sochi on Monday for two days of talks aiming to resolve the situation in northern Syria.

A Syrian opposition commander, who spoke to the Middle East Eye on condition of anonymity, said that Russia and Iran were also prioritising removing the militants from Idlib, rather than planning an all-out assault, despite threats by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to retake the territory.

The commander added that the US was happy with Russia and Turkey’s Idlib plan, since it meant the Turkish-backed opposition would be in control of the city instead of Iran and Syrian government-backed forces.

Idlib, a province of two million inhabitants, is one of the "de-escalation zones" agreed by the three countries after previous talks in the Kazakhstan capital Astana. Turkey has set up 12 monitoring posts in opposition-controlled areas, while the Iranians and Russians set up posts in the government-controlled regions.

There are around 70,000 Turkish-backed opposition fighters in Idlib and the previously Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin.

Russia’s Syria envoy Alexander Lavrentiev told Russian journalists after the talks and that there was no question of an operation or a major assault on Idlib.

“We hope that the opposition along with our Turkish partners will manage to stabilise this region. Because the threat coming from this zone is still significant,” he said.

As a first step, on Tuesday, Turkey used its power over the groups in Idlib to remove a checkpoint controlled by HTS.

The checkpoint was the largest controlled by HTS on the main road between Aleppo and Damascus - a crucial route for all the parties.

According to the Syrian opposition commander, Russia wants to prevent any attacks on its military airbase in the government stronghold of Latakia. To secure that, Moscow plans to clear the city of Jisr al-Shugour and the villages on the Turkmen Mountain on Turkey’s border of any militant presence.

Should the Syrian army capture the area, it would be in control of the only road into Latakia. At present, Turkey has two monitoring posts in that area.

In late June, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview that Ankara warned Russia and Iran that any attacks on Idlib would end the Astana and Sochi talks. He also reminded them that all the groups who are considered "terrorists" by Russia and Iran were brought to Idlib after the latter backed attacks on Aleppo and other areas further south.

The joint statement after the talks said: “We emphasised that the Idlib de-escalation area is a main component of the Astana agreement and that its functionality must be preserved.”

US-Turkey talks

General Curtis Scaparotti, head of US European Command and NATO’s supreme allied commander, was set to visit Ankara on Wednesday to talk about Syria with his counterparts.

In June, Cavusoglu and his US counterpart Mike Pompeo agreed on a roadmap for the city of Manbij, which includes withdrawal of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from the northwest Syrian city.

The agreement proposed three months for the withdrawal, but it has yet to begin.

The Turkish army and Turkish-backed opposition forces are based north of Manbij, with the Sajur River creating a frontline between the SDF and Syrian opposition forces.

After the agreement, US and Turkish armies conducted 23 coordinated patrols, Turkey on the north and the US south of the river.

Turkey has been infuriated by US support for the SDF, which is dominated by the pro-Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) whom Ankara view as a terrorist organisation, and has threatened to push its offensive in the Afrin region further east to Manbij, risking confrontation with US troops stationed there.

Turkey sees the YPG as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), a Kurdish militant group in Turkey designated as a terrorist organisation by the US. Washington views the YPG as a key ally in the fight against the Islamic State (IS) group.

Vajeh Juma, a member of the Syrian Turkmen Council who is originally from Manbij and now based in Al-Rai, told the MEE that the withdrawal should have started in June but as the YPG resisted, the US was trying to gain more time.

“Their military camps are still there in Manbij. We expect a solution from General Scaparotti’s visit,” he added.

Damascus-YPG talks

As Turkey and the Ankara-backed Turkmen groups are looking for the withdrawal of the YPG from Manbij, the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), a group which was founded and is led by the YPG, has been holding talks with the government in Damascus.

The YPG controls more than a quarter of Syria, thanks to US cooperation in their fight against IS.

Ankara has not publicly reacted to these talks. When Middle East Eye asked Foreign Ministry officials, they repeated their concerns regarding the YPG’s existence on its borders.

The government-Kurdish talks started after US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Helsinki on 16 July. Moscow first proposed a decentralised Syria in January 2017, when they invited various groups from Syria to create a draft constitution. The draft suggested “cultural autonomy” for Kurdish regions.

Both Damascus and Ankara oppose a federal solution in northern Syria, which would give autonomy to YPG controlled areas.

After the talks in Sochi, Turkey insisted on “the importance of opposing the separatist agendas of groups that pose a threat to the political unity and territorial integrity of Syria and the national security of neighbouring countries” in the joint statement.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/us-happy-russia-and-turkey-s-idlib-plans-2118571356

More analysis

[سيف الله]

Salaam

More analysis.

Are we heading towards the end of the Syrian civil war?

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Al Hariri voiced bitterness at Western and Arab supporters of the opposition that in 2012 formed a Friends of Syria group which has faded since Russia’s intervention.

“May it rest in peace,” he said, while also lambasting international efforts.

“Unfortunately, today Syrian blood has become a commodity on international markets and bazaars,” Al Hariri said.

Brother should of expected this, to paraphrase states are not moral agents they are vehicles of power.

Lessons of history

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Israel and Jordan kill Islamic State fighters flushed out of Syria

Israel and Jordan said on Thursday that their forces had killed Islamic State insurgents who approached their borders after being squeezed out of southwestern Syria by the army of President Bashar al-Assad.

In a nod to his battlefield gains, Israel described victory by Assad, who is on a last push to restore his rule after more than seven years of civil war, as a fait accompli that could calm the Golan Heights.

The strategic plateau divides Israel and Syria, old foes, and saw decades of stable stand-off before the Syrian rebellion.

Meanwhile, in a major change to the pre-conflict 2011 status quo, Russian military police began deploying on the Syrian-held Golan and planned to set up eight observation posts in the area, the Defence Ministry in Moscow said.

After weeks of intensive Russian-backed bombing, Syrian forces have seized the lush farmland where the Yarmouk River flows that was once controlled by a group affiliated to Islamic State known as the Khaled Bin Walid Army.

The Israeli military said it carried out an air strike on the Golan on Wednesday night, killing seven insurgents it believed were from the Khaled Bin Walid Army and en route to attack an Israeli target.

Separately, the Jordan military said it had clashed with encroaching Khaled Bin Walid Army fighters for 24 hours between Tuesday and Wednesday, killing an unspecified number of them.

“We applied rules of engagement and members of the Daesh (Islamic State) gang were forced to retreat inside Syria,” an army source told Jordanian state news agency Petra.

CHANGE OF TONE

Assad’s sweep of southwest Syria drove hundreds of thousands of refugees toward Israel and Jordan, alarming both.

As tensions peaked last week, Israel shot down a Syrian warplane that it said had strayed into the Israeli-occupied Golan and warned Assad’s Iranian and Lebanese Hezbollah reinforcements against trying to deploy on the Syrian-held side.

But Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman sounded more upbeat on Thursday as he described an Assad win as a given.

“From our perspective, the situation is returning to how it was before the civil war, meaning there is a real address, someone responsible, and central rule,” Lieberman told reporters during a tour of air defense units in northern Israel.

Asked whether Israel should be less wary of possible flare-ups on the Golan - much of which it seized from Syria in a 1967 war and annexed in a move not recognized abroad - Lieberman said: “I believe so. I think this is also in Assad’s interest.”

There was no immediate Syrian government response to the border clashes reported by Jordan and Syria on Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war monitoring group, confirmed fighting between Assad’s forces and Islamic State on the Syrian-held Golan, which also abuts Jordan.

In Moscow, the Russian Defence Ministry said its deployment of military police on the Syrian-held Golan was aimed at supporting a decades-old U.N. peacekeeper presence.

It said the new Russian posts would be handed over to the Syrian government once the situation had stabilized.

Lieberman said that, for there to be long-term quiet between Israel and Syria, Assad must abide by a 1974 U.N.-monitored armistice that set up demilitarized zones on the Golan.

Lieberman reiterated Israel’s demand that Iran not set up military bases against it in Syria, nor that Syria be used to smuggle arms to Hezbollah guerrillas in neighboring Lebanon.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-politics-druze/israels-loyal-druze-arabs-push-for-changes-after-jewish-state-law-idUSKBN1KN2OG

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Seems the Zionists will settle for Assad in a weakened state.

Syria’s Assad Has Become Israel’s Ally

Israel wants Assad to remain in power. Both Israel and the Syrian president now depend on Russia, and when Israel threatens Syria over Iran, it should know it's threatening Putin, too

Early in 2012, the year after the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, the Foreign Ministry drafted recommendations on Israel’s position regarding Syrian President Bashar Assad.

As Haaretz reported at the time, the ministry said Israel should denounce the slaughter in Syria and call for Assad’s ouster. It argued that Israel shouldn’t be the only Western country not to condemn Assad, since that would feed conspiracy theories that Israel preferred the mass murderer to remain in power.

The Israeli foreign minister at the time, Avigdor Lieberman, accepted this recommendation, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposed it. Netanyahu denounced the slaughter and the Syrian army and charged that “various leaders have no moral qualms about killing their neighbors and their own people as well.” But he never mentioned Assad as the person responsible or demanded his ouster. Israel’s UN ambassador during that period, Ron Prosor, said Assad has “no moral right to lead his people,” but that was it.

These diplomatic acrobatics and the Lieberman-Netanyahu dispute only fed the conspiracy theories, and Syrian rebel leaders were convinced that Israel wanted Assad to remain in power. They were right.

Now that Assad has regained control of most of Syria and is waging a final battle against rebels in the south, Israel is acting as if it is now reformulating its policy and becoming “reconciled” to Assad’s continued rule. Several weeks ago, Israel reportedly told Russia it wouldn’t oppose that, as if the decision were in its hands or as if Israel even had any leverage over what kind of government is in power in Syria after the war ends.

But Israel isn’t merely “reconciled” to rule by Assad. It also feared the prospect that the various rebel militias might succeed in ousting him, sparking a new civil war among the rebels themselves.

Position papers drafted by the Israeli army and the Foreign Ministry over the past two years didn’t actually voice support for the Syrian president, but their assessments show that they viewed his continued rule as preferable or even vital for Israel’s security. Israel’s close cooperation with Russia, which gave Israeli forces a free hand to attack Hezbollah and Iranian targets in Syria, added the Israelis to the unofficial coalition of Arab states that support Assad’s continued rule.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi, who met with the head of Syrian intelligence in 2015, said that same year that “Egypt and Syria are in the same boat.” Egyptian delegations visited Damascus despite Syria’s ouster from the Arab League, and in a 2017 interview, Al-Sissi even said that “Egypt supports the armies of states like Iraq, Libya and Syria.”

King Abdullah of Jordan was one of the first leaders to denounce Assad and demand his ouster. But he later reversed himself, thereby angering Saudi Arabia. And following conversations between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Russian officials, even Riyadh is no longer publicly opposing Assad’s continued tenure.

Russia’s military intervention in Syria, which began in 2015, was initially viewed by Israel as ineffective and doomed to fail. But in reality, it bolstered Assad’s status domestically, created a coalition with Iran and Turkey and neutralized the intervention of Arab states such as Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. And since the United States had withdrawn from the arena even before that, Israel ostensibly had to make do with the lesser evil.

But the Russian coalition is no love affair. Tehran and Moscow are at odds over control of the de-escalation zones. Turkey, which invaded Kurdish areas of northern Syria, threatens Russia’s desire for a united Syrian state.

Therefore if Israel’s goal is to oust Iran from Syria, Russia — rather than the United States or the Arab states — is the only power capable of limiting Iran’s operations there and perhaps even getting it to leave.

Assad is deeply dependent on Russia, even more than on Iran. And that’s convenient for Israel, because it means Syria’s foreign policy, including its future policy toward Israel, will be vetted by the Kremlin, thereby at least ensuring coordination with Israel and a reduction in the threat from Syria. In exchange, Israel has committed not to undermine Assad’s rule.

Moreover, Israel has insisted that the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement that followed the Yom Kippur War remains in effect, meaning Israel won’t accept Syrian forces in parts of the Golan Heights demilitarized under that agreement. Officially, UN observers oversee the agreement’s implementation. But in practice, it was the Assad regime that ensured that Syria upheld the agreement and that kept the border quiet for decades. Israel, which has a low opinion of UN observers, also used its military deterrence to persuade Assad that upholding the agreement served his interests.

Now Russia is effectively joining this supervisory force, and it sees eye to eye with Israel about the need to keep the border quiet. Therefore Israel ought to wish Assad sweeping success and a long life. And when Israeli ministers threaten his continued rule if he lets Iranian forces set up shop near Israel’s border, they should know they’re also threatening Russia — as well as Israel’s new strategic partner in the presidential palace in Damascus.

https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/.premium-syria-s-assad-has-become-israel-s-ally-1.6240499

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Good on her!

Embedded Tweet

Another update

Blurb

Residents in Syria's Idlib react to President Bashar al-Assad threatening to march on opposition forces in the densely populated northwest province bordering rebel ally Turkey.

[JustTime]

"Rafidi"

"Kafir"

Any difference? It truly is amazing how arrogantly proud some are about their vicious and vile ways

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Salaam

Good on her!

Embedded Tweet

Another update

Blurb

Residents in Syria's Idlib react to President Bashar al-Assad threatening to march on opposition forces in the densely populated northwest province bordering rebel ally Turkey.

Assad is smarter than that it's going to be those PKK lowlifes that march on Idlib, the so called peace loving tolerant "good guys" and the "peace keeping" Russian military police that are only there to "reconcile", but only after thousands of airstrikes, artillery barrages and missile attacks.

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Salaam



Brother should of expected this, to paraphrase states are not moral agents they are vehicles of power.

Lessons of history

Seriously you're quoting Russia today hosting an interview with Gaddafi's son and comparing that pig Gaddafi to the situation in Syria? Gaddafi was a pig and his son is a rat in a kufi, the Ghaddafi ideology is shirk and nothing but pure filth.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update, long detailed analysis.

The Urgency of Idlib: The Impending Regime Offensive and the Delicate Balance in Syria’s Northwest

As the Assad regime completes its conquest of southwestern Syria, attention is shifting to the country’s northwest and in particular to the province of Idlib, the last remaining bastion of opposition control. To many people’s great concern, the question of Idlib’s future has more recently turned to when the regime and its Iranian and Russian backers will attack, rather than whether they will do so.

An estimated 2.5 to 3.3 million people – at least 1.2 million of whom are internally displaced – are currently crammed into this largely rural region, which only constitutes 3 to 4 percent of Syria. Before 2011, Idlib was home to no more than 750,000 inhabitants. Syria’s northwest, long a hotbed of armed resistance and the heartland of al-Qaeda-linked operations, has become a real-life dumping ground for defeated opposition fighters and their families from elsewhere in the country. At least 70,000 armed men are currently in Idlib and its surrounding areas, according to one estimate, a sizable minority of whom belong to groups formerly or still linked to al-Qaeda. Should the regime unleash what would inevitably be a brutal military campaign upon Idlib, it would be civilians who would suffer immeasurably – and in larger numbers than ever before.

Having already taken in more than 3.5 million Syrian refugees since 2011, Turkey has firmly shut its border to any more people seeking to flee, so the prospect of conflict in Idlib is truly a nightmare scenario. All other events in Syria would look like drops in the ocean. And yet the United States, the European Union, and their allies in the region appear entirely disinterested.

Turkey has declared Idlib a “red line” and seems intent on enforcing it, though it remains unclear if that will be enough to stop a regime campaign. Russia, meanwhile, insists it is opposed to any escalation in hostilities in Idlib, but similarly, evidence of its capacity to truly restrain the Assad regime and Iran is limited at best.

The United States, Europe and their allies should urgently recognize the importance of sustaining the relative calm that currently prevails in northwestern Syria to avoid the array of challenges and threats that would result from a major escalation in fighting. Diplomacy is at the core of the solution. Idlib may look complicated and chaotic, but there is some order to that chaos – particularly because of Turkey’s risk-laden investment in asserting control over northwestern Syria’s various opposition actors. Russia’s dedication to continued de-escalation should be tested and reinforced. If there was ever a time to “work with the Russians,” it is now. Should hostilities be allowed to resume, the resulting havoc will be unprecedented in seven years of war and the consequences will be felt far and wide.

Syria’s De-Escalation Zones: Only Idlib Remains

A year ago, Syria contained four internationally negotiated “de-escalation zones” – areas in which actors on the ground and external states agreed not to engage in or to support hostilities in order to allow for much-needed calm and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the hundreds of thousands in need. For most countries with a stake in the situation, this scheme – designed largely by Russia – appeared to move things towards something close to stability. Or at least that is what they convinced themselves. The immediate humanitarian benefit of lessened conflict served to justify Western support for “de-escalation.” By choosing to extend their stated support, Western capitals avoided having to do more, or indeed anything, to resolve other, more deep-seated issues.

However, it quickly became clear that the Assad regime was using this de-escalation design for malign purposes. Having long suffered the consequences of thinly stretched forces fighting on multiple fronts against a well-supported opposition, de-escalation provided an opportunity for the regime to regroup and prioritize. The amount of humanitarian aid granted was virtually meaningless and over time, the pro-regime alliance methodically violated the de-escalation zones themselves, initiating scorched-earth campaigns aimed at inducing mass opposition surrenders. Between January and late July 2018, three of four zones (around Homs, in Damascus’ Eastern Ghouta, and in the southwestern provinces of Deraa and Quneitra) were militarily retaken by the regime. Meanwhile, the world stood virtually silent. Only a regime chemical attack in Eastern Ghouta brought a joint U.S.-U.K.-French punitive air response, but even that amounted to little more than a slap on the wrist.

Now only the northwestern de-escalation zone remains in opposition hands, and the international community once again looks unlikely to stand in the way of the Assad regime. Already, new deployments of pro-regime troops have arrived to Idlib’s west (in the Latakia villages of Kinsaba and Ain al-Qantara); east (in and around Abu Dhuhour); and south (in Hama’s northern countryside). As a leading commander in Ahrar al-Sham based inside Idlib told me:

We have recently witnessed significant movements by the regime and Iranian militias… our forces on the fronts say the enemy has doubled its forces opposite Idlib over the past two weeks, in both Aleppo and Latakia, and many heavy weapons and artillery have also been sighted.

Despite the insistence by Russia’s special envoy to Syria that “any large-scale operation in Idlib is out of the question,” Assad himself and his ambassador at the United Nations have publicly signaled their determination to retake the northwest by force. In fact, Russia’s own foreign minister seemed to contradict his own special envoy on Aug. 2, when he insisted it was “necessary to deal a final blow to terrorists” in northwestern Syria.

Russia has long positioned itself as opposed to a major military offensive in Idlib. Given the mountainous terrain; the broadly dispersed and largely rural population; the scale of armed opposition numbers and marbled presence of experienced and committed jihadists; and the sheer size of the civilian and internally displaced population, any campaign to retake Idlib by force would likely require a far greater Russian military effort than anything Moscow has undertaken in Syria thus far. Moreover, the risk to Russian personnel and heavy equipment, as well as the reputational cost of the likely losses associated with any Idlib campaign make it an even less attractive prospect. Nevertheless, just as Russia’s limited ability to constrain Iran in southern Syria has been revealed for all to see in recent weeks, Moscow’s ability to deter the Assad regime and Iranian-linked militias from initiating a major conflict in Idlib is likely to be similarly insufficient.

How Hayat Tahrir al-Sham Could Benefit From the Idlib Incursion

Should the regime launch a serious campaign in the opposition-controlled northwest, it will be inserting itself into an immensely complex environment. Idlib and its immediate environs contain the entire array of anti-Assad armed groups, from the most moderate of the Free Syrian Army, to groups ideologically aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood and others who embrace more hardline Salafist (but still nationalist) beliefs, and finally to al-Qaeda. In recent months, an increasingly broad network of apparent ISIL sleeper cells has also emerged, more than four years after the jihadist group was expelled by opposition factions.

Over the past year, one armed group in particular has aggressively asserted its military preeminence in the northwest: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. Formerly al-Qaeda’s official affiliate in Syria under the name Jabhat al-Nusra, HTS has since re-asserted its local strategic focus on Syria, at the expense of its relationship with al-Qaeda. Leaders within the global jihadist movement, including its overall leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, now openly speak of HTS as an entirely separate movement, stridently critiquing it for violating its oath of allegiance and abandoning the global cause.

Having achieved dominance in the area, thanks primarily to a series of military campaigns against more mainstream opposition rivals, HTS has sought to expand its political and governance efforts, coordinating them through a civilian-run “Salvation Government.” The group has expanded and energized initiatives to provide core services, from education and health care to electricity and water. Some formerly military units have been reorganized into local police forces and perhaps most notably, a previously subdued Political Office has been restructured and authorized to conduct outreach to foreign governments. According to two HTS leadership figures and several government officials – all speaking on the condition of anonymity – HTS now retains active political relations with at least two regional states, while multiple European governments have actively considered the prospect of establishing formalized relations with the “Salvation Government” and its political leaders, some of whom spend considerable time across the border in southern Turkey. As one Islamist figure who works closely with HTS leadership explained to me:

Although [HTS] has many problems with others, nobody can ignore their power… [HTS] have done much work to reform their image and… God willing, the people will come to acknowledge this and support our vision, for this is their best path … We also want to talk to foreign governments, so long as they are genuine in their intentions.

The situation is not quite so simple, however, because HTS is now immensely unpopular in the northwest. The way it achieved military dominance in Idlib – at the expense of more local, more mainstream opposition groups – burned bridges with the civilian population and broader opposition movement that HTS’ predecessors spent years building. Many on the ground now refer to HTS as “Hitsh” – a play on the HTS acronym that audibly, and intentionally, resembles the popular derogatory use of “Da’esh” for ISIL. In a one-on-one meeting I had in late 2017, the leader of Ahrar al-Sham, Hassan Soufan, spoke plainly about the threat posed by “Hitsh’s” extremism, which he himself compared to that of ISIL. Earlier this week, I spoke with a leading member of Ahrar’s Shura Council expressed similar frustrations:

[HTS] attacked the [other opposition] factions because we established relations with Turkey and the international community in order to achieve the best interests of the revolution and for the Syrian people. [HTS] accused the factions of using weak political speech and they [HTS] mobilized their fighters [against us] using these ideas, but it later became clear… that [HTS] is doing exactly the same thing! They are now paying the price for the contradictions between their rhetoric and actions and for their aggressions on the factions and the people.

Most northwestern communities have submitted to their new jihadist overlords, but only grudgingly. Though far from perfect, this situation is preferable to the one seemingly on the horizon, as it is only the threat of a massive regime offensive on Syria’s northwest could change the equation and place the people back into HTS’ pocket.

Turkey: The Real Power

The most important actor in northwestern Syria is in fact not HTS, but Turkey. Having long exerted a powerful influence over opposition actors in the northwest, Turkey’s role has expanded since its military intervention in northern Aleppo in August 2016. Driven primarily by a determination to block further expansion of the Kurdish YPG – the Syrian wing of Turkey’s decades-old terrorist adversary, the PKK – Turkey’s military has since established control over a 150km-wide band of territory, stretching from Afrin east to Jarablus on the western bank of the Euphrates River. As a principal guarantor of the northwestern de-escalation zone, Turkey’s military has also established 12 “observation posts” ringing in opposition territory from western Aleppo south through Idlib, into northern Hama, and back up through western Idlib’s border with Latakia. These posts began as minor lookout points, but have grown to resemble small forward-operating bases, ringed by barbed wire and increasingly by reinforced concrete walls, and housing fleets of armored vehicles and other heavy weaponry.

Until now, HTS has actively assisted Turkey in establishing its military presence in Idlib – despite considerable consternation within HTS ranks and severe criticism from al-Qaeda loyalist circles. For HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, this cooperative relationship with a foreign state’s armed forces has been a pragmatic way to protect his group’s long-term interests. But that explanation is becoming increasingly difficult to sell internally, without more evidence that the alliance with Turkey can indeed prevent a regime campaign. Strong Turkish pressure on HTS to dissolve itself and integrate into a broader, more mainstream opposition structure – possibly as an extension of the Turkish-backed “National Army” based to the east in northern Aleppo – has added to a sense within HTS that Turkey may not have the group’s best interests at heart. In fact, multiple Islamic figures close to HTS have insisted to me in recent days that HTS will eventually have no choice but to merge into an explicitly Turkish-backed armed structure. “Merge or die,” as one of them said.

Turkey, for its part, has expanded ties with HTS and affiliated bodies in northwestern Syria in order to control HTS – to bolster the group’s “pragmatic” wing and undermine the hardcore fundamentalists. In other words, Turkey has engaged HTS to control it and to divide it, with the objective being to shape a reformed HTS more willing to fall under Ankara’s control. Over the past year, Turkey has facilitated the assassination of troublesome jihadists, including members of HTS, as part of a complex shaping strategy. Until now this intrinsically risky approach appears to have worked, but it’s unclear how durable Turkey’s influence over HTS will be if and when the regime turns its guns on Idlib.

According to multiple opposition leaders I spoke with in early 2018, Turkey has also continued to engage with other opposition actors in the northwest, occasionally “turning the taps back on” in terms of military support, in response to significant incursions by pro-regime forces. “Turkey has been the most important supporter of the Syrian revolution,” one leading Free Syrian Army commander based in western Aleppo told me. “Turkey stands next to us as a partner, as we face the threats from the regime, Russia, Iran and the likes of Hezbollah. Any threat to our factions is a threat to Turkey, and [vice-versa].” The prominent Ahrar al-Sham Shura Council member told me that while he agreed that Turkey served a role as the defender of the opposition, it would be Syrians, not Turks, who would do any fighting: “”There is no doubt that the role of Turkey – as an ally of the Syrian revolution – is very central to preserving the liberated north,” he said, but “the task of defense and fighting will remain on us.”

Turkey has pressured mainstream opposition factions to unite their forces to present a more cohesive challenge to HTS’ aggressive tendencies. Such a force would be easier for Ankara to control and could more effectively deter regime attack. Consequently, in February 2018, Ahrar al-Sham and Harakat Nour al-Din al-Zinki merged to form the Syrian Liberation Front (SLF) and in late May, ten Free Syrian Army factions combined to create the National Liberation Front (NLF). Meanwhile, the “National Army” has continued to expand its forces alongside separate military and civilian police forces – all trained and equipped by the Turkish military.

It has been no secret that Turkey has wanted all of these forces – the National Army, the NLF, SLF and HTS – to unite. According to seven senior opposition figures involved, through July, Turkey mediated intensive talks – held in northern Idilb, northern Aleppo, and in Ankara, and including HTS – expressly seeking this objective. Eventually, the groups agreed that the SLF, Suqor al-Sham and Jaish al-Ahrar would join the NLF (announced on Aug. 1). A second agreement stipulated that in the event of a major regime offensive on Idlib, a single operations room would undertake a collective defense, combining the efforts of the NLF, SLF, HTS and notably also a number of al-Qaeda loyalist groups. Such a unity of effort would mark a major turning point, given the bitter and frequently hostile divisions among these actors. As one leading figure within the opposition Islamist community in Idlib told me: “If it comes to it, every gun will count and our differences will fade away.”

Despite agreeing to unify their forces, mainstream opposition groups in Idlib do not appear to have concentrated any effort on training and preparation for a resumption of hostilities. On the other hand, HTS has invested considerably, according to three military commanders in the group – all of whom spoke to me on the condition of anonymity. According to them, HTS has leveraged mid- and senior-level members with prior professional military experience to run intensive training camps in small unit tactics such as snatch-and-grab kidnappings, small group raids, drive-by shootings and stand-off attacks using rocked-propelled grenades and similar weapons. Specialist units, the commanders told me, have been trained in manufacturing IEDs and the list of fighters willing to be suicide bombers has grown substantially. HTS has also made use of “Syria’s first jihadi private military contractor,” known as Malhama Tactical – run by Russian-speaking former elite soldiers who provide bespoke training courses on light and heavy weaponry and other tactical instruction. Compared to Turkey’s most favored and more controllable opposition groups, HTS – which Turkey has engaged but sought to keep at an arm’s length – has done far more to prepare for the fight, suggesting that should hostilities indeed erupt, the extremists may still be the ones best equipped to fight back.

Conflict is Likely, But Can It Be Prevented?

The dynamics of northwest Syria are extraordinarily complex and the preceding discussion represents only a surface-level picture. Despite the challenges posed by hostile jihadists, Idlib’s civil society continues to thrive; the region’s huge population of internally displaced persons continues to grow while foreign aid struggles to meet their needs; and a deeply entrenched war economy remains in place, with enemies trading huge sums on a daily basis.

Although the costs of massive conflict in Idlib are clear to most, there are spoilers aplenty, including the growing network of ISIL sleeper cells, which seem determined to instill or exacerbate opposition divisions. The determination among al-Qaeda loyalists to demonstrate their rejection of the de-escalation agreement – a deal negotiated by foreign, “apostate” powers – has resulted in a number of deadly armed assaults on pro-regime positions in Latakia, which only serve to justify the regime’s desire to conquer the northwest. Some loyal to al-Qaeda may even seek to erode the relationship between HTS and Turkey , thereby re-opening the possibility of al-Qaeda re-assuming control over the thousands of fighters it lost when HTS pursued its separate path. Finally, and perhaps most dangerously, nearly 20 mysterious kamikaze drone attacks emanating from western Idlib have targeted Russia’s military headquarters in Hmeymim Airbase in Latakia. These attacks could persuade a skeptical Russia of the need to back a regime campaign to squash the opposition in Idlib.

Moscow has a major role to play in deterring its partners in Damascus and Tehran from pursuing a brutal military solution in Idlib. Unfortunately, there is no evidence from developments elsewhere in Syria that Russia can match its restrained words with actual restraint. If Russian statements on Idlib begin to focus more heavily on the presence of “terrorist” groups, singling out the role of HTS and al-Qaeda , one should assume a military campaign is in the cards. Overall, it seems the reasons for a regime offensive are adding up, not dwindling, notwithstanding the many statements coming from Moscow that suggest the contrary.

The key question is: What will Turkey do if an offensive begins to look imminent? Ankara has insisted Idlib is a red line, but exactly how red remains to be seen. Allowing Idlib to fall would set a dangerous precedent, swiftly opening the path for a pro-regime campaign to recapture other areas of northern Syria currently under Turkish control. For Turkey, that scenario places the Kurdish YPG into the center of the equation, particularly given recent comments by senior Kurdish officials suggesting that the YPG would be willing to assist a regime campaign on Idlib. Besides that threat, the broader political body responsible for the YPG’s campaign against ISIL, known as the Syrian Democratic Council, only days ago initiated a formal dialogue with the Assad regime in Damascus, raising the stakes yet further for Ankara.

As such, Turkey may be willing to take extraordinary risks to prevent the regime from initiating hostilities – something Russia probably knows well. Opposition members have suggested in private conversations that Turkey will soon be supplying them with MANPADS. These rumors are almost certainly designed with one audience in mind: Russia, which would be greatly sensitive to any heightened threat to air assets. Likewise, newly intensified negotiations for armed group mergers in the northwest and a recent marked increase in Turkish military reinforcements and structural and defensive improvements to its observation posts in Idlib all speak to a sense of real urgency. Turkey has also reportedly signaled that it will withdraw from the Astana process altogether and resume full support to the complete array of armed group proxies in northern Syria, should its Idlib “red line” come under threat.

The question about Idlib’s future is no longer about protecting the last remaining pocket of actors capable of confronting the Assad regime – this seems like a moot point given the irreversible trajectory of the conflict in the regime’s favor. Instead, the question is now about the sheer scale of the humanitarian disaster that would result from a military campaign would be extraordinarily destructive. The regime’s conquest of southern Syria in recent weeks forced more than 330,000 people from their homes – the largest displacement in seven years of conflict. A sustained military campaign in Idlib would dwarf that by a sizable margin.

Russia could try to sell a compromise to Turkey, Assad and Iran, in which peripheral areas of strategic value (northern Hama, Jisr al-Shughour and Jabal Turkman, for example) to the pro-regime alliance would come under regime attack, leaving the core of Idlib intact. Ultimately, even if Russia were to sell such a halfway bargain, it remains virtually impossible to imagine pro-regime forces stopping part of the way in.

Preventing the worst-case scenario will require a serious and immediate diplomatic investment. It may be true that the United States and its Western allies have minimal immediate interests inside Idlib, but allowing the situation there to deteriorate so markedly will guarantee the explosion of serious secondary effects that will threaten Western interests for some time. As I recently argued, the globalist terrorist threat emanating from northwestern Syria may never have been more real than it is now, though it at least remains small in scale for the time being. However, should hostilities explode, that threat will increase substantially. And that is not even to mention the unprecedented number of displaced persons, the potential for a refugee crisis, and the destruction, violence, and mass casualties – all of which will create a breeding ground for extremism for years to come.

Options for international action are limited, but diplomacy should play a central role, beginning with public acknowledgments of the importance of sustaining a state of relative calm in northwestern Syria. The pro-regime alliance speaks frequently of its determination to rid Syria of terrorism, but it’s clear that chaos and destruction feed the roots of extremism. Bringing hellfire onto Idlib and its millions of inhabitants will not deal with terrorists – it will gift them an invaluable opportunity to survive into the long term. If Russia truly opposes any escalation in hostilities in the northwest, as it claims to, the United States and its allies should hold it to that position. If there was ever a time to “back the Russians,” this is it.

The United States, the European Union, and allies in the region should collectively propose an international conference aimed at renegotiating a more durable de-escalation mechanism for Syria’s northwest. Such an arrangement should appreciate the importance of maintaining one final pocket of opposition territory in Syria, but specifically one under the iron grip of an Astana guarantor state (Turkey). In this way, the United States and other foreign governments would be actively contributing to the viability and authenticity of ongoing political efforts, whether the United Nations’ new Constitutional Committee and other subject-matter working groups, or the nascent Geneva or Vienna processes. The collective international effort should also include a continuation of humanitarian and stabilization assistance into northwestern Syria, preferably directed through the Turkey-backed, internationally recognized Syrian Interim Government, whose fledgling on-the-ground presence in the area needs help expanding.

The recommendations laid out here are not especially novel. They merely focus on reinforcing the status quo, in which an extended period of relative calm brings continued humanitarian benefit, avoids a catastrophic escalation, and provides more space for the one actor with real on-the-ground leverage – Turkey – to continue its attempts to minimize the malign influence of the most dangerous actors around. Ankara’s recent success in securing a mass merger of all non-HTS groups into an Free Syrian Army-led umbrella could prove a crucially important development in challenging extremists. It certainly raises the pressure on a group like HTS to follow suit, or risk alienating itself yet further. On the other hand, a return to all-out conflict would guarantee that the likes of HTS and al-Qaeda will win the narrative war and sustain themselves for years to come.

https://warontherocks.com/2018/08/the-urgency-of-idlib-the-impending-regime-offensive-and-the-delicate-balance-in-syrias-northwest/

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Salaam

Another update.

Refugees have become a pawn in the struggle for Syria

Russia wants to help them return—if the West pays to rebuild Syria

FEW believed President Bashar al-Assad would survive the rebellion that swept his country seven years ago. But Syria’s blood-soaked dictator is on the brink of defeating those who tried to topple him. The only rebels left are boxed into a corner of Syria’s north-west, in Idlib province. Regime forces are mustering at its edge, having recently seized rebel-held areas near the border with Jordan and Israel, in the south. The fall of Idlib would sound the rebellion’s death knell.

Trapped between rebels and the regime in Idlib are 2.6m civilians. More than half have already fled fighting in other parts of the country. The offensive in the south pushed hundreds of thousands of Syrians out of their homes. The UN warns that an assault on Idlib could displace 2m more. Turkish border guards are likely to shoot them (as they have done in the past) if they try to cross into Turkey.

Even as this potential exodus looms, there is increasing talk of sending home the 6m Syrians who have already fled to countries such as Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan (see map). Russia, which props up Mr Assad, wants to help 1.7m refugees, including 200,000 from Europe, go back in the near future. It sees their return as confirmation that the war is ending, Mr Assad has won and the country is stable. As part of the plan it has asked America and European countries to pay for Syria’s reconstruction, which could cost as much as $250bn, a sum Russia and the Assad regime cannot afford.

European powers have struggled to cope with the influx of Syrian refugees, which has fuelled populism. But they insist that they will not be blackmailed. They want to use reconstruction money as a bargaining chip to force Mr Assad to make concessions and set Syria on a less tyrannical path. The dictator, though, has no interest in negotiating over a war he is winning. America has not replied publicly to Russia’s plan, but President Donald Trump seems to want little to do with Syria.

Russia has already begun reaching out to Jordan and Lebanon, which grumble about the difficulty of absorbing huge numbers of Syrian refugees. The Russian plan has gone down especially well in Lebanon, which has started to send refugees back. About 1,200 returned on July 28th, according to Syrian state television. Even Lebanese officials opposed to Mr Assad say they are willing to co-operate with Russia and the regime if it means more follow.

The UN says Syria is still too unsafe for most refugees to return. Nevertheless, it is ramping up support for those coming back. It has opened nearly 100 centres to provide handouts, such as plastic sheeting for war-damaged homes. If the trickle of returning refugees turns into a flow, the West may feel increasing pressure to help rebuild their houses, schools and hospitals.

Mr Assad says refugees, especially businessmen, are welcome to return. But he seems in no rush to take back many of them. Most are Sunnis, who were once a large majority in Syria—and the backbone of the rebellion. Mr Assad, who is Alawite (an esoteric offshoot of Shia Islam), says Syria has “won a healthier and more homogenous society”. Refugees must obtain permission from the security services to return. Thousands have applied; only a few have been allowed back.

Mr Assad is using reconstruction to punish refugees and reward loyalists. He is reluctant to take money from the West, which would have strings attached. Instead he takes from his people. A decree, called Law 10, allows the regime to grab property from Syrians unless they can prove their ownership—hard for those who have fled. Refugees can designate family members in Syria to represent them, but they must obtain a certificate of good conduct from the police. Anyone with ties to the opposition is unlikely to get one. Many Sunni homes and shops have already been given to regime loyalists.

There are plenty of other reasons why refugees are staying away. Returning men face military conscription. Some have been arrested and tortured for alleged links to the rebels. Neighbourhoods are littered with mines and unexploded bombs. Millions of homes have been flattened or damaged in the fighting.

But Mr Assad’s policies, such as Law 10, also act as a magnet. Many refugees want to claim their assets before it is too late. Others fear that if they don’t go back soon, they may be kept out for ever. And as life in refugee camps grows more miserable, some are choosing to return. Back home, though, their fate is uncertain. “My husband went back to make sure our house wasn’t sold,” says Sara al-Hussein, a refugee in Lebanon. “He’s now living in a tent in a camp for displaced people. There is no future for us, not here and not in Syria.”

https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2018/08/04/refugees-have-become-a-pawn-in-the-struggle-for-syria

[Abz2000]

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Salaam

Another update

As Syria’s proxies converge on Idlib, what’s next for Turkey’s northern state-within-a-state?

In Syria’s rural northern Aleppo province, children raised speaking Arabic and Kurdish are set to begin studying Turkish this fall. Meanwhile, local council offices display signs in both Arabic and Turkish, and Turkey’s flag features prominently—alongside the triple-starred Syrian rebel banner—when local photographers cover official meetings.

In this corner of northern Syria, there are yet more signs of growing Turkish influence. One photo posted to Facebook last month shows construction vehicles laying asphalt in the northern Aleppo town of Bazaa with the caption: “Paving ‘Olive Branch’ Street,” ostensibly named after a Turkish-led military campaign in northern Syria earlier this year. In the background, a mural depicting a Turkish soldier watches over the freshly paved street.

Operation Olive Branch, which began in January, saw Turkish and Ankara-backed Syrian rebel brigades seize a roughly 40-kilometer stretch of borderland from majority-Kurdish forces. This year’s campaign came after Turkish and rebel forces seized adjacent, formerly Islamic State-held territory in 2016.

The result: a zone of Turkish control in rural Aleppo province stretching from the majority-Kurdish Afrin region in Syria’s far northwest, to the once Islamic State-held town of Jarablus some 130 kilometers east.

Turkey’s occupation of the region has not been without harm. London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International decried Turkish-backed rebels’ treatment of Afrin citizens in a damning report last week, while displaced Syrians complain of a lack of even the most basic services in a series of Turkish-administered camps that dot the border region. Meanwhile, residents of al-Bab and other northern Aleppo cities are still rebuilding after years of Islamic State rule.

Nevertheless, Ankara is digging deep into northern Aleppo’s nominally rebel-held towns and villages—and it doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon, says Joshua Landis, director of the University of Oklahoma’s Center for Middle East Studies.

“Turkey is prepared to, in a sense, quasi-annex this region,” Landis tells Syria Direct’s Madeline Edwards.

But behind what some local residents refer to as “Turkification” are a slew of complex—seemingly contradictory—diplomatic ties that could collapse as Syria’s warring parties converge on yet another, imminent, military campaign: the battle for Idlib province.


Q: In recent months, we’ve seen Turkish authorities entrenching in northern Syria: school administrators are adding Turkish language school curriculums, local councils are displaying Turkish flags and Turkish propaganda is increasingly visible in public spaces. There’s even a word some residents are using to describe the phenomenon: “Turkification.” What do you see as Turkey’s long-term priorities in maintaining this presence in northern Aleppo?

I think Turkey is prepared to, in a sense, quasi-annex this region. It’s the only thing that makes sense, because if they don’t, they’re going to be re-conquered by the Assad regime and they’ll be brought back into Syria.

The long-term problem for Turkey is whether they can do this kind of thing and have it accepted by the international community. And so far, it’s working for them.

I would compare it to İskenderun, [also known as] Alexandretta, which was a separate administrative unit of Syria under the French Mandate until Turkey annexed it in 1939. There were somewhere over 40,000 or 50,000 refugees who fled the region into Syria at that time. The Sunnis stayed and became Turks. The lines between a Turk and an Arab could be fungible.

Q: But do you see that dynamic—of pro-Turkish sentiment among Syrians in the north—playing out now?

Yes, I do. I think many Sunnis believe that they’d be better off with Turkey. And that’s really demonstrated in the fact that most of the rebel militias who use Turkey as a refuge also see Turkey as, in a sense, a mothership that supplies them with diplomatic support, political support, military support, economic support, everything. And they see the Turks as champions of their Islamic identity.

In a sense, by being Turks, by being under the umbrella of Turkish rule, in some ways they are more authentically Muslim. It underlines the ambiguities, just like it did in the 1930s, between Islamic and ethnic identity, which we see in today’s civil war and in the uprising against Assad.

Q: But what does Ankara stand to benefit from potentially annexing northern Aleppo, or at least maintaining a heavy presence there?

Turkey has a number of things. First, on the most practical level, Turkey gains leverage to affect future negotiations with Assad.

Second, Turkey is very fearful that Assad will drive all the rebels and their families [who are currently present in northern Aleppo and Idlib] into Turkey, scattering them across Anatolia. And that’s tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people.

So Turkey has a great interest in not allowing Assad to drive all of these tens of thousands of rebels [out]. They don’t want refugees. They have enough, with two million-point-something.

[Ed.: As of July 2018, the UN counts more than 3,500,000 registered Syrian refugees living in Turkey.]

Assad would love to just drive all of those rebel groups that are in Idlib and in northern Syria into Turkey and say, ‘These are your people, you get to have them. You financed them, you can choke on them.’

So it’s in Turkey’s interest to make sure that this doesn’t happen.

Q: What kind of leverage does Turkey’s presence in northern Aleppo actually hold over the Syrian government?

Well, the [potential] trade that’s sitting there, and waiting to be done, is that if the Syrian government controls the Kurds, Turkey will withdraw from territory in [northern] Syria.

[Ed.: US-backed, majority-Kurdish authorities in a de facto autonomous region of northeastern Syria are pushing forward with plans to negotiate with Damascus for a “decentralized, democratic system” in areas under their control, Syria Direct reported late last month. The Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, announced in July it had entered into talks with the Syrian government for a “roadmap leading to a “democratic and decentralized Syria.”]

Well, the trade that can be made is that Turkey abandons the Syrian rebels to a certain degree and gives Syria much of Idlib province in exchange for the Syrian government retaking much of the Kurdish region, and America leaving. And that means no more arming of the Kurds, no more weapons going to the Kurds. Syrian intelligence would have to work closely with the Turkish intelligence, I presume, to make sure that the Kurds are not smuggling arms up to the PKK, and that the Turkish army gets to destroy the PKK inside of Anatolia and suppress the Kurds.

But Turkey doesn’t trust Assad. They believe that he has cooperated with the [separatist, Kurdish-nationalist group] PKK in the past. So Turkey is fearful that Syria will go back to helping the PKK divide Turkey in the same way that Turkey has helped the rebels divide Syria.

As soon as [Turkey] gives up that territory, they have no leverage whatsoever over Syria.

Q: You mentioned earlier that Ankara doesn’t want rebels in Idlib streaming into Turkey if they face a possible defeat there. Can you talk more about the stakes in Idlib from a military perspective? Do you see Ankara poised to back rebels there in an oncoming battle, to the extent that we’ve been seeing in northern Aleppo?

Turkey has 12 observation posts that it has established across Idlib, which are backed up by Turkish soldiers with heavy weapons and tanks. So, if Assad bombs them, he’s going to be bombing Turkey and this is going to be a casus belli in theory. So, Assad has to step very carefully around these observation points.

Q: You wrote earlier this year on your Syria Comment blog that the US policy of backing majority-Kurdish groups in northern Syria has “pushed Turkey into the sphere of Russian influence.” How is this dynamic playing out today with regard to preparations for a battle for Idlib? Do you see any major contradictions?

Russia is very keen on trying to make a deal between Turkey, the Kurds and Syria. They’re trying to negotiate a way to avoid war, in much the same way that they did in southern Syria, where the Syrian Arab Army was able to retake all of that region in only about a month’s time and Israel, Jordan, the United States all agreed to it [and] did not enter into the war to stop the Syrian army. And the rebels were forced to make agreements with the army or to retreat to Idlib province.

The problem is that northern Syria is much more difficult. It’s filled with all these radical Islamist groups, it’s right on Turkey’s border and Turkey is a major power—it’s not like Jordan. And Russia has a great deal invested in Turkey. Russia does not want to go to war against Turkey.

This is going to tax Russian diplomacy to the max. Nobody knows what to do about it. In a sense it’s the collecting point of all the problems in Syria.

Q: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan warned his Russian counterpart Putin last month that a battle in Idlib would effectively “destroy” the Astana accord, which placed the province within one of four so-called “de-escalation zones.” Is that just an empty talking point, or is there real concern here of a diplomatic fallout?

Good question. The Astana accord represents an agreement between Russia, Turkey, Iran and other regional powers to use diplomacy and not to go to war. If that falls that apart, it really means the dialogue falls apart. And that means you could fall to blows.

I think both Russia and Turkey have the idea that they are not going to war. And that they both think they can finesse the situation.

So, there’s going to be a lot of pushing and pulling, and we’re not sure how it will end. Or where exactly the lines will be drawn. But I think Assad is committed to taking back the whole [province].

Q: But there’s the argument that Astana is meaningless, that none of the de-escalation zones it established in Syria did much to stop the fighting at all, except maybe in parts of southern Daraa and Quneitra provinces for a period of time.

That wasn’t their purpose. Their actual purpose was to provide the United States with a graceful way to abandon the Syrian rebels. President Obama [decided], “I’m not going to war against Russia for Syria.” That’s been American foreign policy ever since. They conceded Syria to Russia.

That meant that they had to find a way to allow Assad and Russia to destroy the rebels. But of course, the US had committed to the rebels. So it’s very embarrassing for America to have to do that. And America kept hoping that it could get leverage, that it could force Assad to step down, that they could save face by getting a negotiated solution. None of that’s turned out to be correct.

Now it’s a question of whether Turkey will go to war with Syria for these rebel groups. And, my hunch is, Turkey won’t want to.

Q: What about Turkey’s interest in refugee returns? We’ve seen Lebanon and Jordan pushing for refugees to go back to Syria. Is that something you see happening with Turkey? Or is it a different dynamic there because it’s been a political safe haven for the Syrian opposition?

I think that Turkey is going to be much better [with retaining its Syrian refugee population] than either Jordan or Lebanon. The Jordanian and Lebanese economies are really up against a wall.

But Turkey is in a different position because it’s so much wealthier. It’s a much bigger country. I suspect a lot more of the refugees will become Turks—that their children will stay in the country and become Turks.

Yes, Syrians in Turkey have been going back to northern Syria, but they’re not staying. They’ll go back for Eid, for example, but they don’t stay. In northern Syria, even in areas where Turkey is in control, there are many gangs. Despite the growing Turkish influence there, it’s still a very lawless place. So no one with a family will want to move there. There isn’t much to go to. There’s very little security, and there’s very little economic promise.

https://syriadirect.org/news/as-syria%E2%80%99s-proxies-converge-on-idlib-what%E2%80%99s-next-for-turkey%E2%80%99s-northern-state-within-a-state/

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Salaam

Another update

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Latest IS atrocity.

'No one was spared': Sweida massacre leaves Syrians reeling

As the dust settles over IS attack that left 250 dead, some begin to wonder why the Damascus government allowed the disaster to happen

- It was 6 am, and like any other day Asma al-Aswad was buying groceries for her family of five in the Syrian city of Sweida.

Walking down the road where she would typically buy groceries, a man parked his car and began selling fruit and vegetables.

Enticing people with his low prices, dozens began to approach the car. Aswad was one of those people, but, as she approached, the vehicle exploded.

"The man blew himself up and turned everyone who was near him into small fragments," 28-year-old Aswad recalled.

"I fell to the ground. The floor was full of dust and blood. Whoever did this wanted to kill as many people as possible. Most people would do their shopping at this time."

Assaults with guns and explosives followed the suicide bombing in the city of Sweida, on villages to its north and east. Government forces also killed two would-be suicide bombers, according to pro-Syrian government outlets.

A fourth blast hit the provincial capital later in the day. The Islamic State group (IS) claimed the assault hours later.

Aswad survived the IS attack on Wednesday. However, about 250 people were killed in the attacks that day, which marked the worst bloodshed to hit Sweida province since the civil war began in 2011.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group, at least 45 IS militants died while carrying out the attacks.

But as Syrians inside Sweida come to terms with what took place, their anger is shifting towards Syria's government, which some believe turned a blind eye, letting the massacre take place.

Sweida, a province in southern Syria, is predominantly Druze. Since the outbreak of the civil war, the majority of the city has been under government control and seen relatively little fighting.

rest here

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/No-one-was-spared-Residents-recount-Sweida-massacre-Islamic-State-2081845763

[JustTime]

Salaam

Another update

As Syria’s proxies converge on Idlib, what’s next for Turkey’s northern state-within-a-state?

In Syria’s rural northern Aleppo province, children raised speaking Arabic and Kurdish are set to begin studying Turkish this fall. Meanwhile, local council offices display signs in both Arabic and Turkish, and Turkey’s flag features prominently—alongside the triple-starred Syrian rebel banner—when local photographers cover official meetings.

In this corner of northern Syria, there are yet more signs of growing Turkish influence. One photo posted to Facebook last month shows construction vehicles laying asphalt in the northern Aleppo town of Bazaa with the caption: “Paving ‘Olive Branch’ Street,” ostensibly named after a Turkish-led military campaign in northern Syria earlier this year. In the background, a mural depicting a Turkish soldier watches over the freshly paved street.

Operation Olive Branch, which began in January, saw Turkish and Ankara-backed Syrian rebel brigades seize a roughly 40-kilometer stretch of borderland from majority-Kurdish forces. This year’s campaign came after Turkish and rebel forces seized adjacent, formerly Islamic State-held territory in 2016.

The result: a zone of Turkish control in rural Aleppo province stretching from the majority-Kurdish Afrin region in Syria’s far northwest, to the once Islamic State-held town of Jarablus some 130 kilometers east.

Turkey’s occupation of the region has not been without harm. London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International decried Turkish-backed rebels’ treatment of Afrin citizens in a damning report last week, while displaced Syrians complain of a lack of even the most basic services in a series of Turkish-administered camps that dot the border region. Meanwhile, residents of al-Bab and other northern Aleppo cities are still rebuilding after years of Islamic State rule.

Nevertheless, Ankara is digging deep into northern Aleppo’s nominally rebel-held towns and villages—and it doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon, says Joshua Landis, director of the University of Oklahoma’s Center for Middle East Studies.

“Turkey is prepared to, in a sense, quasi-annex this region,” Landis tells Syria Direct’s Madeline Edwards.

But behind what some local residents refer to as “Turkification” are a slew of complex—seemingly contradictory—diplomatic ties that could collapse as Syria’s warring parties converge on yet another, imminent, military campaign: the battle for Idlib province.


Q: In recent months, we’ve seen Turkish authorities entrenching in northern Syria: school administrators are adding Turkish language school curriculums, local councils are displaying Turkish flags and Turkish propaganda is increasingly visible in public spaces. There’s even a word some residents are using to describe the phenomenon: “Turkification.” What do you see as Turkey’s long-term priorities in maintaining this presence in northern Aleppo?

I think Turkey is prepared to, in a sense, quasi-annex this region. It’s the only thing that makes sense, because if they don’t, they’re going to be re-conquered by the Assad regime and they’ll be brought back into Syria.

The long-term problem for Turkey is whether they can do this kind of thing and have it accepted by the international community. And so far, it’s working for them.

I would compare it to İskenderun, [also known as] Alexandretta, which was a separate administrative unit of Syria under the French Mandate until Turkey annexed it in 1939. There were somewhere over 40,000 or 50,000 refugees who fled the region into Syria at that time. The Sunnis stayed and became Turks. The lines between a Turk and an Arab could be fungible.

Q: But do you see that dynamic—of pro-Turkish sentiment among Syrians in the north—playing out now?

Yes, I do. I think many Sunnis believe that they’d be better off with Turkey. And that’s really demonstrated in the fact that most of the rebel militias who use Turkey as a refuge also see Turkey as, in a sense, a mothership that supplies them with diplomatic support, political support, military support, economic support, everything. And they see the Turks as champions of their Islamic identity.

In a sense, by being Turks, by being under the umbrella of Turkish rule, in some ways they are more authentically Muslim. It underlines the ambiguities, just like it did in the 1930s, between Islamic and ethnic identity, which we see in today’s civil war and in the uprising against Assad.

Q: But what does Ankara stand to benefit from potentially annexing northern Aleppo, or at least maintaining a heavy presence there?

Turkey has a number of things. First, on the most practical level, Turkey gains leverage to affect future negotiations with Assad.

Second, Turkey is very fearful that Assad will drive all the rebels and their families [who are currently present in northern Aleppo and Idlib] into Turkey, scattering them across Anatolia. And that’s tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people.

So Turkey has a great interest in not allowing Assad to drive all of these tens of thousands of rebels [out]. They don’t want refugees. They have enough, with two million-point-something.

[Ed.: As of July 2018, the UN counts more than 3,500,000 registered Syrian refugees living in Turkey.]

Assad would love to just drive all of those rebel groups that are in Idlib and in northern Syria into Turkey and say, ‘These are your people, you get to have them. You financed them, you can choke on them.’

So it’s in Turkey’s interest to make sure that this doesn’t happen.

Q: What kind of leverage does Turkey’s presence in northern Aleppo actually hold over the Syrian government?

Well, the [potential] trade that’s sitting there, and waiting to be done, is that if the Syrian government controls the Kurds, Turkey will withdraw from territory in [northern] Syria.

[Ed.: US-backed, majority-Kurdish authorities in a de facto autonomous region of northeastern Syria are pushing forward with plans to negotiate with Damascus for a “decentralized, democratic system” in areas under their control, Syria Direct reported late last month. The Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, announced in July it had entered into talks with the Syrian government for a “roadmap leading to a “democratic and decentralized Syria.”]

Well, the trade that can be made is that Turkey abandons the Syrian rebels to a certain degree and gives Syria much of Idlib province in exchange for the Syrian government retaking much of the Kurdish region, and America leaving. And that means no more arming of the Kurds, no more weapons going to the Kurds. Syrian intelligence would have to work closely with the Turkish intelligence, I presume, to make sure that the Kurds are not smuggling arms up to the PKK, and that the Turkish army gets to destroy the PKK inside of Anatolia and suppress the Kurds.

But Turkey doesn’t trust Assad. They believe that he has cooperated with the [separatist, Kurdish-nationalist group] PKK in the past. So Turkey is fearful that Syria will go back to helping the PKK divide Turkey in the same way that Turkey has helped the rebels divide Syria.

As soon as [Turkey] gives up that territory, they have no leverage whatsoever over Syria.

Q: You mentioned earlier that Ankara doesn’t want rebels in Idlib streaming into Turkey if they face a possible defeat there. Can you talk more about the stakes in Idlib from a military perspective? Do you see Ankara poised to back rebels there in an oncoming battle, to the extent that we’ve been seeing in northern Aleppo?

Turkey has 12 observation posts that it has established across Idlib, which are backed up by Turkish soldiers with heavy weapons and tanks. So, if Assad bombs them, he’s going to be bombing Turkey and this is going to be a casus belli in theory. So, Assad has to step very carefully around these observation points.

Q: You wrote earlier this year on your Syria Comment blog that the US policy of backing majority-Kurdish groups in northern Syria has “pushed Turkey into the sphere of Russian influence.” How is this dynamic playing out today with regard to preparations for a battle for Idlib? Do you see any major contradictions?

Russia is very keen on trying to make a deal between Turkey, the Kurds and Syria. They’re trying to negotiate a way to avoid war, in much the same way that they did in southern Syria, where the Syrian Arab Army was able to retake all of that region in only about a month’s time and Israel, Jordan, the United States all agreed to it [and] did not enter into the war to stop the Syrian army. And the rebels were forced to make agreements with the army or to retreat to Idlib province.

The problem is that northern Syria is much more difficult. It’s filled with all these radical Islamist groups, it’s right on Turkey’s border and Turkey is a major power—it’s not like Jordan. And Russia has a great deal invested in Turkey. Russia does not want to go to war against Turkey.

This is going to tax Russian diplomacy to the max. Nobody knows what to do about it. In a sense it’s the collecting point of all the problems in Syria.

Q: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan warned his Russian counterpart Putin last month that a battle in Idlib would effectively “destroy” the Astana accord, which placed the province within one of four so-called “de-escalation zones.” Is that just an empty talking point, or is there real concern here of a diplomatic fallout?

Good question. The Astana accord represents an agreement between Russia, Turkey, Iran and other regional powers to use diplomacy and not to go to war. If that falls that apart, it really means the dialogue falls apart. And that means you could fall to blows.

I think both Russia and Turkey have the idea that they are not going to war. And that they both think they can finesse the situation.

So, there’s going to be a lot of pushing and pulling, and we’re not sure how it will end. Or where exactly the lines will be drawn. But I think Assad is committed to taking back the whole [province].

Q: But there’s the argument that Astana is meaningless, that none of the de-escalation zones it established in Syria did much to stop the fighting at all, except maybe in parts of southern Daraa and Quneitra provinces for a period of time.

That wasn’t their purpose. Their actual purpose was to provide the United States with a graceful way to abandon the Syrian rebels. President Obama [decided], “I’m not going to war against Russia for Syria.” That’s been American foreign policy ever since. They conceded Syria to Russia.

That meant that they had to find a way to allow Assad and Russia to destroy the rebels. But of course, the US had committed to the rebels. So it’s very embarrassing for America to have to do that. And America kept hoping that it could get leverage, that it could force Assad to step down, that they could save face by getting a negotiated solution. None of that’s turned out to be correct.

Now it’s a question of whether Turkey will go to war with Syria for these rebel groups. And, my hunch is, Turkey won’t want to.

Q: What about Turkey’s interest in refugee returns? We’ve seen Lebanon and Jordan pushing for refugees to go back to Syria. Is that something you see happening with Turkey? Or is it a different dynamic there because it’s been a political safe haven for the Syrian opposition?

I think that Turkey is going to be much better [with retaining its Syrian refugee population] than either Jordan or Lebanon. The Jordanian and Lebanese economies are really up against a wall.

But Turkey is in a different position because it’s so much wealthier. It’s a much bigger country. I suspect a lot more of the refugees will become Turks—that their children will stay in the country and become Turks.

Yes, Syrians in Turkey have been going back to northern Syria, but they’re not staying. They’ll go back for Eid, for example, but they don’t stay. In northern Syria, even in areas where Turkey is in control, there are many gangs. Despite the growing Turkish influence there, it’s still a very lawless place. So no one with a family will want to move there. There isn’t much to go to. There’s very little security, and there’s very little economic promise.

https://syriadirect.org/news/as-syri...ithin-a-state/

After Iran and Russia, Turkey is the biggest enemy in the arena and Erdogan is a swine.

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Salaam

Another update

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Latest IS atrocity.

'No one was spared': Sweida massacre leaves Syrians reeling

As the dust settles over IS attack that left 250 dead, some begin to wonder why the Damascus government allowed the disaster to happen

- It was 6 am, and like any other day Asma al-Aswad was buying groceries for her family of five in the Syrian city of Sweida.

Walking down the road where she would typically buy groceries, a man parked his car and began selling fruit and vegetables.

Enticing people with his low prices, dozens began to approach the car. Aswad was one of those people, but, as she approached, the vehicle exploded.

"The man blew himself up and turned everyone who was near him into small fragments," 28-year-old Aswad recalled.

"I fell to the ground. The floor was full of dust and blood. Whoever did this wanted to kill as many people as possible. Most people would do their shopping at this time."

Assaults with guns and explosives followed the suicide bombing in the city of Sweida, on villages to its north and east. Government forces also killed two would-be suicide bombers, according to pro-Syrian government outlets.

A fourth blast hit the provincial capital later in the day. The Islamic State group (IS) claimed the assault hours later.

Aswad survived the IS attack on Wednesday. However, about 250 people were killed in the attacks that day, which marked the worst bloodshed to hit Sweida province since the civil war began in 2011.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group, at least 45 IS militants died while carrying out the attacks.

But as Syrians inside Sweida come to terms with what took place, their anger is shifting towards Syria's government, which some believe turned a blind eye, letting the massacre take place.

Sweida, a province in southern Syria, is predominantly Druze. Since the outbreak of the civil war, the majority of the city has been under government control and seen relatively little fighting.

rest here

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/N...ate-2081845763

Poor Sweida, forget Daraa, East Ghouta, Aleppo, and the Yarmouk Camp which were literal instances of genocide, mass murder and slaughter that was actually orchestrated by Assad, this pales in comparison to any of the former mentioned, this is some nice propaganda that only reaffirms the international opinion that war forged out of information warfare, that Russia is the only viable option for Syria whilst justifying continued operations in Syria at the expense of the people.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

I agree that plenty of unworthy atrocities have been ignored in this war (Iraq as well, what happened to Fallujah Ramadi etc), but your intolerant attitude to those you 'dislike' doesn't help matters.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Syrian troops 'shell Idlib to pave way for assault'

Artillery and rocket fire reported around Jisr al-Shughur as reinforcements arrive ahead of expected offensive, activist group says

Syrian government forces have shelled rebel and Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) positions in the northwestern province of Idlib, a UK-based activist group has said, as reinforcements arrived ahead of an expected assault.

Artillery and rocket fire on Thursday morning slammed into territory around Jisr al-Shughur, a key town in the southwestern part of the province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The government also dropped leaflets warning residents of an impending assault. The province is the largest piece of territory still in rebel hands, and President Bashar al-Assad had warned it would be his military's next priority.

Around 60 percent of it is now held by HTS, which is led by al-Qaeda's former Syria affiliate, while the rest is controlled by rival opposition factions.

"The shelling is in preparation for an assault but there has been no ground advance yet," said the Observatory's director, Rami Abdurrahman.

"Regime reinforcements including equipment, soldiers, vehicles and ammunition have been arriving since Tuesday," he told the AFP news agency.

The reinforcements were being distributed along three government-held fronts, including in neighbouring Latakia province just west of Jisr al-Shughur, in the Sahl al-Ghab plain that lies south of Idlib, and in a sliver of the province's southeast that is already in government hands, the Observatory said. The al-Watan daily, which is close to the government, also reported on Thursday that army troops had bombed positions in the area.

Leaflets dropped

Idlib, which has escaped government control since 2015, lies along the border with Turkey but is otherwise nearly completely surrounded by government-held territory. The Syrian army were reportedly urging people in Idlib to agree to a return of state rule and telling them the war was nearing its end in leaflets dropped over the province on Thursday.

"Your cooperation with the Syrian Arab Army will release you from the rule of militants and terrorists, and will preserve your and your families' lives," declared the leaflets that were dropped in rural areas near Idlib city.

"We call upon you to join local reconciliation [agreements] as many others in Syria have done," said the leaflet in the name of the army command, a copy of which was seen by Reuters.

Such agreements, concluded at the local level, have been a tool for helping the Syrian government to reestablish control over numerous areas and have often been agreed when rebel fighters are on the brink of military defeat. The government says the agreements grant an amnesty to rebels who are willing to live under state rule again, unless private law suits have been brought against them. The terms also include that they give up weapons. But many rebels, civilian dissidents and others have instead opted to take safe passage to the opposition-held northwest, an arc of territory at the Turkish border that stretches from Idlib to the city of Jarablus on the Euphrates River.

Syrians have fled to Idlib province from other parts of the country as the government has advanced, and the UN has warned that an offensive there could force 2.5 million people towards the Turkish border in the event of fighting. NATO member Turkey has warned against any offensive in Idlib, and is pressing Russia to make sure this does not happen. Turkey has established 12 military observation posts in the northwest under an agreement with Russia and Iran.

UN Humanitarian adviser Jan Egeland said that representatives from Russia, Iran and Turkey told a meeting of the Syria humanitarian taskforce on Thursday that they would do their utmost to avoid a battle in the province. He said he hoped a deal would be reached between diplomats and military envoys to avoid a "bloodbath".

But he also said that the UN is preparing for a battle and will ask Turkey to keep its borders open to allow civilians to flee if the need arose.

'Chiefs of treason'

Syrian troops have recaptured key areas of the country in recent months with help from ally Russia, which has brokered a string of surrender deals with rebels. Apparently fearing a similar arrangement for Idlib, HTS has been arresting dozens of figures in the province that have been go-betweens with the government. Early on Thursday, the group detained several such figures from villages in Idlib's southeast, calling them "chiefs of treason," according to an HTS-linked media agency.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said it had documented more than 100 such arrests by HTS and rival forces this week alone. Idlib province is home to around 2.5 million people, including rebels and civilians transferred en masse from other territory that fell to Syrian troops after intense assaults.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syrian-troops-shell-idlib-pave-way-assault-319635348

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Syria Watch

While an international arrest warrant has been issued by Germanys chief prosecutor for General Jamil Hassan, Syria’s torturer in chief and former head of its Air Force Intelligence, there is still no sign anyone wants to prosecute Bashar al Assad himself.

Carla Del Ponte, a member of the UN commission of inquiry in Syria, said last year the commission has enough evidence to convict the Syria president of war crimes; but she stepped down in frustration as no tribunal was being set up. A war crimes tribunal would certainly have plenty to consider.

On 29 July, the Syrian Network for Human Rights (SN4HR) reported the death by torture in May 2015 of one Yasin Sharbaji, held in Syrian government custody since March 2012. The treatment of detainees held by the Syrian regime have been chronicled in horrific detail by Omar al-Shogre, who spent three years in a government prison. He managed to escape by paying a bribe, and has described sadistic levels of violence including vicious beatings and prisoners being forced to rape one another.

Others have reported burnings, electrocutions and sexual violence in rooms spattered with vomit and blood. ‘Caesar’, a Syrian government photographer who defected in 2014 with pictures of more than 6000 of the dead, said ‘before the uprising, the regime tortured prisoners to get information; now they torturing to kill. I saw marks left by burning candles, and once the round mark of a stove, that had burned someone’s face and hair. Some people had deep cuts, some had their eyes gouged out, their teeth broken. You could see traces of lashes with those cables you use to start cars’.

Separately on 28 July the SN4HR released details of the torture to death of Yahya Sharbaji, a prominent peace activist from Darayya, whose campaign called for gifting flowers as a sign of peace. He was arrested in 2011 by Air Force Intelligence with fellow activist Ghiath Matar, whose tortured body was found four days later. The Syrian government has just stated that Yahya died on 15 Janurary 2013 – the same date it has just given to the family of Islam Dabbas, a student jailed in 2011 for protesting.

At least 81652 people, including 4837 women and 1546 children, have been forcibly ‘disappeared’ by the Syrian regime since March 2011. SN4HR has documented 13066 deaths due to torture by the government side, including 163 children, many of whom were abused to punish their parents. As long ago as 2012 the UN expressed its grave concern at ‘torture and ill treatment of detainees, including children who were subjected to torture and mutilation while detained’ and described ‘a context of total and absolute impunity’.

In the last two months the government has begun to declare some of the disappeared, dead. It does not say how or why they died, but individuals who were arrested together often have the same date of death, suggesting formal executions. Since May, SN4HR has documented 343 cases, including those of eight children, of people disappeared by the government whose relatives have just been told that they are dead. There are more each day.

Commentators suggest President Assad, now confident of victory, wants to make his untouchability clear. With no war crimes tribunal in sight, he has nothing to fear.

Private Eye Issue No 1476

Blurb
New evidence from inside the Syrian regime shows "systematic" criminal acts.

Western organisations now hope the evidence will help bring justice for families. Syria’s Military Intelligence knew that detainees were being tortured and the numbers dying were rising, new documents reveal. The evidence, seen by Channel 4 News, is drawn from the regime’s own internal records which have been smuggled out of Syria and analysed by war crimes investigators at a secret location in Europe.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update. This gets more and more murkier.


After a New massacre, Charges that ISIS is operating with Assad and the Russians

The slaughter in the Druze region of Syria cost hundred of lives last month. It happened after the Druze told the Russians they wouldn’t fight for Assad

On July 25 in the Syrian province of Sweida a massacre began in the early morning. Ten jihadists from the so-called Islamic State entered Sweida town. They wore the traditional baggy trousers and loose-fitting overgarments of Druze men, but beneath the clothes they had hidden explosive vests. Three detonated in the main vegetable market, then one of them accompanied the many injured to the hospital and set off his explosive charge there. The other six suicide bombers were overcome before they could detonate, according to senior officials in the Druze community.

At the same time, hundreds of ISIS fighters entered three nearby villages, moving house-by-house slitting throats and shooting to death men, women and children. Some reported that the killers left a witness from each family alive to tell their hideous story. In all, 273 Druze were killed and 220 injured, Druze officials told us.

They strongly suspect that the attack by ISIS was carried out in cooperation with the Russian-backed Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad, and this is corroborated to some extent by ISIS prisoners we have interviewed who are being held by U.S.-allied Kurdish forces here in northern Syria. The Druse politicians and officials came here to try to forge an alliance with like-minded Kurds for mutual self-protection, which is when they told us the details of the massacre.

News of the atrocity has been reported internationally, but the story behind it still is not well understood.

The Druze are one of the smaller minorities in Syria, perhaps three percent of the population. But their reputation as fighters in the wars of the Levant goes back centuries. Altogether, they number about a million adherents of a monotheistic, Abrahamic faith mingling elements of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, but also beliefs in reincarnation. Long persecuted for their beliefs, they keep their scriptures secret.

Their lands and their strongholds traditionally have been in the mountains of Syria and Lebanon, although some Druze are in Jordan and a large contingent are in Israel. Many live outside the region as well, and fit easily into the secular West. (Amal Clooney, for instance, is from an influential Druze family in Lebanon.) In Syria, the hills east and south of Damascus officially are known as Jabal al-Druze, the Druze mountain, and the communities that live there are very close-knit.

To this day, Druze fighters are well represented in the militaries of Lebanon and Israel, and until recently of Syria as well. But when the Syrian uprising of 2011 turned violent, Druze leaders decided to stay neutral in the conflict. They called those serving in the Syrian army to desert and return home. Druze officials we spoke to, who did not want to be quoted by name, claim to have their own militia of 53,000 – reservists, military deserters and young men whom they have trained – ready to defend their Syrian heartland.

As the ISIS massacres in the Sweida region began just after dawn, mysteriously, telephone land lines and electricity in the area had been cut off. But the news spread by cell phone, and well-armed Druze men came out in droves to defend their population. “The big battle started around noon and lasted until 8 p.m,” said one Druze official who joined the fight.

According to the Druze politicians we talked to, there were approximately 400 combatants from ISIS, or Daesh as they are called here, facing thousands of individually armed Druze who rose to fight — and who did not take prisoners.

“Currently 250 Daesh are dead,” one Druze official told us. “There are no injured [ISIS fighters]. We killed them all and more are killed every day in ongoing skirmishes in which the Daesh attackers continue to come from the desert to attack. Every day we discover the bodies of injured Daesh who died trying to withdraw. Due to the rugged terrain, Daesh could not retrieve them with their four-wheel-drives. We have no interest to bury them.”

Of 10 known ISIS captives taken during the fighting, three were hanged immediately. Another was captured and hanged during skirmishes earlier this week. The Druze officials said that the Syrian authorities are demanding any surviving ISIS captives be turned over to them, but the Druze are refusing to do so.

The horror of the Sweida massacre in an area most considered safe—and in these last moments when ISIS rule in Syria appears to be all but over—was magnified when the Druze learned that some of their women and children had been taken captive by ISIS cadres. “Most of the Daesh attackers were killed,” a Druze official told us. “The only escapees were those who were kidnapped in the first village: 29 women, teenagers and babies.”

“ISIS sent a video of one of their Druze captives, 35-year-old A Shalguinz, who delivered her baby in the desert.”

One 19-year-old student already has been beheaded by ISIS, which also quickly posted pictures of their Druze female captives and demanded that the Syrian regime stop attacking them and exchange ISIS prisoners held by the regime for these women and children.

In addition to the sensational pictures of the helpless women holding their hands above their heads in the desert, ISIS sent a video of one of their Druze captives, 35-year-old A Shalguinz, who delivered her baby in the desert.

“Daesh said they will make them sabaya [slaves] if the regime doesn't’ give 100 prisoners to them and the regime refused,” one of our interlocutors told us.

“Assad’s alleged complicity with ISIS is long, gruesome, and well documented.”

People in the Middle East constantly speculate about the machinations of their governments and political parties, and rumors are taken seriously since verifiable facts often are hard or impossible to come by. But the Assad regime and ISIS at this moment have a coincidence of interests that is hard to mistake.

Assad currently is readying his troops and Russian- and Iranian-backed allies to attack the jihadist militants in Idlib, and the Druze leaders we talked to feel that their people were directly punished for not agreeing to join the Syrians in that operation.

Replaying the events that occurred prior to the slaughter and kidnapping, one Druze leader points out that about a week before the massacre, “Three Russian military officers came to the region to meet the political representatives of our area. They were meeting to create the 5th army in the region, exclusively for that region, so that all the young Druze who fled the Syrian Army and the Druze reservists are invited back.”

If the Druze have anything like as many as the 53,000 combatants they claim, obviously they could be hugely valuable to the regime’s army. But that was not going to happen.

“We don’t attack outside of our area. We only defend ourselves if necessary,” said the same official. “They came and said, ‘We’ll make the 5th battalion to protect the area. They can join the combat against al Nusra [al Qaeda linked jihadists] in Idlib,” he explained. “But the local representative answered them clearly, that they cannot join any Syrian Army to combat outside the mountain of the Druze, only defensive not offensive actions.”

Assad’s alleged complicity with ISIS is long, gruesome, and well documented. Recently he has had a policy of allowing armed militants to escape from cities in busses, ostensibly to reduce the risk of civilian casualties.

““It is known that Daesh militants in the suburbs of Damascus have been displaced to the east of Sweida in green buses by an agreement with the government: 1,400 Daesh were moved this way to the area east of Sweida and near the Tanf base of the Americans,” one of our Druze sources told us.

The U.S. garrison at al-Tanf sits on the strategic Baghdad-Damascus highway, located in Syria on the Iraqi border and within miles of the Jordanian border. This outpost has served as a launching point since 2016 for counter-ISIS operations including training for Syrian opposition factions fighting ISIS, al-Nusra and other jihadists.

“Adding to that, 1,000 combatants of Daesh came in a discreet way from the Yarmouk area [a Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus] to join the local Daesh, estimated at 2,000 to 3,000 combatants," said one of the Druze officials who talked to us. "We know this by internal sources of the Syrian army. There are still some Druze of the army who leak this information to us.” In these transfers, ISIS fighters "have the right to take their individual Kalashnikov and three magazines. According to the government all of them came armed this way as the Syrian government gave them this safe passage to move to our area.”

“The regime was a spectator to the massacre.”
— Syrian Druze official

“On the 24th of July most of the official checkpoints of the Syrian army around Sweida were withdrawn—all around the villages where the massacres occurred,” this Druze official told us. “They hit at 7 a.m., but at night something else was happening. Where the villages are—facing the Daesh area—the Syrian army withdrew the local weapons from the local protection militias. No one knew why. They also withdrew their checkpoint in the area and cut the electricity and local phone service. The regime was a spectator to the massacre.”

“We think there is complicity between Daesh and the regime,” another of the Druze leaders said. “It’s so obvious to us. The regime refused to send ambulances to assist the population. They cut the electricity as well and the local telephone service to make it difficult to communicate. They couldn’t cut the mobiles.”

One of the 10 captured ISIS attackers admits on an interrogation video shared by the Druze leaders that in the village massacres a man from the Syrian government guided them from house to house, knocking on the doors and calling the inhabitants by name so they would unwittingly open their doors to the ISIS attackers.

This is not the first time we have heard of such cynical and deadly complicity between the Assad regime and the ISIS terrorists it supposedly is fighting. We have interviewed, now, 91 men and women who defected from ISIS or were taken prisoner by the forces fighting it. They have told us that ISIS sold grain and oil to the Syrian government while in return they were supplied with electricity, and that the Syrians even sent in experts to help repair the oil facility in Deir ez Zour, a major city in southeast Syria, under ISIS protection. Early in the the revolution, Bashar al-Assad released al Qaeda operatives and other jihadists from his prison to make the case that he was fighting terrorists, not rebellious people hoping for democracy. One of those jihadists he released, known as Alabssi, was one of the ISIS leaders in the battle in Sweida.

In neighboring Iraq, ISIS has been declared militarily defeated since November 2017. President Donald Trump, in his state of the union speech in January this year, said, “I’m proud to report that the coalition to defeat ISIS has liberated very close to 100 percent of the territory just recently held by these killers in Iraq and in Syria.” But on the ground, U.S.-led coalition forces say that in the area patrolled by Americans and their close allies, around 1,000 ISIS militants are still at large. And an estimated 9,000 ISIS militants are still roaming free in Syria and Iraq. And in both places heinous attacks continue to occur.

Where did the fighters come from who carried out the massacre in Sweida? Ten ISIS fighters were captured and hundreds killed. According to our sources 83 ID cards were recovered. Most were Chechens, Palestinians from the Syrian camps, and some Saudis. There was a Moroccan and a Turkman among them, a Russian and a Libyan, as well as some Iraqis. Supposedly the brother of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, commanded the assault.

The Chechens who were slain were all wearing suicide vests—as usual, our source said. Those who attacked in the center of Sweida wore suicide vests, but so did the snipers using powerful rifles to shoot from distant rooftops. “That’s where most our casualties came from,” said one of the Druze officials. “It seems ISIS is alive and well despite international reports that they are defeated, or nearly defeated.”

One of the officials will only speak to us anonymously out of concern the attack can be repeated. “If they kidnap one, they will kidnap more,” he worries. Some 114 villages and small towns are around Sweida with half a million Druze living there.

The leaders of Druze mountain tell us that they are now also appealing to the international community to be protected by an international force, as the Kurdish area is protected by the Americans, and to assist them to bring back the kidnapped women to their families.

“To safeguard our community and to protect the diversity in the future of Syria, we need to create a crescent against aggressors,” said one of the politicians. Running from north to south, including parts of Iraq, it would protect the Kurds, the Yazidis, Christians, and Druze. “The minorities are looking to the Coalition as the only credible force in the area,” he said, adding, “The crescent strategically speaking would also cut the Iranians from access to the regime.”

The world must decide whether or not to respond, but the record thus far does not hold out much hope.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-assad-isis-and-the-russians-cooperated-to-carry-out-a-massacre

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update, situation in Idlib province is deteriorating.

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update, just to show that charity pays off.

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More news

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

:cry:

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More grim news

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Turkish build up

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Idlib Could Be the Last Major Battlefield of the Syrian Civil War. But Assad Won’t Take It Easily

On Aug. 9, the Syrian army dropped leaflets on the province of Idlib telling residents that “the war is nearing its end” and urging them to cooperate with government forces. One showed grainy pre-war images of an old woman embracing a soldier; a young man studying; and a leafy, peaceful Damascus street: This is how we were before terrorism, it read. Then came photos of a destroyed neighborhood, a young boy carrying an unexploded shell, and women covered in niqabs and chained together. It’s time to stop the bloodshed and destruction, another flyer said.

For years, Syria’s defeated rebels have fled to the northern territory of Idlib, which was established as a “de-escalation zone” guaranteed by Turkey, Russia and Iran. As the government retook areas like Aleppo and eastern Ghouta, surrendering fighters and their families were sent to Idlib under a deal negotiated by the regime’s ally Russia. Now it is the last major opposition-held region in the country–and the last major obstacle to President Bashar Assad declaring victory. His regime is sending tanks north and has scaled up air attacks in preparation for what could be the final battle in this seven-year-long civil war.

But the siege-until-surrender strategy that allowed the government to retake control of other territories may be less feasible in Idlib. The province is home to more than 2 million people, including 70,000 fighters belonging to more than a dozen rebel factions. Although many of these groups are aligned against one another, few are likely to raise the white flag if Assad’s forces stage a major operation. “The morale here is high–the rebels and fighters here in Idlib are ready for any attack by the regime,” Amer Abu Anas, an opposition fighter in southern Idlib, tells TIME. Abu Anas says that in recent weeks, rebel groups have cracked down on dissent in Idlib, arresting those they think could side with the regime or seek reconciliation. “There should be no room for negotiations with the Syrian regime. This time we will fight to the last man.”

Yet despite their bravado, it’s unlikely these poorly armed, divided opposition groups can fend off the Syrian army and its allied militia backed by Iran and Russia. The U.N. and human-rights groups have warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if the Syrian government tries to retake Idlib by military force. Such a confrontation could push millions of refugees toward the Turkish border north of Idlib, raising the possibility of a broader conflagration. “Turkey provides significant support to many opposition groups,” notes Yezid Sayigh, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, “and has its own military presence of 1,300 on the ground.”

Turkey has fashioned itself the protector of parts of northern Syria, putting troops on the ground in Idlib as part of an agreement reached with Russia. Having taken in more than 3 million Syrians already, the last thing it wants is a military confrontation that would send a fresh wave of refugees its way. Nor does Russia, arguably the Syrian regime’s most powerful friend, see the value in retaking Idlib. In late July, Russia’s special envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev, said that “any large-scale operation in Idlib is out of the question.” Russia would like to see all of Syria under Assad’s control, but a full-scale military engagement would be costly, especially with Turkey involved.

Joost Hiltermann, director of the Middle East & North Africa program at the International Crisis Group, says he believes Turkey and Russia will stop the conflict from escalating. “In order for the regime to carry out a major assault on Idlib, you would have to have a major breakdown in relations between Russia and Turkey,” he says. “And I don’t see any breakdown at the moment. Turkey is in a bad state with the U.S. Turkey needs Russia. It needs other friends.” Russia, he adds, will also want to keep Turkey onside.

But it’s not clear if the interests of external powers will be enough to prevent bloodshed. Some of the more extreme rebel groups may not abide by Turkish orders. Even if Turkey can build an alliance of friendly rebels, that coalition might not follow Ankara’s orders if provoked. At the same time, the Syrian government has little patience for the diplomatic approach, even in the face of Russia’s misgivings. On the same day that Lavrentyev ruled out a major assault on Idlib, the regime’s representative to the U.N., Bashar Jaafari, said that if talks fail, the government would indeed retake it by force. “When it comes to the recapture of all Syrian territories,” Jaafari said, “there is no compromise.”

For now, Idlib can only await its fate. Mustafa Hassan, a civilian who was displaced several times before settling in Idlib with his wife and five children, says military action has already increased in southern Idlib, but for now it’s mostly calm in the historically more populous northern part of the province. Yet he fears there will be a prolonged and bloody battle if the regime does launch a full-scale assault. “There are thousands of opposition fighters who came from many other areas and were sent here by the government,” Hassan says. “There is no other place for those fighters to go now. They will fight until they die this time.”

http://time.com/5368872/idlib-syrian-civil-war/

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Salaam

Another update, on the fate of the refugees.

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The Syrian Observer

There are increasing reports of Syrian refugees being forcibly returned to Syria, despite the dangers that await them writes The Syrian Observer

Recently, there has been talk of the possibility of returning Syrian refugees from some neighboring countries, particularly Lebanon, and to a certain extent Jordan and Turkey, irregardless of whether they voluntarily consent to return.

Last month, Lebanon witnessed a number of worrisome developments regarding the presence of Syrian refugees. Prominent politicians have increased calls for refugees to return to Syria and have made unfounded accusations about an international plot to settle them in Lebanon. At the Friends of Syria Conference in Brussels in April, Lebanon made significant commitments on the rights of refugees, including providing residency status, education and legal protection and pledged to refrain from forcing refugees to return to places where they could be at risk. These pledges could have a real and positive effect on the lives of Syrians in Lebanon - if implemented. But since then, things have taken a turn for the worse.

Sadly, no sooner had Lebanon renewed its commitment to not forcibly return refugees, politicians demanded that Syrians in Lebanon return to their country of origin. The Foreign Minister in the caretaker government, Gebran Bassil, recently gave the UNHCR two weeks to develop a strategy for the repatriation of refugees, claiming that the organization was trying to delay their return to Syria. He then froze residency permits for UNHCR staff in Lebanon - without the support of the government - accusing them of obstructing the return of Syrian refugees by "spreading fear.”

In Jordan, incidents of forcible expulsion of Syrian refugees are frequently repeated with authorities citing suspicion of links to "terrorist groups".

In its latest report, issued earlier this month entitled, "I Do Not Know Why They Brought Us Back” Human Rights Watch (HRW) documented the systematic return of Syrian refugees under the supervision of the Jordanian authorities.

According to the report, the Jordanian authorities have recently forcibly deported about 400 Syrian refugees in a single month, while about 300 registered refugees returned to Syria voluntarily during that period.

HRW interviewed 13 Syrians who had been deported by Jordanian authorities and concluded that the Jordanian authorities had provided only scant information about the reason for their deportation and they had received no real opportunity to appeal or seek legal advice.

The group noted that mass expulsions had increased in mid-2016 and again at the beginning of 2017, following two terrorist attacks in the country, although there was no evidence that any of the deportees were involved.

While the situation in Turkey is still less acute for Syrians, when compared with both Lebanon and Jordan, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reassured his supporters that the Syrians would not remain in Turkey forever, suggesting that his "open door" policy, which was activated in the early years of the conflict, had lost its validity.

A poll conducted by the Center for American Progress of Political Research showed that 78% of Turks believed their country was spending too much money on refugee care.

Human Rights Watch said authorities in Istanbul and nine provinces on or near the Syrian border had stopped registering new asylum seekers and warned of illegal deportations, forcible return to Syria and the denial of health care and education.

Meanwhile, inside Syria itself, Syrian officials are showing a false interest in the return of the Syrian refugees to the country. The government recently called for the return of refugees and passed legislation in preparation for reconstruction. The government is trying to create the idea that security has returned to Syria, despite the obvious signs that it has not. The government has two goals in mind when creating this illusion. The first is to give the image of a compassionate government that cares about its citizens, and the second is to minimize international attention to what is happening in Syria. If the number of Syrian refugees around the world is reducing, it is hoped that people will assume that the situation in Syria is improving.

Russia is now playing the biggest role in the arranging of forced returns. In mid-July, Russia announced that it had established the Centre for the Reception, Allocation and Accommodation of Refugees, which will monitor and facilitate returns, in cooperation with the Syrian government. However, Syria has not achieved the most basic standards of safety and security necessary for the return of refugees. Areas of the country are still seeing armed conflict, and there are growing fears that the government will invade Idleb. Even in areas that are largely peaceful, the threats to returning refugees still loom.

Nevertheless, the actions of the Syrian regime do not match its words. The Head of the Air Force Intelligence Jamil Hassan said that more than three million Syrians are wanted and their judicial cases were ready. He added that having such a huge number of people wanted by the government will cause major difficulty in the achieving of the plan.

According to the Syrian Reporter Website, Hassan described dealing with those who return to be like dealing with sheep. The corrupted ‘sheep’ will be filtered out and the good ones will be used, and those who are wanted will be charged with terrorism. He added: “After eight years, Syria will not accept the presence of cancerous cells and they will be removed completely,” citing a series of earlier speeches by Bashar al-Assad.

He added that more than 150,000 security files of wealthy people and Syrian businessmen who “aided the terrorists” have been complied. They will be dealt with through harassment and pressure, pending the full withdrawal of their funds, which will be used to “rebuild what they destroyed”. They will remain under house arrest by the security forces to speed up payment.

Article 33 of the International Refugee Convention of 1951 states that “No Contracting State shall expel or return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”

It is impossible to be reassured by a regime that has killed two million of its people, deported 10 million and destroyed homes, schools, hospitals and places of worship. No self-respecting government can be involved in a scheme to return Syrian refugees without their consent, until threats to their safety, security and dignity have been extinguished.

http://syrianobserver.com/EN/Features/34636/Syrian_Refugees_Cannot_Be_Forcibly_Returned

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Salaam

Another update

Blurb

OGN goes to Latamna in rural Hama to interview Raid Jamil Salih the leader of the opposition faction 'Jaysh al Izza'. He gives his perspective on what he thinks will happen to the revolution next.

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Salaam

Another update

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Salaam

Another update

How the Graffiti Boys ignited the Syrian Revolution

“Ashaab yureed isqat annidham.” This phrase is ringing in the ears of tyrants and despots around the Arab world and means quite simply that the people want to bring down the regime. It is the enduring chant of the Arab Spring, so it’s hardly surprising that these are probably the first words children learn in their cradles as they are rocked to sleep to the beat of this rousing street anthem.

When a group of 11-year-old Syrian boys made their way home from school one day and started larking around, as boys of that age do, it was almost inevitable that among the graffiti they scratched on a partially-collapsed wall would be these iconic words. By revolutionary standards it was an unremarkable act, hardly worthy of mention because the same graffiti can be found on walls in most Arab countries. However, just as hard-up Tunisian fruit seller Mohammed Bouazizi is credited with igniting the Arab Spring with his self-immolation, this long forgotten, single act of childish vandalism lit the touch paper of the Syrian Revolution.

It was a seminal moment in time that the Arab world’s Leftists would rather you forget; in their frenzied bid to rewrite the history of the Arab Spring they want you to believe that crazed Islamists are hijacking the peoples’ revolution. The Left in Syria, you see, isn’t as cuddly as the splintered socialist groups in Britain. These are hard-line fundamentalist, religion-hating secularists who have no room, not even a square inch, for religion in their world; not for themselves and not for anyone else.

While the people in Tunisia and Egypt fought for freedom from tyranny they also wanted the freedom to re-engage with their faith. Hence, to the shock and horror of the Arab Left, the people voted for trusted groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. It was something that the Left had never considered; they dismissed the Muslim vote as a figment of the imagination; never once did they ever imagine that Muslim groups would form political parties or even want to engage in democracy. And in Libya, although some of the more fundamentalist Islamic groups failed to secure the popular vote other Islamic flavoured parties were swept in to power.

So Syria, you see, is probably the Arab Left’s last chance at having a revolution free from religion. This is most likely the reason for their opposition to the revolution from the very outset because they knew for sure that it would carry a strong religious flavour. Well, sorry to disappoint them. I crossed the length and breadth of Syria shortly before the revolution and saw most communities, Christian and Muslim alike, holding tight to their faith. Whatever shape their revolution will take, the future will be dominated by believers.

But let me return to the 18 boys at the beginning of this story because it is vitally important that we all remember exactly how the revolution in Syria began. It did not begin with CIA interference, nor an influx of foreign fighters, Al-Qaida, rebranded weapons from the West, NATO or a global call across the Muslim world for jihad.This was a reluctant revolution, a revolution forced on the people by the acts of an evil, malevolent regime.

In fact, though, while the 18 boys may have loaded the revolutionary gun way back in February 2011, the trigger was pulled by a man called Atif Najeeb, a cousin of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. Within two hours of the schoolboy prank, Atif instigated raids on every single one of the boys’ homes: armed police, the military and the ubiquitous security officials stormed every home at precisely the same time, demanding that the children be handed over. Amid the drama there was hand-wringing, cries from mothers, pleas from fathers to take the place of their sons and general confusion and chaos.

Distraught as news swept Dar’a, in the south-west of Syria less than six miles from the Jordanian border, the parents and their relatives gathered outside his office, but Atif Najeeb along with Faisal Kalthoum the governor of Dar’a, refused to meet any one of them.

For four days the families waited but not a single scrap of news came out about the fate of their sons. Eventually, a delegation made up of family members, local imams, the local headteacher and other dignitaries assembled and once again demanded to see Najeeb or the governor. After three hours they were herded into a room to meet the governor who remained seated while deliberately keeping the delegation on their feet. Culturally, this is a huge insult in the Arab world. At this point no one had even an inkling of what the boys had done to deserve their fate. The parents’ pleas to have their children returned were ignored and the governor advised them to forget about them.

He allegedly said: “My advice to you is that you forget you ever had these children. Go back home and sleep with your wives and bring other children into the world and if you can not do that, then bring your wives to us and we will do the job for you.”

By this time families in towns and villages across the region were shocked and outraged by what had happened and began to demonstrate and rally to show their support for the boys, their families and the town of Dar’a. They included local people from Dayr Al-Zawr, Idlib and Homs. While some did suggest that it was time for a revolution, the families kept to only two demands: the return of their children and the sacking of the governor for his crude and inflammatory remarks.

As the pressure mounted on Kalthoum, a helicopter full of military thugs was flown in to Dar’a to quell the unrest and during clashes with local citizens several people from Dar’a were killed. They went to their graves not knowing what the children had done to incur the wrath of the governor.

Eighteen days later, when it was clear that the parents and families would not be appeased until their children were returned, the boys were released. Their condition was pitiful and shocking; all were traumatised beyond recognition. All had had their fingernails torn off. One had lost an eye while several had fractured skulls and all had at least one broken limb. Today, those boys still bear the whip marks and scars on their bodies which bear testimony to the brutal nature of their detention and torture. Several of them still have nightmares recalling the screeches and screams of their fellow inmates.

Far from calming the situation, the physical evidence that the boys had been tortured enraged the people of Dar’a who made their own two demands: the dismissal of the governor and justice delivered to those who had done such wicked things to the boys including Atif Najeeb and his torture squad.

The relatively low level demands carried on for the next six months and those making them resisted calls for a full-blown revolution and offers of outside intervention; there were many in the Arab world who wanted to take up arms in support of their brothers and sisters in Dar’a and the dozens of Syrian cities and towns now in full revolutionary mode. Moreover, while insisting that their reasonable demands be met, some of the families pleaded for calm and even argued that Assad could not possibly have known or allowed this atrocity to happen. Surely, a London-graduated doctor and Ophthalmologist could not have consented to this barbarism, they argued.

By August the death toll across Syria had reached 1,000 and then the foreign fighters arrived, not to help the people of Dar’a but to destroy their spirit and morale. The fighters were mercenaries from numerous neighbouring and distant countries including former Soviet satellite states who, in the pay of the Assad regime, embarked on a killing and raping spree.

The plan was to subdue the spreading uprising and instill fear in the lives of the Syrian people, those who dared protest and those who were considering joining the growing crowds on the streets. Instead, the gates of Hell were opened and talks of compromise and low level demands gave way to screams of “Ashaab yureed isqat annidham”.

As news of the atrocities in Dar’a and other Syrian cities reached Damascus some senior officers in the military could no longer stomach what was being done in their name. They defected from the regime and formed what is now known as the Free Syrian Army. It’s not an army of outsiders; it was founded by Syrian officers and grew in popularity and prominence with the media because of its name.

Speculation is rife about the emergence of Al-Qaida, foreign jihadists, support from Arab countries, subversive tactics by Arab countries, infiltration by the CIA and Mossad, just about everyone, in fact, bar the Free Wales Army. Some of the speculation is true, some is not, but don’t allow anyone to rewrite the history of the start of the Syrian Revolution.

One day peace will come to Syria and when it does the Graffiti Boys should be remembered and their names should go up on another wall in Dar’a – a wall where their names can be carved with pride.

Some of them may not survive the war but some will finally enjoy the taste of freedom. Today I salute them and remember each one by name and urge you to remember them too, so that when Syria’s history is written in full they will not be forgotten: 1) Muawiya Faisal Sayasneh 2) Yusuf Adnan Sweidan 3) Samer Ali Sayasneh 4) Ahmed Jihad Abazeid 5) Isa Hasan Abulqayyas 6) Ala Mansour Irsheidat Abazeid 7) Mustafa Anwar Abazeid 8) Nidhal Anwar Abazeid 9) Akram Anwar Abazeid 10) Nayef Muwaffaq Abazeid 11) Basheer Farooq Abazeid 12) Ahmed Thani Irshiedat Abazeid 13) Ahmed Shukri Al-Akram 14) Abdulrahman Nayef Al-Reshedat 15) Mohammed Ayman Munwer Al-Karrad 16) Ahmed Nayef Al-Resheidat Abazeid 17) Nabeel Imad Al-Resheidat Abazeid 18) Mohammed Ameen Yasin Al-Resheidat Abazeid.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20140125-how-the-graffiti-boys-ignited-the-syrian-revolution/

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Russia launches a diplomatic offensive on rebuilding Syria

Putin wants to convince European nations to normalise relations with Assad

As the Syrian civil war tips irreversibly in favour of President Bashar al-Assad’s Russia and Iran-backed regime, the western and regional powers that have intervened in the conflict over the past seven years continue to underestimate its lethal ability to contribute to the new world disorder.

From US president Barack Obama’s decision not to carry out his threat to punish the Assads for attacking civilians with nerve gas, to the ragged columns of Syrian refugees trudging towards Europe in 2015 and 2016, the war has helped feed corrosive forces of nativist populism and isolationism in the west.

Russia and Iran are the beneficiaries in Syria — at least for now. When President Assad’s forces came close to collapse in 2012, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and its Shia paramilitary allies kept them alive; and Russia’s air force salvaged the regime from September 2015. Their campaign is now reaching its end.

The terror of Isis is also near its conclusion. The jihadi group was defeated in Syria mainly by Kurdish fighters with US air support and, in neighbouring Iraq, in large part by Iran-backed Shia militia in alignment with the US. But America and its western allies — always hesitant to intervene in Syria while they egged on a rebellion they were reluctant to equip for victory — now want out. In the past week the US and the UK have said they are curtailing their commitments. France is switching to supplying humanitarian aid ferried into Syria by Russia.

The trend seems to be towards a “normalisation” of relations with the Assad regime. Turkey, whose opposition to the Assads was once so virulent that it allowed its territory to become a pipeline for jihadis, now operates as the third leg of a new tripod of power in Syria, with Iran and Russia.

Moscow, the senior partner in this new balance of regional power, has launched a diplomatic offensive based on two fragile premises: a new Assad-led climate of stability to permit the return of almost 6m refugees from outside Syria, which should in turn unlock an EU-led financing of Syrian reconstruction.

Russian president Vladimir Putin pushed this thesis at his recent meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, whose coalition government was rocked by her migrant policy and who is anxious to see the repatriation of Syrian refugees in Germany. The Kremlin wants to create a new diplomatic vehicle for Syria, grouped around Russia and Turkey, Germany and France. How real is this?

First, it is unwise to assume the Assad regime will be an anchor of stability. It has waged total war against its own, majority Sunni, population that has cost half a million lives and uprooted half the population. The regime’s policies manufacture extremists, which it then often manipulates — whether by funnelling jihadis into Iraq after the US invasion of 2003, or releasing from jail hundreds of jihadist cadres early on in this rebellion in the cynical calculation they would hijack its leadership from mainstream rebels.

As for Syria’s alliance with Iran, which the west fondly hopes Russia will unpick, that goes back four decades. Hizbollah, the Lebanese Shia paramilitary group, which serves as Tehran’s spearhead in the Levant, was born in 1982 in the Iranian embassy in Damascus.

But second, and crucially for those hoping Syrian refugees will start heading home, Mr Assad does not seem to be on board with his allies. He seems anxious to prevent the revival of the Sunni-dominated demography that nearly toppled his minority regime.

Earlier this summer, for example, 3,000 Syrians were due to be repatriated from Lebanon, struggling under the burden of more than 1m refugees — more than one-quarter of the population. The Syrian authorities, however, accepted only 400 people, of which a mere 200 eventually returned. The rest refused to break up their families after the regime weeded out fighting-age men and boys.

Russia’s claims that it can facilitate repatriation have to be measured against this reality — as does its foreign minister Sergei Lavrov’s complaint in Beirut this week that “fabricated” reasons prevent Syrians returning, and obstruct the reconstruction Moscow wants the EU and US to pay for.

A third, and worrying, consideration is that Assad forces, with Russia’s air force, are poised to launch a military offensive to capture the last opposition redoubt of Idlib in north-west Syria. There are tens of thousands of jihadis in Idlib — dominated by an al Qaeda-linked faction— and it is bursting with refugees from vanquished rebel areas, about half of the roughly 3m population. Both groups could flee to the border with Turkey, which already hosts 3.5m Syrian refugees — a new security and refugee challenge that would collide with Turkey’s present currency crisis and its stand-off with the US.

Current US and EU policy sometimes seems based on the hope Syria (and Syrians) will go away. It will not — and it is not clear that they can.

https://www.ft.com/content/e89d42f0-a539-11e8-8ecf-a7ae1beff35b

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Syrian militant leader slams Turkey and defends evacuations in new video

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani said that the former al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had become the 'greatest defender of Sunnis' in Syria

The leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group has described it as the only legitimate defender of Sunni Muslims in Syria, and said Turkey was not a reliable ally against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.

In a video posted on Facebook, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of the group formerly known as the Al-Nusra Front, said that both HTS's enemies and allies recognised that the group had "now become the greatest defender of Sunnis in Syria".

He warned that the ceasefires agreed between rebel groups and pro-government forces in the south of country would not be repeated in the north, and urged rebel forces to shun negotiations with Assad.

Most previously rebel-held areas of Syria, including the major cities of Homs and Aleppo, have returned to government hands in recent years. Idlib, which is largely controlled by HTS and its allies, is the last remaining rebel stronghold in the country.

"The weapons of the revolution and jihad... are a red line on which concessions are unacceptable, and they will never be put on the negotiations table," said Jolani.

“We urge our people in Aleppo to remain steadfast. The mujahideen will not fail you."

He added that the rebels should not expect Turkish observation posts to protect them against Assad's government. Under an agreement inked in Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia and Turkey have established observation posts across Syria to monitor "de-escalation zones" nominally designed to prevent hostilities.

He warned that the Turkish posts were "something we cannot rely on because the political positions may change at any moment".

Jolani also defended the decision to allow the evacuation of the Shia-majority villages of Foua and Kafraya, claiming it had removed the danger of "sectarian militias" and denied Iran an excuse to attack.

The two villages, located in the Idlib governorate, had been besieged by rebel forces since 2015, and has been a major point of contention between the rebels and the government.

The evacuation saw 7,000 people leave the two villages in return for hundreds of prisoners being released from Assad's prisons.

Idlib infighting

Idlib has seen massive unrest in recent years due to rebel infighting, the capture of much of the province by Turkish-backed forces, and the looming threat of an assault by Assad and his allies to retake the province.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, since April, 270 people - including 55 civilians - have been killed in attacks from all sides in Idlib, and adjacent parts of Hama and Aleppo provinces.

While much of the violence has been attributed to HTS and the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation, others have blamed sleeper cells belonging to the Islamic State (IS) group.

The Observatory said that the province had been witnessing "mass assassinations" and that since Monday alone at least 13 rebel fighters had been killed.

Although IS and Al-Nusra Front both originated as part of the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq, the two became enemies after the former declared a caliphate in 2014. Al-Nusra Front rebranded as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in July 2016, officially severing ties with al-Qaeda. In January 2017 they merged with other rebel groups to form HTS.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump's national security adviser warned Assad against the use of chemical weapons in any future assault on Idlib.

"We now see plans for the Syrian regime to resume offensive military activities in Idlib province," John Bolton told a press conference during a visit to Jerusalem.

"We are obviously concerned about the possibility that Assad may use chemical weapons again," he said.

He added that the US would respond "very strongly" to any chemical attack.

The US, France and Britain launched joint missile strikes on Syrian in April targets in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in eastern Ghouta that killed scores of people.

Since 2011, following the brutal repression of anti-Assad protests, Syria's civil war has killed more than 400,000 people and displaced millions.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syria-hayat-tahrir-sham-leader-slams-turkey-and-defends-evacuations-new-video-91127761

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Salaam

Another update

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[Aku]

The Arabs never stopped killing each other since Muhammad's time. The actual crusade or jihad was in Israel to liberate the oppressed Palestine.

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Salaam

How Assads regime deals with his opponents.

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Blurb

On May 10, 2017, the Museum hosted a screening of "Syria's Disappeared: The Case Against Assad," a documentary of personal testimonies of survivors of torture and families of the dead and missing. The film embodies the goals of the Museum's Ferencz International Justice Initiative: Elevating the voices of victims, empowering them to seek justice, helping create the necessary political will, and connecting victims with decision-makers who can make a difference. Following the film, panelists discussed their experiences being held in the detention centers, and the criminal investigation and case being built against President Assad for alleged mass atrocities. The program was moderated by Yahoo News chief investigative correspondent, Michael Isikoff.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update, the build up continues.

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The Russian line.

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Is Turkey abandoning the rebels?

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Jihadist rebels assemble largest force since 2015 Idlib offensive

The jihadist rebels in the Hama, Idlib, and Latakia governorates have assembled a massive force in response to the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) large-scale military buildup in these provinces, a source in northeast Latakia told Al-Masdar News tonight.

According to the military source, the jihadist rebels of Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS), Turkestan Islamic Party (TIP), et al. have mobilized thousands of fighters in northwest Syria to defend their areas from the Syrian Arab Army and their allies.

In particular, the source said that jihadist rebels have mobilized a massive force inside the Al-Ghaab Plain region and the northern countryside the Hama Governorate, which is reminiscent of Jaysh Al-Fateh’s numbers during their Idlib offensive in the Spring of 2015.

These aforementioned areas in the Hama and Idlib governorates are expected to be the first targets of the Syrian Arab Army’s upcoming offensive in northwestern Syria.

The source added that the Turkestan Islamic Party and Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham have dug a large network of trenches that stretch for a long distance in the Idlib and Hama governorates.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article...ensive-report/

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[Abz2000]

I don't see any valid reason for referring to those who serve Allah :swt: who is the Creator, Master, and Sustainer of the heavens, the earth, and all that is therein - as "rebels".
a very inaccurate categorization considering the confusion it causes.

[JustTime]

Salaam

Another update, the build up continues.

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The Russian line.

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Is Turkey abandoning the rebels?

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Turkey, Qatar and Iran are in bed with each other and Erdogan is a servant of the Rafida

- - - Updated - - -

Salaam

Another update

Syrian militant leader slams Turkey and defends evacuations in new video

Abu Mohammed al-Jolani said that the former al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham had become the 'greatest defender of Sunnis' in Syria

The leader of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group has described it as the only legitimate defender of Sunni Muslims in Syria, and said Turkey was not a reliable ally against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.

In a video posted on Facebook, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, leader of the group formerly known as the Al-Nusra Front, said that both HTS's enemies and allies recognised that the group had "now become the greatest defender of Sunnis in Syria".

He warned that the ceasefires agreed between rebel groups and pro-government forces in the south of country would not be repeated in the north, and urged rebel forces to shun negotiations with Assad.

Most previously rebel-held areas of Syria, including the major cities of Homs and Aleppo, have returned to government hands in recent years. Idlib, which is largely controlled by HTS and its allies, is the last remaining rebel stronghold in the country.

"The weapons of the revolution and jihad... are a red line on which concessions are unacceptable, and they will never be put on the negotiations table," said Jolani.

“We urge our people in Aleppo to remain steadfast. The mujahideen will not fail you."

He added that the rebels should not expect Turkish observation posts to protect them against Assad's government. Under an agreement inked in Kazakhstan, Iran, Russia and Turkey have established observation posts across Syria to monitor "de-escalation zones" nominally designed to prevent hostilities.

He warned that the Turkish posts were "something we cannot rely on because the political positions may change at any moment".

Jolani also defended the decision to allow the evacuation of the Shia-majority villages of Foua and Kafraya, claiming it had removed the danger of "sectarian militias" and denied Iran an excuse to attack.

The two villages, located in the Idlib governorate, had been besieged by rebel forces since 2015, and has been a major point of contention between the rebels and the government.

The evacuation saw 7,000 people leave the two villages in return for hundreds of prisoners being released from Assad's prisons.

Idlib infighting

Idlib has seen massive unrest in recent years due to rebel infighting, the capture of much of the province by Turkish-backed forces, and the looming threat of an assault by Assad and his allies to retake the province.

According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, since April, 270 people - including 55 civilians - have been killed in attacks from all sides in Idlib, and adjacent parts of Hama and Aleppo provinces.

While much of the violence has been attributed to HTS and the Turkish-backed National Front for Liberation, others have blamed sleeper cells belonging to the Islamic State (IS) group.

The Observatory said that the province had been witnessing "mass assassinations" and that since Monday alone at least 13 rebel fighters had been killed.

Although IS and Al-Nusra Front both originated as part of the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State in Iraq, the two became enemies after the former declared a caliphate in 2014. Al-Nusra Front rebranded as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in July 2016, officially severing ties with al-Qaeda. In January 2017 they merged with other rebel groups to form HTS.

On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump's national security adviser warned Assad against the use of chemical weapons in any future assault on Idlib.

"We now see plans for the Syrian regime to resume offensive military activities in Idlib province," John Bolton told a press conference during a visit to Jerusalem.

"We are obviously concerned about the possibility that Assad may use chemical weapons again," he said.

He added that the US would respond "very strongly" to any chemical attack.

The US, France and Britain launched joint missile strikes on Syrian in April targets in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack in eastern Ghouta that killed scores of people.

Since 2011, following the brutal repression of anti-Assad protests, Syria's civil war has killed more than 400,000 people and displaced millions.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/s...video-91127761

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The funny thing is the Rafidi Kalb Nasrallah and his Nusyari master Bashar made media statements saying the Idlib groups are "preparing to make a false flag chemical attacks" this is a clear warning sign on their filthy lying end they will use chemical weapons soon and continue their holocaust for the sake of their Safavid project across the Shiite crescent, wallahi these people are the soldiers of the Dajjal, Rasoolillah (SAAWS) even told us the Dajjal will be an Iranian and supported by Iran, and Jesus? Jesus will come to us in Damascus and he will defeat the Dajjal from Iran.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Doubt we should trust the Guardians crocodile tears, more likely they are smarting from being outmaneuvered by Putin and co, still a decent article.

Russia softens up west for bloodbath it is planning in Syria’s Idlib province

Disinformation is rife about US plots and rebels’ supposed use of chemical weapons as Putin prepares for final victory

Russia is going to extraordinary lengths to justify in advance the murderous onslaught that observers fear is about to descend on Idlib, a province in north-west Syria that is home to nearly two million internally displaced people. Idlib is the last large populated area outside the control of Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s dictator. And Assad, backed by his Russian and Iranian allies, is determined to get it back – whatever the human cost.

In a series of coordinated moves last week, Russian government officials and military spokesmen tried to pre-empt or deflect western opposition to the expected air and ground offensive. Partly it was pure propaganda. Sergei Ryabkov, the deputy foreign minister, accused the US of plotting forcible regime change in Damascus. “Again, we are witnessing serious escalation of the situation,” he claimed.

Unfortunately perhaps, this is disingenuous fantasy. A distracted Donald Trump has shown no interest in toppling Assad. He has ended support for rebel groups and given Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president, a virtual free hand. Airstrikes by the US, France and the UK after Assad’s chemical weapons attack on Douma in AprilWEBLINK proved to be an ineffective one-off. Trump has turned his back on Syria and plans to pull out the remaining US special forces fighting Islamic State as soon as possible.

The escalation is all on Russia’s side. It is assembling a naval armada off the Syrian coast, comprising 25 ships, combat aircraft and the missile cruiser Marshal Ustinov – the biggest show of force since Putin intervened in Syria in 2015. The fleet is ostensibly engaged in exercises. But Dmitri Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesman, admitted the drills were directly linked to Idlib, which he termed a “terrorist hotbed” that must be tackled soon.

The Russia-Syria axis is stepping up its diplomatic offensive, too. Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, warned last week that “militants” in Idlib (he did not say who) must be liquidated, describing them as “a festering abscess”. Walid al-Moualem, Syria’s foreign minister, who met Lavrov in Moscow the following day, was blunt: “We are at the final stage of solving the crisis in Syria and liberating our whole territory from terrorism.”

The Russian and Syrian regimes claimed to be solely concerned with fighting terrorism when defending their previous, indiscriminate missile, barrel bomb and artillery attacks on civilian residential areas, hospitals and schools, notably in Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta, which caused mass casualties. Yet according to the UN, of the three million people in the line of fire in Idlib, only about 10,000 are armed jihadists. In total, about 70,000 anti-regime rebels are cornered there.

António Guterres, the UN secretary-general, expressed concern last week that a “humanitarian catastrophe” was looming, possibly even larger in scale than those elsewhere. And he reminded Turkey and Iran, Russia’s partners in the Astana peace process, that they had jointly designated Idlib a “de-escalation zone” – meaning it should be protected.

But like all the other Russian-declared de-escalation zones, the Idlib region has already been attacked. According to the human rights advocacy group, the Syria Campaign, there has been a series of atrocities in recent weeks, including the bombing of Urem al-Kubra on 10 August that killed 39 people. Although Turkey, fearing another cross-border refugee influx, opposes any new offensive, its forces inside Syria appear powerless to prevent it.

“To justify attacking Idlib, the regime often claims the province is full of terrorists but the truth is the vast majority of the population are civilians. An offensive is predicted to displace more than 700,000 people and create a humanitarian catastrophe for hundreds of thousands more,” a spokeswoman for the Syria Campaign said. Up to 1.6 million people in Idlib were already in need of food assistance, she added. On Friday, meanwhile, rebels reportedly dynamited bridges in the south of the province to slow regime advances.

Russia’s efforts to influence international opinion include a repeat of previous disinformation campaigns concerning chemical weapons. Despite documented evidence of numerous instances of illegal chemical weapons use by the Assad regime, Moscow and Damascus continue to insist these attacks either did not happen or were staged by jihadists or rebel factions.

Major-General Igor Konashenkov, the Russian defence ministry spokesman, recycled this fake news angle last week, claiming that fighters belonging to the main jihadist group, Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, had smuggled eight canisters of chlorine gas into a village near Jisr al-Shughur, south-west of Idlib city. Their plan, he said, was to stage a chemical weapons atrocity and blame it on the regime, thereby inviting renewed western intervention.

The fear now, shared by the UN’s Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura, is not so much that such obvious false flag operations will be believed, but that Assad intends to resume chlorine attacks and then claim it is all a rebel stunt. Mistura called last week for humanitarian corridors to allow civilians to escape the Idlib kill-box, warning of the “most horrific tragedy” if they remain trapped.

Putin is eager to portray the Syrian war as all but over – and he doubtless wishes it was, since his three-year campaign has proved costly in money and materiel. But his attempts to switch the international focus to post-war reconstruction – he recently discussed this with German chancellor Angela Merkel – are also designed to draw attention away from Idlib, where the war is far from won.

In order to vindicate the 2015 intervention, ensure Assad’s survival and seal an epic Russian strategic victory over the US, Putin requires physical control of Idlib – the final piece of the fractured Syrian jigsaw. His pre-emptive message to the western democracies, with axe poised to fall, is keep out and don’t interfere – whatever the cost in human life and suffering.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...in-idlib-syria

Wary of Russias intentions.

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Preparing for the assault.





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On the eve of what will probably be the biggest fight, #Idlib , coming up in a few days, here are my thoughts...‬

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[JustTime]

https://twitter.com/snhr/status/1036327928332804096

Syrian Network auf Twitter: "Chart showing the distribution of deaths due to #Torture in #Syria in August 2018 by the perpetrator party https://t.co/xNba7BPNQA… https://t.co/AH5B1EAs07" ...

In regards to Idlib, Allah said;

وَإِذَا تُتْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَٰتُنَا قَالُوا۟ قَدْ سَمِعْنَا لَوْ نَشَآءُ لَقُلْنَا مِثْلَ هَٰذَآ ۙ إِنْ هَٰذَآ إِلَّآ أَسَٰطِيرُ ٱلْأَوَّلِينَ
And [remember, O Muhammad], when those who disbelieved plotted against you to restrain you or kill you or evict you [from Makkah]. But they plan, and Allah plans. And Allah is the best of planners.



It seems to be that the righteous of Idlib have taken care of the heinous ones that want to surrender to Bashar al-Kalbi, now it is up to those who want to win to win and to be decisive and not give into cowardliness and pressure from the manipulators, they must know that they represent this Ummah and if they fail in this battle like they have so many other out of their cowardly ways and the pressure from manipulators like the Russians, then they fail all of us. They must put aside all differences as well and understand that they have a sacred task in their positions. We can only hope they learned their lessons from Daraa and Ghouta and they know better than anyone the brutality of Bashar and the Safawis when it comes to dealing with Ahlus Sunnah, and we can only hope they learned from others and each other how to be successful and how to be brutal and harsh in the battlefields, May Allah give them victory and unite the sincere and crush the corrupt and may he make Idlib their harshest battle and may Allah divide the enemies.

For all we know this could be Assad's Stalingrad and Insha'Allah it will be, and in the process he will be humiliated and his side will suffer greatly.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

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Syria's War: Warplanes hit Idlib targets as fears of battle mount

Russia says Syria is preparing to 'resolve terrorism problem' in rebel held Idlib as activists report air strikes there.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's army is getting ready to solve problem of "terrorism" in the rebel stronghold of Idlib, Russia has said, hours after activists reported air strikes hitting the region for the first time in three weeks.

Calling Idlib a "pocket of terrorism", Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday the presence of rebel groups there undermines the possibility of a political settlement to Syria's seven-year war.

"We know that Syria's armed forces are preparing to resolve this problem," he said, without commenting on a timeframe for the plan.

Peskov's comments came as activists in Idlib reported the death of two civilians from a series of air strikes in and around the village of Jisr al-Shughour on the western edge of the province.

At least 23 raids have been seen in the area on Tuesday morning, Al Jazeera's Stefanie Dekker said, reporting from Antakya in neighbouring Turkey.

"Activists are saying they saw Russian and Syrian regime war planes in the sky," she said.

"Two civilians have been killed, but no major facilities have been hit at the moment. This comes after a hiatus of over three weeks without air strikes in the area.

"Everyone here is wondering if this is the start of the Syrian government offensive on Idlib," she added.

In Moscow, Peskov could not comment if Russian warplanes were involved in the raids on Idlib. The Russian defence ministry did not immediately comment.

Assad has sworn to recapture every inch of Syria and has made big gains against rebels since Russia joined his war effort in 2015.

Idlib is the last major bastion of the rebel groups who have been trying to oust Assad since the start of Syria's civil war in 2011. His forces are amassing around the province of Idlib, presumably in preparation for the assault.

The United Nations has warned that a full assault on Idlib could spark a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale not yet seen in Syria's seven-year-old conflict, while Turkey, whose army has a string of observation posts around the edge of the rebel area, has warned against such an offensive.

US President Donald Trump has also warned Syria against "recklessly" attacking Idlib province.

Russia and Iran, however, have insisted that rebel groups in Idlib must be defeated and are expected to back government forces.

Moscow has been carrying out strikes in Syria since September 2015, using aircraft based at the Hmeimim base in Latakia province. Russia accuses rebels in Idlib of attacking Hmeimim with weaponised drones.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, said his government is making efforts to remove rebel fighters from Idlib with the least human cost.

"The situation in Idlib is sensitive," Zarif told Iranian state TV on Tuesday. "Our efforts are for...the exit of terrorists from Idlib to be carried out with the least human cost."

An estimated three million people - half of them displaced from other parts of Syria - live in the province and adjacent rebel-held areas.

Russian, Turkish and Iranian leaders are due to meet on September 7 in Iran and are expected to discuss the situation in northwestern Syria.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/09/syria-war-warplanes-hit-idlib-targets-fears-battle-mount-180904095502071.html

More preparations made for the upcoming offensive.

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[JustTime]

The battle for Idlib: Three scenarios

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/battle-idlib-scenarios-180904074749602.html
After using de-escalation zones to take over one rebel-held area after the other, Russia has its eyes now on Idlib.

by Marwan Kabalan 7 hours ago

Presidents Hassan Rouhani of Iran, Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Vladimir Putin of Russia hold a joint news conference after a meeting in Ankara, Turkey on April 4, 2018 [Umit Bektas/Reuters] more on Syria's War

• The battle for Idlib: Three scenariostoday
• Trump warns Syria not to 'recklessly attack' Idlib provincetoday
• Fighter jets hit Syria's Idlib targets as fears of battle mounttoday
• Syria's war: Drones crowd Idlib skies as province awaits battletoday

The fate of the last remaining stronghold of the Syrian opposition in Idlib will likely be decided in the coming few days. The international media has been speculating about an imminent battle for the province, which has been the focus of hectic diplomatic activity.

On September 7, the leaders of Turkey, Russia and Iran will meet and decide the future of Idlib and with it the fate of Syria's seven-year conflict.

The illusion of de-escalation

Idlib is the last unconquered de-escalation zone of the four that were agreed to by the Astana trio (Russia, Iran, and Turkey) following the fall of the opposition-held eastern Aleppo in December 2016. The idea of de-escalation was designed - or at least that was the general perception at the time - to freeze the conflict, decrease human suffering, and pave the way for a political solution.
That proved to be a mere illusion. Lacking adequate manpower to fight at different fronts, the Russians threw their weight behind the de-esclation zones idea, originally proposed by the UN special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura in 2014.
In addition, following the defeat of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, known as ISIS) in Mosul, the Russians started to realise that while they were busy fighting the opposition along the western belt of Syrian territories between Aleppo and Damascus, the US-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF) was quickly retrieving ISIL territories in the oil and gas-rich east.
For that reason, Moscow decided to freeze the conflict with the Syrian opposition and entered into a race with the US-led coalition to regain as much territory from retreating ISIL as possible. The Euphrates River acted as a natural borderline between the Russian and the American spheres of influence.
As the war with ISIL was approaching its end, Russia reverted back to its strategy of crushing the armed opposition before any political solution can be negotiated. It attacked and took over the de-escalation zone in Eastern Ghouta, near the capital, Damascus.
Russia and regime forces then moved onto the province of Homs in the north before going after Daraa and Quneitra in the southwest, near the borders with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
Hundreds of thousands of opposition fighters have been relocated to the northwest under evacuation agreements. Idlib was turned into a gathering place for all opposition factions, along with some two million refugees, preparing for a final showdown.
Idlib is no Deraa or Eastern Ghouta

Shortly after the armed opposition groups were forced to evacuate from the southwest, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad indicated that Idlib would be his next target.
The Syrian army started to amass troops and drop leaflets over the province, urging people to return to "state rule" and demanding the surrender of the armed factions. However, Idlib looks like a much more complicated case to deal with in political, military and humanitarian terms than the other three de-escalation zones.
With an area of 6,000sq km, Idlib houses around three million people. The UN has warned that an offensive in the area could force 2.5 million of them towards the Turkish border and precipitate a massive humanitarian crisis.
Idlib is also home to more than 60,000 well-armed opposition fighters. The presence of the al-Qaeda-affiliated Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) further complicates the situation. With more than 12,000 fighters, HTS controls a great part of Idlib and has vowed to fight to the end.
Russia, Iran and the Syrian regime use this as a pretext to attack, citing UNSC resolutions, which have designated HTC a terror group. With nowhere else to go, it is expected that, in the eventuality of war, these opposition groups will put a very stiff resistance.
In addition, Turkey has troops at 12 observation posts in the Idlib province to monitor the Astana truce. Without prior agreement, any Russian-backed offensive could well lead to greater tension between the three.
Turkey has already warned that an attack on Idlib could put the last nail in the coffin of the Astana process. Right now, Turkey and Russia are engaged in extensive diplomatic talks to prevent this from happening.
Three scenarios

Turkey and Russia have both announced that the leaders of the two countries will hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Tehran summit to discuss the future of Idlib. Three scenarios can be discussed here.
The first one is that Turkey and Russia would agree to uphold the de-escalation zone in Idlib, providing that Turkey deal with the HTS problem. Over the past several months, Turkey has been trying to persuade the HTS to dissolve itself and melt within the Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army factions.
The HTS foreign fighters have been offered a safe exit to relocate somewhere else. These efforts have not yielded the desired results, however. Last week, as a sign of frustration, Turkey listed the HTS as a terror group, signalling a possible military action against it.
If Turkey agrees to take action against the HTS, this could avert a Russian attack on Idlib until a lasting peace is achieved in Syria.
If Turkey fails to deal with the HTS, the second scenario becomes very probable. It would allow for a limited Russian-led military action in Idlib to take out the HTS and other "radical" groups. Given the high population density in the area, Russia and even the Syrian regime seem to be trying to avoid a massive military attack - something that Iran would like to undertake.
At this stage, Russia seems to be mainly seeking to secure its Hmeimim airbase in Latakia from drone attacks by pushing the opposition factions in Idlib further north. The Syrian regime, on the other hand, seems to be mainly interested in regaining control of the M5 highway, the country's main trade road, which passes through parts of Idlib.
For the past two years, the regime's offensive strategy has traced the M5's 470km from Aleppo in the north to Hama, Homs, Damascus and more recently Daraa in the south. The only remaining part of the M5 outside regime control lies now in parts of Idlib.
Indeed, the regime would want to regain every inch of Idlib but simply does not have the manpower to do so, especially against tens of thousands of die-hard opposition elements, with nowhere else to go.
The third and the most feared scenario is an all-out offensive in Idlib. This scenario is unlikely at this stage because it is very costly both politically and militarily. It would also lead to a humanitarian disaster, a massive refugee crisis and destruction at a large scale. It would destroy the evolving partnership between Russia and Turkey and lead to the collapse of the Astana process.
It will put more pressure on the already strained Russian-European relations as it would lead to a new wave of refugees. The US has also warned against a massive attack in Idlib and stated that it would intervene in case chemical weapons are used.
Lastly, an all-out attack in Idlib runs counter to the new Russian strategy, aiming at returning the Syrian refugees back home and starting the reconstruction process with aid from Europe and the Gulf states.
The Tehran summit will, however, show which of these three scenarios will prevail and whether the future of Idlib will be decided by war or by diplomacy.
There is, in fact, some room for cautious optimism here but that is mainly because of war fatigue, not because we have some great diplomats handling the Syrian conflict.

- - - Updated - - -

[Abz2000]

Bloody hell - now we see some so-called Muslims who are not really Muslims - but jewish usurer puppets in disguise actually talking about the bloodshed of Muslims like secularist zio-puppet news spokesmen and sports commentators attempting to get neurons fired up but in this instance -racing wildly in multiple directions until it becomes too exhausting to think about.

The Quran is so simple and easy to adhere to - what do people really think is being done?

The way that the criminal secularist American government meddles and continues to meddle on behalf of zionist userers despite it being totally unwelcome is proof of the fact that the same stirred up the fighting in the first place for the sake of destabilisation and illegal invasion.

When will the American government and their usurer controllers understand that nobody with any decency and humanity likes them and that people who want to establish Islam in their own lands should not be harassed or hindered?

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

More discussion on the upcoming offensive.

On the humanitarian front.

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More on the upcoming offensive.

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Trump give the green light for the offensive.

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A message to Muslims.

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[JustTime]

Three reasons why there can only be a military solution in Syria

#SyriaWar

https://www.middleeasteye.net/column...yria-175657098
Five years on, Syria is no longer a conflict that can be solved with negotiations among powers that lack the will in the first place

Bilal Abdul Kareem


Monday 26 September 2016 12:20 UTC


Wednesday 28 September 2016 10:15 UTC







Topics: SyriaWar

Tags:
Bashar Assad, Aleppo, Aid Convoy, Syria Negotiations, FSA, Al Qaeda, Islamic State



Show comments



Most of the outside world watched in horror at news that the ill-fated Aleppo aid convoy was blasted and burned.
Words such as “unbelievable” and “shocking” filled news broadcasts. However, here in besieged Aleppo, the events of that day were neither unbelievable, nor shocking.

Exactly how do you negotiate with a government which has killed more than a half million of its own citizens? The answer is: you don’t

I am a person that believes strongly in dialogue and trying to see multiple viewpoints. However, there are some conflicts that cannot be solved by dialogue and compromise. Here is why I believe that given the current set of circumstances, unless something changes, there is no political solution to the Syrian crisis, only a military one:
1. Paralysis of the world community

There is a well known saying: “All evil needs in order to spread is for good men to do nothing.” The reality is that Bashar Assad has been able to kill a half million people live on television with the world watching. He has consistently used chemical weapons, targeted hospitals and rescue personnel, starved prisoners to death and, on a daily basis, shelled civilian homes. All of this is documented for any and all to see. The world watched in outrage as gruesome image after image made itself available in front of the world.
However, outrage and action are not one and the same. In the end, nothing substantial was done to stop the dictator. The numbers are staggering: more than a half million dead and millions displaced. Yet, somehow the focus of this crisis has turned to fighting the Islamic State (IS) group and Jabhat Fateh al-Shams (Nusra) and no one is talking about militarily taking on Bashar Assad.
This leads to one conclusion: there is no political will to break the international deadlock whether it is the right thing to do or not.
2. Protecting the Arab Syrian people means fighting the Russians

If Syria was Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or any of the other Gulf countries, you would find that the political will of the world community to do the “right thing” would be strong. You would hear terms like “the world has a responsibility to do what’s right” or “we have to fight to protect the weak” etc. That is because those countries in the Gulf are swimming in oil and natural gas. Oil and natural gas has a way of helping Western powers understand their “responsibilities” very well.

If Syria was Saudi Arabia, Qatar, or any of the other Gulf countries, you would find that the political will of the world community to do the 'right thing' would be strong

The Libyan rebels did not have to beg NATO to come to their assistance. Actually, it was just the opposite. NATO was prepared to intervene and all that was needed was for the hapless Arab League to “request” their help and Voila! Instant help. Is it possible that the huge oil reserves within Libya’s borders had anything to do with it?
However, the Syrians have very little oil. To be honest, Syria is really only valuable to the Russians and not so much to the West. Syria is home to the only military base the Russians have in the entire Middle East. Meanwhile, their American counterparts have some sort of military presence in almost every country in the Middle East. If Russia lost their one base - which is in Tartous, Syria - it would be a disaster for the Putin administration.
So to be real, the Russians need Syria in a big way and they have demonstrated that they are willing to fight any and everyone for it. The West would like to contain Russia’s influence but not so much that they have to commit troops to it. Thus instead of hearing phrases like “coalition of the willing” and “global responsibility”, we are forced to hear slogans like “there is no military solution to this conflict” and “let’s have a ceasefire and negotiate”.
Exactly how do you negotiate with a government which has killed more than a half million of its own citizens? The answer is: You don’t. Western governments are not known to commit troops because it is the right thing to do in poor countries that have little to offer them after the guns fall silent and the enemy is vanquished. This leads to one conclusion: there is no international will to match the Russians' aggressive nature (see Crimea) and the world knows it.
3. Islamic rebel fighters will not call off the fight and share power

Western powers would like to keep the status quo and simply change the leadership of Syria in a mere show of window dressing. In the past, Bashar Assad has not been in opposition to Western interests for the most part. The Israelis and Syrians would trade some nasty words once or twice a year, but that was about as far as it went.
So the idea that a new and untested government would come to power is somewhat frightening. Therefore, the thought of an Islamically oriented government in Syria is a sheer nightmare for the West. It is well-known that the driving force behind this revolution (IS excluded) are Islamic brigades. Free Syrian Army groups militarily play a distant secondary role on the battlefields (but a leading role politically, more on that another time).

The thought of an Islamically oriented government in Syria is a sheer nightmare for the West

Western powers want another democratically oriented strongman to support in these territories. Up to this point, they have not been successful, though not from a lack of trying. Western powers have tried to support the FSA, Jamal Marouf, and the Hazim movement. That doesn’t include all of the soldiers they tried to train to fight their enemies (al-Qaeda/IS) under the condition that they would use their new skills only for targets that Washington chose and not against Bashar Assad. This was another huge failure.
The West must understand that the Syrian people are no longer willing to simply march and beg for their rights as they did in March 2011. This is now 2016 and they are a battle-hardened people willing to fight even a superpower in Russia to safeguard their right to self-determination. This leads to one conclusion: either the West will genuinely recognise the Syrians' right to self-determination (and not subjugation) or there will be fighting in this part of the world for a long time to come and it is unlikely the fight will remain inside Syrian borders.
This piece originally ran on the On The Ground News website.
- Bilal Abdul Kareem is a video journalist who has been covering the conflict in Syria since 2012. He has produced reports with the CNN, Channel 4, BBC, Sky News and for the Dutch programme Newseur.
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.
Photo: Aid is seen strewn across the floor in the town of Orum al-Kubra on the western outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo on 20 September 2016, the morning after a convoy delivering aid was hit by a deadly air strike (AFP)

[JustTime]

This is who is fighting for Bashar in Syria

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Interesting.

Inside Israel’s Secret Program to Back Syrian Rebels

Fighters were armed and paid to keep Iranian-linked forces away from Israel’s border

Israel secretly armed and funded at least 12 rebel groups in southern Syria that helped prevent Iran-backed fighters and militants of the Islamic State from taking up positions near the Israeli border in recent years, according to more than two dozen commanders and rank-and-file members of these groups.

The military transfers, which ended in July of this year, included assault rifles, machine guns, mortar launchers and transport vehicles. Israeli security agencies delivered the weapons through three gates connecting the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to Syria—the same crossings Israel used to deliver humanitarian aid to residents of southern Syria suffering from years of civil war.

Israel also provided salaries to rebel fighters, paying each one about $75 a month, and supplied additional money the groups used to buy arms on the Syrian black market, according to the rebels and local journalists.

The payments, along with the service Israel was getting in return, created an expectation among the rebels that Israel would intercede if troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad tried to advance on southern Syria.

When regime forces backed by Russian air power did precisely that this past summer, Israel did not intervene, leaving the rebel groups feeling betrayed.

“This is a lesson we will not forget about Israel. It does not care about … the people. It does not care about humanity. All it cares about it its own interests,” said Y., a fighter from one of the groups, Forsan al-Jolan.

Israel has tried to keep its relationship with the groups a secret. Though some publications have reported on it, the interviews Foreign Policy conducted with militia members for this story provide the most detailed account yet of Israel’s support for the groups. All the fighters spoke on the condition that their names and factions not be revealed.

The quantity of arms and money Israel transferred to the groups—comprising thousands of fighters—is small compared to the amounts provided by other countries involved in the 7-year-old civil war, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United States. Even at the height of the Israeli assistance program earlier this year, rebel commanders complained that it was insufficient.

But the assistance is significant for several reasons. It marks one more way Israel has been trying to prevent Iran from entrenching its position in Syria—alongside airstrikes on Iranian encampments and political pressure Israel brought to bear via Russia, the main power broker in Syria.

It also raises questions about the balance of power in Syria as the civil war there finally winds down. With the Iranian forces that helped Assad defeat the rebels showing no inclination to withdraw from Syria, the potential for the country to become a flash point between Israel and Iran looms large.

A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington declined to comment for this story.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/06/in-secret-program-israel-armed-and-funded-rebel-groups-in-southern-syria/

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Outcome of peace talks.

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More preparation for the offensive.

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Protests in Idlib province.

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[Studentofdeed]

If someone commits oppression? How can they repent? WHat can one do if they are unable to find their victim? WIll they ever be forgiven?

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Pro-government offensive continues in Syria's Idlib province

Second day of mass air strikes, including the use of barrel bombs, across Idlib and Hama target a hospital and leave at least one child dead

Russian and Syrian jets have resumed intensive strikes in Idlib and Hama for a second day, killing at least one child, residents and rescuers have said. Damascus stepped up its assault on the rebels' last major stronghold after a summit attended by Russia, Turkey and Iran failed to agree a ceasefire on Friday.

Sources said Syrian army helicopters on Sunday dropped barrel bombs, typically filled with high explosives and shrapnel, on al-Habeet and Abdin villages in southern Idlib and a string of other hamlets and villages in the area. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, confirmed that heavy attacks resumed on the northwestern region near the Turkish border around midday on Sunday.

"Regime helicopters dropped more than 60 barrel bombs on the village of al-Habeet, killing at least one young girl" and wounding six other people, Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The Syrian army denies using barrel bombs. However, United Nations investigators have extensively documented their use by the army. The Observatory also reported on its Arabic-language site that explosions had taken place in the towns of Salqin and Dana north of Idlib city, without reporting any casualties. Meanwhile, Russian jets were believed to have hit the nearby towns of Latamneh and Kafr Zeita in northern Hama in a succession of raids, the Observatory and a rebel source told the Reuters news agency.

The raids reportedly wounded five rebels in Latamneh and knocked the village's underground hospital out of action, just a day after strikes damaged a similar health facility in Idlib's southern town of Hass, the Observatory said.

"It is distressing to see a rise in attacks on medical facilities ... There are over three million civilians in this crowded area of Syria who are in a life-threatening situation," Ghanem Tayara, head of the US-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM) said in a statement.

Damascus, backed by allies Russia and Iran, has been preparing a major assault to recover Idlib and adjacent areas of the northwest. The province is Syria’s last major stronghold of active opposition to the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/p...nce-1262532302

Blurb

3 million+ people being bombarded by Russia and Assad's forces * Where is the ummah's shield? * Where are the Muslim countries? * How should Muslims help Idlib? A facebook Live interview recorded 8th September 2018 between Taji Mustafa and Bilal AbdulKareem (journalist in Syria)

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Good insight into how Assad tried to undermine the revolt against him.

Blurb

In a brand new series of KJ Videos, we will take an analytical look at the Syrian civil war from the beginning to today. In this episode, we will take you way back in time when the Syrian uprisings all began

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another perspective

After warnings of mass murder and catastrophe in Idlib, I prowled the front lines for two days. I didn't find what I'd expected

The only massed forces I came across were vast herds of sheep and, close to Aleppo, a string of camels. War might be coming, but not yet

Every journalist would like to start a report with the words: “All quiet on the western front.” Or the eastern front. And I had actually scribbled “all quiet on the northern front” in my notebook, on my rural way to the far northern village of Kansabba on Syria’s front line opposite Idlib province, when an artillery piece in the forest banged off a shell over our heads. It took 25 seconds for the sound of the explosion – on the hills to the north-east – to echo softly back to us through the trees. Then a second round. And a third. A few Syrian soldiers on motorcycles purred along the road. Front lines are like this. Sunlight, lots of clouds, a winding country lane way, an explosion and then a herd of sheep drift out of a field at the bidding of a cowled shepherd.

So goodbye to the “all quiet” bit. But here’s the problem. Syria makes no secret that it has amassed 100,000 troops around Idlib province for the “last battle” against its Islamist enemies; give or take any who can be persuaded to “reconcile” with the Syrian government via the Russians, go “home” – Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Chechnya, you name it – or surrender. And as we all know, a lot of the jihadis in the Idlib “terrorist” dustbin – the Russians and Syrians use “terrorism” now with all the alacrity that George W Bush deployed after he invaded Iraq – preferred to battle on in Idlib after leaving the big cities of Syria.

Then there are the “experts” in the West who tell us that there are 30,000 fighters in Idlib. I suspect closer to 10,000. Civilians, we are informed, compose between 2,500,000 and three million of the souls in Idlib; half a million of them, in other words, may or may not be there. The civilians trapped in eastern Aleppo turned out to be a gross exaggeration once the siege ended in 2016. But maybe the higher figure in Idlib is the right one. And how do we know that 100,000 Syrian soldiers is the correct statistic? But if so, it is the largest massing of Syrian troops since the start of the war.

Thus Trumpian-UN-Merkel-Erdogan warnings of humanitarian catastrophe, mass murder, chemical attack and Armageddon had me prowling along Syrian front line roads for all of two days; yet the huge Syrian invading force remained oddly elusive. I travelled from the Turkish frontier at Kassab, through Rabia and Kansabba and behind Jourine and then up the Syrian military supply route from Hama to Abu Adh Duhour and through villages unheard of outside Syria – Omalhouteh, Tel Maseh, Ewanat Skieh, Bardah, Kafr Abeed, Blass, Alhadein – and the massed Syrian army was nowhere to be seen.

Was this really the start of the last battle, I kept asking myself? Amid a sylvan grove east of Kassab, I suddenly came across 200 Syrian troops, steel helmets, arms at attention, on parade – their commander sent a motorcycled soldier after us to ask why we were taking photographs – for this was, to be sure, a good Boys’ Own Paper picture for The Independent. Readers, please note my colleague’s snatched snapshot with this dispatch. But there were no armoured vehicles, no Iranians, no Hezbollah, no Russians, no convoys of field artillery – though I had seen the photos of the Syrian convoys a couple of weeks ago – and the only massed forces I came across were vast herds of sheep and, close to Aleppo, a string of camels. Not a single soldier was carrying a gas mask. Which would surely be a sure sign of an imminent chemical attack anywhere on the front, whoever was dropping the stuff.

Now this doesn’t mean the invading army wasn’t there. Perhaps far behind the front lines or far above Aleppo, waiting in faraway fields for zero hour, they may be passing their time. The Syrians have loudly announced their intention of crushing the last Islamist bastion in Idlib – and I can confirm that Syrian jets took off from the Hama air base on Saturday morning at around 8.30 because I could hear their roar a mile away over breakfast – but I saw no smoke clouds drifting down from Jisr al-Chougour or east of Idlib a couple of hours later as I watched from that all-too-smashed security-supply route up to Aleppo. A lone, low-flying Russian-made Syrian helicopter came thudding over the desert near Abu Adh Dahour, whose own air base was recaptured by Syrian troops last year. Just one.

So here’s what I did find on my 300-mile tour around the frontier of Idlib. At the old Kassab border crossing, the Turks are still building a massive concrete wall along the Syrian frontier, topped with barbed wire and arc lights below a cloud-shrouded mountain on which stood, just visible, a range of reconnaissance aerials. From there, a Syrian captain told me, Nato watched Syria and could probably listen to Syrian communications – although the Syrians could apparently not listen to Nato. I climbed the staircase of a broken house, its former Nusrah Islamist forces’ graffiti painted out on the internal walls – and stared across the Turkish border. There was even a bust of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on the Turkish side of the frontier station.

Then a sense of déjà vu. A group of Syrian security agents walked sullenly towards us to ask the Syrian army what we were doing. There was an altercation – an instructive moment – between the two Syrian forces before we moved away. Interesting. But exactly two years ago, the same Syrian army had been confronted by the same security men at the same spot asking the same question about my presence. Not a bad repeat performance. And when I drove further east, those guns began firing across the forest, yet – again, exactly two years ago, at this very spot – the Syrian artillery – quite probably the very same guns – had lobbed off shells over our heads at the same distant Nusrah-held hillsides. Plus ça change, I suppose.

And then, near Kansafet, I climbed the crumbling steps of a shell-scarred villa where the Syrian front line troops manned sand bags above a smashed mosque and a smashed church and a bullet whacked past us from the Nusrah snipers above. When I suggested to an obliging Syrian officer that I thought there might be no great offensive – just a slow gnawing away at the boundaries of Idlib’s mini-caliphate while “reconciliation” talks dragged on between the Syrians and the Russians and the Turks and the armed groups and, hopefully, the tens of thousands of civilians trapped there – the soldier nodded and told me I was “50 per cent correct”.

It was an eerie journey. A vast empty motorway – its blue Aleppo, Lattakia and Damascus road signs proving it to be the old international M4 highway cut off by the Idlib fighters; a towering railway viaduct captured by the Syrian army; and a massive but still incomplete concrete river dam whose equipment, so the Syrians say, was stripped by Nusrah and sold to the Turks. And thousands and thousands – and thousands more — abandoned, crushed houses and cattle sheds and huts destroyed over the past three years of fighting. Nusrah had tried to bring down a motorway bridge, but their charges – exploded long ago – appeared to have blasted downwards rather than upwards, and the structure still stood.

It was around this time that I realised the purpose of the Syrian army’s presence in this sector. Not, I suspect, for an offensive against Idlib, rather to fight off opposition fighters if they were under air bombardment and tried to escape west and cross the walled Turkish border. If there is to be a last battle, Syria’s armed enemies are not supposed to slip away this time – unless, of course, the Russians and the Iranians and the Turks – basking in the aftermath of the only slightly successful Tehran talks last week – can still work out a peaceful settlement.

So this was no launching pad for an attack against Idlib. “This place is so full of mountains, valleys, hills and rocks, it would need six divisions to fight here and we’ve only got one,” a Syrian officer vouchsafed. In any case, I asked myself, how can you start an attack with massed tanks through a forest? And you can forget historical memories of the Ardennes. These forested hills are far more difficult to cross, let alone plunge down – in the style of Byron’s Assyrians – like the wolf on the fold.

On the further mountains, a clutch of elderly T-62 tanks of Warsaw Pact vintage nestled beside the road amid 80mph winds. The military road east of Idlib province, cratered and lined with the same shattered villages, was marked only by the now familiar red, white and black flagged Syrian checkpoints and flanked by vast basins of desert. Save for the lone helicopter, there was no sign of imminent catastrophe for the people or the defenders of Idlib. The sand appeared to be that cliché of all war reports – a deserted desert – and the horizon was 15 miles away. Could Syria’s legions be out there in the shimmering heat, waiting to strike? Quite possibly, but I thought I should have spotted some of them. Out of Aleppo, six heavy duty supply trucks, new imports from Russia, ground up a hill. They were all empty.

The villages along this tour of the front lines were as miserable as they were depressing. Largely abandoned, several, on the last stage of the journey, still boasted the remains of Nusrah’s illicit oil pumps – a mass of broken ironwork with black stains around them – but a few stores had reopened, closer to Aleppo. But who would want to return here when the last successful Syrian offensive in Deraa had ended with a mysterious Isis incursion in which scores of Druze civilians were slaughtered?

Well, I took a return journey down the supply route. Forty soldiers in a corrugated iron shed coffee shop, five helicopters – one reconnaissance – hovering around the recaptured airbase – a longstanding radar position – and four covered non-military trucks. Not much evidence of “Operation Dawn of Idlib” as the Syrian army are now officially calling it.

Well, you can’t have a war without a war. However true or illusory the reports are of heavy air raids in Idlib – and it remains a fact that not a single Western journalist reporting them is, so far we know, in Idlib itself – it would be ridiculous to suggest that the Russians and Syrians are not bombing the province and its cities. They are. Touring the front on military roads, as I have just done on the Syrian side of the line, does not mean that I can see every valley and wadi or spread of desert. It is a fact that there are several Russian observation posts here – but I did not see them. And one Turkish post, installed under the Russian “de-escalation” agreement, which I could not find.

My guess is that the “last battle” is still a while away. It must happen, surely. The Syrian government has said repeatedly that it will not permit its enemies to stay in a province of 6,097 square kilometres – warning, even THAT statistic might be a trifle too high! – but Syria does not want to go to war with Turkey.

Will the Turks, who allowed so many of these men into Syria, survey the future battlefield and be intimidated by the massed Syrian army (for they can assuredly survey it better than me)? No, I don’t think Turkey will be intimidated. But with Vladimir Putin’s hand on his shoulder, the Sultan Erdogan across the border might be a little more accommodating. Perhaps someone will take back the foreign fighters. Or send them to fight and die in another country. Libya, perhaps? Yemen? These men – and their families — have moved around the Middle East quite a lot these past years. There’ll be more negotiations, I suspect, between Putin and Erdogan and Assad and – through Putin – perhaps with the Saudis? Meanwhile, our leaders huff and puff and froth and roar and – across that little valley, be sure Syria’s guns continue to fire this morning. It’s not all quiet on the northern front, then. But not yet war.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/syria-last-battle-idlib-robert-fisk-latest-a8530796.html

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Please write to your MP now without delay - War, terrible war, may be on the way again.

WMD All Over Again: Our Government moves stealthily towards a new war of choice.

IS war coming? This is the traditional season of the year for plunges into war by British governments which mislead themselves and the country about the extent and nature of what is proposed.

In August 1914 we were ushered into war by a government secretly committed to an alliance with France and Tsarist Russia which had never been discussed by Parliament or put to the Cabinet, let alone to the public, who imagined that August day that the war would be chiefly fought at sea, and never imagined vast British Armies dying in the mud of Flanders. That cost four years of privation and death, a huge increase in the power of the state, and turned us into a debtor nation. It liquidated our long-gathered foreign investments and began the process which led to the dissolution of our Empire and Naval supremacy.

We were told ( to distract us from the almost total absence of good reasons for our involvement) it was a war against a barbarous Hunnish nation which raped nuns and threw babies in the air to catch them on its bayonets. There were in fact German atrocities (though not those ones) but they were easily matched by those committed by our Russian allies on the eastern front.

In September 1939 we went to war supposedly to save Poland from Hitler, though we then did precisely nothing to help Poland and watched from afar off while it was wiped from the map. In the war that followed we fell out of the first rank of nations and became, as we have been ever since, a pensioner and servant of the United States.

So it seems to me to be wise to be wary of autumn wars, begun for supposedly good causes. You never know where or how they might end.

This week, the Middle East is in a state of grave and dangerous tension. The huge Sunni Muslim oil power, Saud Arabia, armed and/or backed diplomatically by Britain, France and the USA, is ever more hostile to Shia Muslim Iran, another oil power not as great but still as important, which is close and growing closer to Russia and China.

Bear in Mind as you consider this that Russia is also a European power, and engaged in a conlfcit with the EU and NATO in formerly non-aligned Ukraine, after the EU’s aggressive attempt to bring Ukraine into the Western orbit and NATO’s incessant eastward expansion into formerly neutral territory. There are several points at which Western troops are now remarkably close to Russian borders, for instance they are about 80 miles from St Petersburg(the distance from London to Coventry) , and the US Navy is building a new Back Sea base at Ochakov, 308 miles from the Russian naval station at Sevastopol. Just as the First World War (at root a conflict between Russia and Germany) spread like a great red stain over much of Europe and the Middle East , an Iran-Saudi war could easily spread into Europe itself.

The two powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran, are not yet in direct combat with each other, but fight through proxies in Yemen and Syria. It would not take much for this to become a direct war, at least as destructive in the region as the Iran Iraq war of 1980-1988, during which the ‘West’ tended to side with Iraq’s leader Saddam Hussein, who had started the war and incidentally used chemical weapons at Halabja in 1988, against the Kurds. The attitude of the British Foreign Office towards this atrocity was interesting: They flatly declined to get outraged, saying: ‘We believe it better to maintain a dialogue with others if we want to influence their actions.

‘Punitive measures such as unilateral sanctions would not be effective in changing Iraq's behaviour over chemical weapons, and would damage British interests to no avail.’

The Foreign Office knows very well that its job is to defend British interests abroad, at more or less any cost. These days it seems to have concluded that British interests involve almost total subjection to the wishes of Saudi Arabia. So their current stance of supposed total horror on the subject of Chemical Weapons, especially when (as was not the case in Halabja) their use has not been established beyond doubt, may be less than wholly genuine. You’d have to ask them, but in any case I ask you to bear this half-forgotten episode in mind as you read this exchange from the House of Commons Hansard for Monday 10th September, an exchange barely reported in the media.

It resulted from an urgent question asked by Stephen Doughty MP, and answered without any apparent reluctance by Alistair Burt, who I learn to my surprise is officially entitled the ‘Minister for the Middle East’. Does the Iranian Foreign Ministry have a Minister for North-West Europe, I wonder? The whole passage can be read here :

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2018-09-10/debates/CF970CA2-402E-4CAC-96B4-F480CC33FC7B/Idlib

But I am especially interested in this exchange, Mr Burt's response to a clever question from the Shadow Foreign Secretary, Emily Thornberry .I have had rude things to say about and to Ms Thornberry, but in this case she is doing her job properly and should be applauded for it The emphases are mine:

'Emily Thornberry (Islington South and Finsbury) (Lab)

I thank you, Mr Speaker, for granting this urgent question, and I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Cardiff South and Penarth on securing it. I can only echo what he said about the terrible bloodshed and humanitarian crisis that is looming in Idlib, the urgency for all sides to work to find some form of peaceful political solution to avert it, and the importance of holding those responsible for war crimes to account.

I want to press the Government specifically on how they intend to respond if there are any reports over the coming weeks, accompanied by horrifying, Douma-style images, suggesting a use of chemical weapons, particularly ​because of how the Government responded after Douma without seeking the approval of the House and without waiting for independent verification of those reports from the OPCW. If that scenario does arise, it may do so over the next month when the House is in recess.

We know from Bob Woodward’s book that what President Trump wants to do in the event of a further reported chemical attack is to commit to a strategy of regime change in Syria—and, indeed, that he had to be prevented from doing so after Douma. That would be a gravely serious step for the UK to take part in, with vast and very dangerous implications not just for the future of Syria, but for wider geopolitical stability.

In the light of that, I hope that the Minister will give us two assurances today. First, will he assure us that if there are any reports of chemical weapons attacks, particularly in areas of Idlib controlled by HTS, the Government will not take part in any military action in response until the OPCW has visited those sites, under the protection of the Turkish Government, independently verified those reports and attributed responsibility for any chemical weapons used? Relying on so-called open source intelligence provided by proscribed terrorist groups is not an acceptable alternative. Secondly, if the Government intend to take such action, thus escalating Britain’s military involvement in Syria and risking clashes with Russian and Iranian forces, will the Minister of State guarantee the House that we will be given a vote to approve such action before it takes place, even if that means recalling Parliament?

Alistair Burt :

The co-ordinated action that was taken earlier this year with the United States and France was not about intervening in a civil war or regime change; it was a discrete action to degrade chemical weapons and deter their use by the Syrian regime in order to alleviate humanitarian suffering. Our position on the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons is unchanged. As we have demonstrated, we will respond appropriately to any further use by the Syrian regime of chemical weapons, which have had such devastating humanitarian consequences for the Syrian population.

The right hon. Lady may recall that there are circumstances, depending on the nature of any attack, in which the United Kingdom Government need to move swiftly and to keep in mind, as their utmost priority, the safety of those personnel involved in a mission. I am not prepared to say at this stage what the United Kingdom’s detailed reaction might be or to give any timescale, because the importance of responding appropriately, quickly and with the safety of personnel in mind will be uppermost in the mind of the United Kingdom.’

In other words, we’re not asking Parliament, if we can help it. When I heard this on the BBC’s ‘Today in Parliament' late last night I felt a shiver go down my spine. The White House National Security adviser, the bellicose John Bolton, yesterday presumed (which is not proven, see multiple postings here on the work of the OPCW investigations into these events) that the Assad state had used chemical weapons twice, as he said ‘if there’s a third use of chemical weapons, the response will be much stronger’. He said the USA had been in consultation with Britain and France and they had agreed this.

The House of Commons goes into recess on Thursday week, 13th September, for the party conference season, and does not come back until Tuesday 9th October. Ms Thornberry is quite right to speculate that the conflict in Idlib, where Russia and the Assad state are in much the same position as the ‘West’ and the Iraqi state were in Mosul and Raqqa not long ago (i.e confronted with concentrations of a largely beaten Jihadi enemy, who might recover if not finally defeated), could explode during that period.

Careful readers of this blog will know that the conflict in Mosul and Raqqa (as it had been in Ramadi and Fallujah in earlier efforts to save the post-Saddam Iraq state from its Jihadi Sunni enemies) were pretty violent and involved the unintended deaths of non-combatants. Our ally, Saudi Arabia, has used appalling methods in its attacks on Yemen and these have had appalling results. The moralistic bloviation of Western leaders about Syria, Russia and Iran’s parallel war against much the same sort of enemy as Assad and Russia face in Idlib is colossal hypocrisy and I am amazed that they can bring themselves to emit it, though I suspect that they are genuinely ignorant of the facts, not so much by wilfully avoiding them as by lacking the will to discover them. Even more infuriating is their ridiculous insistence, (simply not backed by reliably researched facts, obtained through secure custody chains, a standard set by the OPCW for itself) that the Assad state is guilty of previous chemical weapon use in Khan Sheikhoun and Douma.

But let us leave that to one side. Emily Thornberry, far too rarely among MPs, is aware of the true position. In her question to Mr Burt, she said ‘The Government responded after Douma without seeking the approval of the House and without waiting for independent verification of those reports from the OPCW’.

If she and other wise and cautious MPs are to be able to pursue this, and to prevent British involvement in a very dangerous and perhaps limitless war, we as citizens are obliged to act now, swiftly, before Parliament goes away on holiday.

I ask you to write, swiftly and politely, to your MP, of any reputation or party, to say that you do not favour a rush to war, to say that the guilt of Syria has not been proved in the past.

and that a rush to judgement on such issues is almost invariably unwise. See for example the lies told to Parliament about Suez, the use of the Gulf of Tonkin to obtain political support for the USA’s Vietnam disaster, the non-existent ‘Weapons of Mass Destruction’ which began the Iraq catastrophe and the claims of non-existent massacres and mass rapes used to rush this country into its ill-judged and cataclysmic attack on Libya. Ask only for careful consideration, for an insistence that no military action is taken by this country without Parliament’s permission after a full and calm debate.

it is all we can do.

There are many straws in the wind which suggest that we are being prepared for war. War is hell. At the very least, a decision which could have such far-reaching consequences, which could reach into every life and home, and embroil us for years, should be considered properly. The very fact that our government appears not to want us to consider it properly make sit all the more urgent that we insist on it.

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

Idlib conflict shaping up to be the worst of Syrian war

The Assad regime is preparing an offensive on the last rebel stronghold

The battle for Idlib, the last rebel stronghold in Syria’s more than seven-year-long civil war, is about to start. The war is all but over. Salvaged by Russia and Iran, the Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s regime has won. An initially broad-based rebellion against tyranny that was hijacked by jihadi extremists has lost. With Idlib it looks like this conflict — already a catalogue of horror — has saved the worst for last.

Idlib, in north-west Syria, was one of the first cities to rise up against the Assads. Taken by the regime in 2012, it was captured in 2015 by a potent alliance of the al Qaeda-linked Nusra front and Ahrar al-Sham, an Islamist group supported by Turkey.

Last year it became one of four “de-escalation zones” devised by Russia in co-ordination with Iran and Turkey. Resistance in these areas was still strong and the Assad regime, short of manpower, needed breathing space. The zones then became a diplomatic figleaf to cover the regime’s renewed advances alongside Iranian-supplied militia on the ground and the Russian air force in the sky.

The pro-Assad coalition, far from de-escalating, recaptured Deraa in the south, where the rebellion began, and eastern Ghouta near Damascus. Surviving fighters and civilian refugees from these ruins were driven north to Idlib, corralled into what Sergei Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister, calls the “last hotbed of terrorists” in Syria — now ripe for eradication.

Estimates vary wildly but there are thought to be between 30,000 and 70,000 fighters in Idlib province. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the rebranded Nusra front, is probably the most powerful group, having forcibly taken over much of the Turkish-allied Ahrar al-Sham. Ankara has regrouped its Syrian proxies into a newly minted National Liberation Front, as a counterweight to HTS, alongside 12 Turkish army “observation posts” in Idlib that are supposed to separate the warring parties.

But there are also more than 3m civilians in the area, half of them refugees from other rebel enclaves, crammed into less than 1,500 sq km. They have run out of de-escalation zones to flee to.

Those who have been displaced before will recognise the signals that preceded the offensives against their previous homes: episodic air strikes to test world opinion; targeting of hospitals and markets; the pre-emptive denunciation of jihadist provocateurs supposedly preparing chemical attacks to blame on the Syrian government (which used gas at Douma in the Ghouta offensive).

In Tehran last Friday, a summit of Russia, Turkey and Iran could not agree on a formula to spare Idlib and its desperate people from being pulverised. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s leader, publicly disagreed.

Ankara wants the offensive put on hold. A humanitarian disaster will trigger a massive new surge of refugees. Turkey, which already hosts 3.5m Syrian exiles, has closed its borders. But that will simply displace the flows into already teeming areas it controls in north-west Syria, Afrin and Jarablus. Mr Erdogan’s seizure of these territories over the past two years was allowed by Mr Putin, but on the understanding Turkey dealt with the jihadi menace in Idlib. Now Moscow plans to liquidate this threat, including large numbers of Uzbek and Chechen fighters that might blow back into Russia.

Where, at this point, are the western powers that willed the downfall of the Assads without providing Syria’s rebels with the means to achieve it, muttering it was just all too complicated?

US forces are dislodging Isis — the jihadist spawn of western recklessness in Iraq and fecklessness in Syria — from its remaining toeholds in the Euphrates valley south-east of Idlib. President Donald Trump found time to tweet that it would be “a grave humanitarian mistake” for Russia and Iran to abet a bloodbath.

European powers are busily trying to disengage from and, where possible, ignore Syria. It does not look like they are well braced for the coming refugee crisis that threatens to revive the “migrant” hysteria that seized Europe in 2015-16. Russia has been telling Germany and France it can facilitate the return of some 6m Syrian refugees, if only the EU and the US reconcile with Assad rule in the interests of stability and cough up the funds to resurrect Syria from the rubble. This is a delusion.

The Assads will never allow the re-creation of a demographic balance — a prewar population with a 70 per cent Sunni majority — that almost brought their minority regime down. The regime is preventing the return of Sunni Arab men and boys of fighting age. It has also passed decrees — notably the infamous Law 10 or Absentee Property Law — to expropriate the homes and assets of refugees.

Russia has leverage against Europe, which fears a new refugee scare. But Europeans have something Mr Putin wants: the power to normalise relations with Syria and the money to reconstruct it. Somewhere in the tangle of this mutual blackmail may lie the material for a diplomatic thrust to restrain the Idlib offensive.

What is certain is that Syria cannot be wished away. Idlib is about to put the conflict back on the international agenda — in what is shaping up to be a horrendous fashion.

https://www.ft.com/content/bb07b97a-b5c8-11e8-bbc3-ccd7de085ffe

[urkahnkhan]

Alot of lies is being reported on the media regarding syria for some motives. I don't think we have ever encountered a war with so many false informations being released. It is somehow the war of lie and deception as the prophet(sa) about fitnatul duhaima.


1. Israel mastermind the help of Assad and nobody saw it. They single-handedly recruited the majority of the Palestinian, Lebanese, Syrian communties to support Assad and none of them ever realized this.

* Israel would cowardly bomb Assad while he was busy and this has enraged the palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians who have somehow based their entire life-goals on hating Israel and the hate they have for Israel have completely blinded them to the point that the Israelis have actully used that hate for their advantage in helping Assad.

* Why do you think Israel was bombing Assad in these crucial moments and talking alot of nonsense about him? It's only so to create confusion amongst the weak hearted who had no other goal then hating on Israel as their life goal and they didn't see the bigger picture and simply just following their hatred towards Israel and this has lead to them supporting a worse mushrikeen then Israel itself. Make no mistake Assad and his supporters are far worse then the jews and even more astray then them and it's not even close they are more astray then them by a large margin.

2. Why do you think the Americans are reporting alot of nonsensical reports about attacking Assad if he uses Chemical weapons?

* It's only to save face and not to stain their reputation on the world stage by supporting a savage like him but in reality they are his biggest supporters behind the scenes and both attacks on him regarding the chemical weapons they did no material damage on him while it was all staged between theem.

* All this out-crying about human rights and so forth and so on it's about saving image and to avoid deluded people accusing them of not doing nothing because they want to be viewed as world police and this is the image they are trying so hard to protect while supporting Assad get rid of Idlib behind the scenes.

3. The same thing goes to all the muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia whom alot of people accuse of supporting the rebels but they couldn't be more wrong because there is absolutely no point in for the royal family of Saud to support the rebels whom they view as legit threat where as they view Assad winning as their own survival and alot of people are of the opinion that turkey would help but Erdogan is only talking and you will see when things get out of hand they will retreat and his only doing it to save face but behind the scenes they all want collectively to get rid of Idlib.

All these nations and countries are collectively and strongly allied to officially kill Islam. This is their official reason of coming together and they are releasing alot of lies for no reason except to delude these who don't pay attention and saving face while some to not damage their image and for others to not lose their own people due to fear of protests.

A Cat can't be forced to eat vegetables because it's strictly carnivore because that is how it was created and this is the same for them as Allah(Swt) said Islam would be a source of destruction for the disbelievers. They will always dislike it and as will the cat when it comes to vegetables and both things are Sunnah. The Muslims of Idlib have the support of no one else except Allah(swt)

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Blurb

Why is the USA spending hundreds of billions of dollars in Syria? Who is in control? What is their agenda?

[سيف الله]

Salaam

From Fox News of all places.

Last stand: Syria's rebel Idlib prepares for a losing battle

They dug trenches around towns, reinforced caves for cover and put up sand bags around their positions. They issued calls to arms, urging young men to join in the defense of Idlib, the Syrian province where opposition fighters expect to make their last stand against Russian- and Iranian-backed government troops they have fought for years.

This time, it's "surrender or die."

As the decisive stand for their last stronghold looms, this motley crew of tens of thousands of opposition fighters, including some of the world's most radical groups, is looking for ways to salvage whatever is possible of an armed rebellion that at one point in the seven-year conflict controlled more than half of the country.

In its last chapter, just as it has throughout the long, bloody war, the Syrian rebellion's fate lies in foreign hands. This time, the splintered and diverse rebels have only Turkey.

"The whole world gave up on us, but Turkey will not," said Capt. Nabij al-Mustafa, spokesman for the Turkish-backed umbrella group known as the National Front for Liberation.

Idlib, with its 3 million residents and more than 60,000 fighters, is Turkey's cross to bear.

Ankara has appealed to Russia and Iran, its uneasy negotiating partners, for a diplomatic resolution to the ticking bomb. At the same time, it has sent reinforcements of its troops ringing Idlib, a move designed to ward off a ground assault, at least for now.

A wide offensive is only likely after a green light from Russia. But delicate diplomatic moves are at work. Moscow is keen on strengthening ties with Turkey, at a time when Ankara's relations are at their lowest with the United States. Turkey, by calling on the United States and Europe for support, seems to be playing on that interest to pressure Russia to accept its proposals for a solution on Idlib that avoids an attack.

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets for the second time in 10 days with Russia's Vladimir Putin, this time in Sochi, Russia.

"After proving its influence in Syria and the Middle East, Russia wants to pull Turkey away from the West much more than achieve a military victory over the armed Syrian opposition," Mustafa Ellabbad, an expert on Turkish-Arab relations, wrote in Kuwait's al-Qabas newspaper.

The province, the size of Lebanon, has been the beating heart of the rebellion for years. In rebel hands since 2015, it is the largest contiguous territory they controlled. It has access to Turkish borders, securing supply lines for weapons, fighters and aid.

For the past two years, Idlib became the shoe-box into which were pushed an estimated 20,000 rebel fighters from around the country, after their losses to government troops and surrender deals negotiated with Russia and Damascus following devastating sieges. Civilians who refused to go back under government rule were also bussed there, nearly doubling the province's population.

Among the estimated 60,000 opposition fighters in Idlib are at least 10,000 radicals affiliated with the al-Qaida-linked group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (Arabic for Levant Liberation Committee). Thousands of foreign fighters, from China, Europe and the Middle East, are the backbone of the radical groups.

The Turkish reinforcements are going to 12 observation points that Ankara set up around Idlib last year under a deal with Russia and Iran creating a "de-escalation zone." The deal also effectively stopped an earlier government advance and set Turkey up as Idlib's protector.

Separately, Turkey has troops stationed in the enclave under its control north and east of Idlib, where it backs Syrian opposition fighters and a civilian administration. It is part of its plan to create a safe area along the border where some of the more than 3 million Syrian refugees it hosts may return.

Ankara initially sent in its troops more than two years ago to push out the Islamic State group and Syrian Kurdish fighters. For Ankara, the increasingly assertive, U.S.-backed Syrian Kurds were an existential threat that encourages the aspirations of its own Kurdish insurgents.

"In the mind of the rebellion, the hope is that from Turkish support they can have ... a republic of northern Syria, protected by Turkey like Northern Cyprus," said Fabrice Balanche, a Syria watcher at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

These Turkey-administered areas are likely to be the destination of the displaced and rebels of Idlib in case of an offensive.

An Idlib offensive holds multiple threats for Turkey right on its border — a humanitarian crisis, a security nightmare with thousands of gunmen loose and a defeat to its plans for the safe zone. If Syrian forces retake Idlib with no agreement on the fate of the opposition fighters, they could threaten the Turkey-controlled enclave, and Ankara would lose credibility with the fighters and leverage with Damascus on any future deal.

"There is really no way for the Syrian military and Damascus' allies to launch a military offensive on Idlib that doesn't have deeply negative, injurious effects on Turkey. There is no real way they can cushion this for Turkey," said Sam Heller, a Syria expert in the Brussels-based International Crisis Group.

Turkey's strategy in the opposition areas has been complicated by the presence of radical fighters. By backing the National Front, it argued it can draw fighters away from the al-Qaida-linked HTS, the dominant power in the province, forcing it to dissolve and creating a new opposition force ready to negotiate with the Syrian government.

The strategy has had limited success.

The National Front in recent months gained control of territory in Idlib from HTS, which still controls nearly 70 percent of the province. HTS began to show signs of splits and two weeks ago, Turkey declared it a terrorist group.

But with the onset of a military offensive, HTS has set up joint operation rooms with different National Front factions.

Making a rare video appearance in late August, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani — wearing an olive-green military uniform — vowed to fight Assad's forces and said Turkish observation points were no protection.

The HTS spokesman in Idlib said now was not the time to talk about dissolving into Turkish-backed rebel groups. He underlined that an arrangement must eventually be made for the foreign fighters in the group.

"Right now, no sound is louder than that of the battle," Imad Eddin Mujahed said. "We have many military surprises; enough to upset the balance and ward off aggressors."

In rallies around Idlib the last two weeks, protesters took to the streets to deny that the province is a hotbed of extremists. Thousands raised only the flag of the Syrian revolution, a reminder that there was once a popular uprising against Assad, and Idlib is now its last bastion.

Some raised banners reading: "The rebels are our hope and the Turks are our brothers."

Syrian forces and Iranian-backed militias are likely to avoid a clash with the Turkish troops. But the stance of the Syrian government and Iran is clear-cut: They vow to recapture all Syrian territory and are loath to see an expansion of Turkish and American influence. They argue the West fueled jihadis with past support of the opposition and now must let Syria get rid of them.

"Assad and Russia gave the choice to the international community: First we kill everybody. Second thing, (they said) if you want to protect (Idlib) then take those people you think are nice ... It is cynical but puts the international community before its contradictions," said Balanche.

Al-Mustafa, the National Front spokesman, said the rebels are prepared for a battle he called "existential."

But, he added, "our cause will not end if we lose this battle."

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2018/09/16/last-stand-syrias-rebel-idlib-prepares-for-losing-battle.html

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

British ex-soldier jailed in Turkey for fighting alongside banned Kurdish militia

Joe Robinson remains on bail and is planning appeal against his conviction

A former British army soldier has been jailed for nearly eight years in Turkey after he was convicted of fighting against the Islamic State terror group alongside a banned Kurdish militia.

Joe Robinson, 25, formerly of Accrington, Lancashire, was sentenced to seven years and six months’ imprisonment for belonging to the YPG, a Kurdish armed group proscribed as terrorists by Turkish law.

He remains on bail and is planning an appeal against his conviction, his mother, Sharon Chimejczuk, told BBC News.

His fiancee, Mira Rojkan, was given a suspended sentence for “terrorism propaganda” after sharing Facebook posts with images of the Kurdish flag and links to Kurdish songs.

Robinson and Rojkan had been holidaying in south-west Turkey when they were detained on 22 July. Armed police swooped on the resort in Didim, about 62 miles (100km) north of Bodrum, where they were staying with Rojkan’s mother.

Their arrests came three years after Robinson, who served in Afghanistan in 2012 with the Duke of Lancaster’s regiment, travelled to Syria.

He spent about a month as a combat medic alongside YPG fighters battling against Isis before crossing into Iraq and joining the peshmerga, the Iraqi government-backed army of Kurdish fighters.

Turkey views the YPG – the armed wing of the Kurdish leftwing Democratic Union party in Syria – as an ally of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state.

British police arrested Robinson at Manchester airport on suspicion of terrorist offences when he returned in November, but all charges were eventually dropped.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/sep/15/british-ex-soldier-jailed-in-turkey-for-fighting-alongside-banned-kurdish-militia

[urkahnkhan]

Salaam

Another update

Blurb

Why is the USA spending hundreds of billions of dollars in Syria? Who is in control? What is their agenda?

Please brother refrain from qouting someone who dosen't know anything of what is happening and someone who has nothing but false informations. When did the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia join forces to overthrow the government in syria? All these 3 countries are allied with Assad while strongly denying him in public and on the media and while Israel is even going further by attacking him which is indirectly helping him. The truth is that they have lowly picture off him so they don't claim him due to the crimes he has commited but nevertheless they are allied with him in order to destroy some of the rebels they deem as enemies and not all rebels

If they wanted him gone he would have been gone because they have the military to take him out within a month or 2 months. As I have said previously most people have no idea what is happening and why this 3 countries are acting the way they are acting

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Please brother refrain from qouting someone who dosen't know anything of what is happening and someone who has nothing but false informations. When did the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia join forces to overthrow the government in syria? All these 3 countries are allied with Assad while strongly denying him in public and on the media and while Israel is even going further by attacking him which is indirectly helping him. The truth is that they have lowly picture off him so they don't claim him due to the crimes he has commited but nevertheless they are allied with him in order to destroy some of the rebels they deem as enemies and not all rebels

If they wanted him gone he would have been gone because they have the military to take him out within a month or 2 months. As I have said previously most people have no idea what is happening and why this 3 countries are acting the way they are acting

I agree some of your assessment but I have disagree on your opinion of Blackstone Intelligence. Blackstone Intelligence gets things wrong (for instance his dismissive attitude towards the rebellion which I strongly disagree with) and misses things (its an American perspective) but its generally reliable or at least worth a listen.

They initially wanted Assad to step down but changed their mind half way through the conflict, particularity with the unexpected rise of Daesh and the American reluctance to commit due to their previous experience in Iraq and Afghanistan. Do you really think its as simple as removing Assad? Just like it was really simple to remove Saddam? We all know what happened afterwards don't we? The American public wouldn't tolerate another occupation of another Middle Eastern country.

The unexpected election of Trump was another game changer, he wants out (will the deep state let him that's another question) hence the decline in the rebellion.

On Israels objective, they want to see the division and destruction of Syria, so they have achieved their goal on that front but so far haven't achieved Iranian withdrawal.

On Saudi Arabias initial role.



They used the rebels as proxies but when they realised they weren't going to get their way, washed their hands of them. In fact the failure of the Saudis to achieve their objectives was the catalyst for the decline of the old elite and the rise of MBS.

There's is a lot of smoke and mirrors, It seems they've settled on Assad (for now) and want an end to this rebellion.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Some big events happening, Turkey and Russia seem to have reached an agreement to stop the escalation in Idlib. Before that another update on the situation

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Dr Shajul Islam interviewed. Israeli TV of all places. . . . .

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What passes for Leftwing discourse on the Syrian conflict. Exaggerated but you get the idea.

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Protests against the coming offensive.

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update. Wasnt expecting this, deal made between Russia and Turkey.

Citizens remain wary of Russia but Idlib truce better than bombing

Surprise initiative welcome respite for Syrian opposition and people of the province

Relieved locals and rebel groups in Idlib have been trying to unpick details of an eleventh-hour truce that excludes much of the northern Syrian province from a Russian-led attack for at least one month and sets up a buffer zone intended to shield 3 million civilians.

The surprise initiative, brokered by Turkey and Russia on Monday, assuages fears of an immediate widespread humanitarian catastrophe and sets the scene for a swathe of northern Syria to remain out of central government control indefinitely.

The arrangement strengthens the role of Turkish-backed rebels in the northern province, and is likely to lead hardline groups to make a tactical retreat to southern Idlib where, for now, they will remain out of the sights of Russian and Syrian guns.

The move is a welcome respite for Syrian opposition groups, who had feared a massive attack aimed at returning the final rebel-held province to central government control, allowing Bashar al-Assad to clinch victory in the seven-year war.

As momentum built towards an attack, Assad’s backers, Russia and Iran, grew increasingly wary of the political price they would end up paying by bringing about a humanitarian crisis unlike any other in the Syrian war.

Weeks of belligerent rhetoric from Tehran and Moscow had increasingly softened in recent days and been replaced by common ground with Ankara – a central backer of what remains of the anti-Assad opposition, which has increasingly muscled in on northern Syria and saw its own interests unravelling if chaos was ignited along its border.

“Civilians in Idlib think this is a good deal, they feel hopeful and happy concerning it,” said Mahmoud Abbi, a spokesperson for Free Idlib Police, a rebel-backed local police force. “We are grateful for Turkey’s efforts to prevent the Russian and Assad attack on Idlib. However … we do not trust Russia about the deal. But for now it is better than displacement or bombing.

“The deal is for Turkey’s security but it is also face-saving for Putin and by association Assad,” he said. “Iran refused to participate in this attack because of its own bad military and economic situation. The Assad regime is weak and has no ability to attack without the help of Iranian militias.”

The Assad regime was not represented at the bilateral summit between Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in the Russian resort town of Sochi, and not was it present at a trilateral summit with Iran in Tehran one week ago. The Syrian government had no immediate response to the development, which appears likely to consolidate Turkey’s presence in the north, giving Erdogan a stronger hand in managing the final stages of the war – and aftermath.

Central to the truce is the removal of an extremist coalition from the buffer zone, the dimensions of which are yet to be finalised. Turkish and Russian intelligence officials will soon meet to thrash out the numbers of radical rebels required to leave the province. The agreement suggests that those who agree to exit will be given safe passage to the eastern Hama desert region.

Jawad Abdel Karim, 40, a spokesman for the Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) umbrella group of hardline fighters, said his organisation is, for now, expected to retreat up to 7km (4.3 miles) away from the agreed demarcation point. Forces loyal to the Assad regime, meanwhile, would retreat 10km away. “Give or take, the distance between the opposition and regime will be 15km,” he said.

The Iranian foreign minister, Mohammed Zarif, said he welcomed the apparent breakthrough, adding weight to a growing belief that the deal, or a variation of it, would hold. “Intensive responsible diplomacy over the last few weeks-pursued in my visits to Ankara and Damascus, followed by the Iran-Russia-Turkey Summit in Tehran and the meeting in Sochi-is succeeding to avert war in Idlib with a firm commitment to fight extremist terror. Diplomacy works,” Zarif wrote on Twitter.

HTS, and earlier incarnations of it, has been a significant presence throughout Idlib for the past three years. It has been particularly strong in the south, but has attempted to impose austere theocratic rule in many towns and cities. The numbers of ideologically driven fighters in its ranks have been difficult to gauge. Thousands of men had joined the organisation because of its strength. But as its momentum wanes, the powerful group is starting to lose impetus in some parts of Idlib.

Large-scale demonstrations resembling the earliest days of the Syrian uprising have taken place in northern towns, and gone unchallenged by the organisation. “We hate the brutal regime and HTS as well,” said Abbi. “We will create pressure to make HTS dismantle and disappear, which will make the [de-escalation zone deal] safer. We will continue to demonstrate against all radical groups and we will unite civilians and the Free Syrian Army against them.”

While parts of Idlib appeared to rally behind the truce, not all were convinced that it would hold. “Although we agree with the points mentioned in the agreement between Erdoğan and Putin, have they ever got a result before?” asked Abu Wissam, 32. “Civilians on the ground are still living in fear and worry. We’re all hesitant and we’re all doubtful. And we have nothing to say any more. Our voices went hoarse with demands and no one listened.”

Another Idlib local, Ahmed Hallaq, 34, said: We had bigger dreams and goals than this agreement. All of Syria should have been safe from the Assad regime and his militias, not just a buffer zone. Lots of my friends around here think the same. We don’t trust the regime, we have zero trust in its morals and promises. They violated most, if not everything else that’s been agreed on.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/18/surprise-truce-brokered-by-turkey-and-russia-spares-idlib-for-now

[سيف الله]

Salaam

A very good discussion, Starts at 22:00.

Blurb

Moazzam Begg (CAGE) joins Dr Salman Butt to discuss the importance and potential catastrophe facing Idlib, Syria.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

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Russia and Israel step back from brink after Syria downs military plane

Moscow's rhetoric moves from 'irresponsible actions' to 'tragic circumstances'

Vladimir Putin has looked to downplay the potential of a serious diplomatic rift between the Kremlin and the Knesset following the downing of a Russian military plane late on Monday evening.

Fifteen Russian servicemen died after an Il-20 reconnaissance plane was struck down in a friendly fire incident involving Syrian S-200 anti aircraft defences that had targeted Israeli jets.

Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Putin said the incident was the result of a “tragic chain of accidental events”. His measured comments diverged from an earlier, furious response.

In the early morning, the Russian Defence Ministry intimated the plane had been hit by Israeli or French fire. Later, spokesmen changed the story, accepting the plane had been shot down by the Syrians. But they ratcheted up the diplomatic fury.

In quick succession, Moscow said Russians had died as a result of Israel’s “irresponsible actions.” It blamed the Israeli command for giving just a minute’s advance warning of its air strikes. It accused their pilots of using the larger Il-20 plane as cover during missions. It summoned the Israeli ambassador to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Smolenskaya Square and it gave Israel’s defence minister a public dressing-down.

“The actions of the Israeli defence ministry do not reflect the spirit of the Russian-Israeli partnership,” Sergei Shoigu, the Russian minister of defence told Israeli opposite number, Avigdor Lieberman. “We reserve the right to take further steps.”

The fierce response suggested a difficult period ahead for Russian-Israeli relations.

Until that point, cooperation between the two countries had been close. In May, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended Victory Day celebrations in Moscow in a symbolic gesture at the height of the Kremlin’s international isolation. Russia also seemed to accept Israel’s strategic interests in the region.

“There was a lot of trust between the two sides,” said Yuri Barmin, an expert at the Russian International Affairs Council on Tuesday. “It was seriously undermined today.”

The incident brought back memories of November 2015, when a Turkish fighter shot down a Russian Su-24 jet that had violated Turkish airspace. Russia retaliated with sanctions and seven months of hostile relations ensued.

Some of Russia’s more excitable politicians suggested Moscow could respond by supplying Damascus with more advanced C-300 anti aircraft systems – a kind that would prove more problematic for Israeli planners.

“Russia simply can’t let this drop,” said Franz Klintsevich, member of the Russian senate’s Defence Committee.

But the likelihood of a serious military response from Russia was always low. Even if it wanted to, Russia does not have the capacity to close Syrian air space to Israeli jets.

More fundamentally, it was never going to wade into the undeclared war between Israel and Iran.

“Russia will not stand in the way of Israeli operations to stop Iranian expansion, knowing how existential they are seen in Jerusalem,” said Jonathan Spyer, research fellow at the Jerusalem Institute of Strategic Studies. “Moscow is trying to be friends with everyone – with Assad, Israel, Turkey, the Kurds. That, of course, is the source of the problem.”

In his afternoon comments, Mr Putin urged against a direct comparison to the Turkish Su-24 incident. That was an intentional strike he said; this was “an accident.”

The president’s unexpectedly mild response brought into question how much of the initial show of anger against Israel was real – and how much a tactic of deflection from a military that had made mistakes.

“Russia understood it has only itself to blame for not making sure the Syrians had the right friend-or-foe identification systems,” said Vladimir Frolov, a security expert and former Kremlin advisor.

There were other, more obvious questions to be asked. How was it that communication with Syrian allies broke down? How could an anti aircraft system mistake a large reconnaissance plane for a fighter jet?

Part of the answer lay in the technology, suggested Justin Bronk, a research fellow at RUSI, an international defence and security think tank based in London.

Designed in the Soviet Union in the 1950s, the Syrian S-200 surface to air missile unit is not a failproof system, he said. Without newer fire control and radar systems, it would have had difficulty differentiating between the two planes.

“If Syrian defences were attempting to lock onto Israeli jets in the same vicinity [as] the Il-20, especially in the face of jamming signals, it is entirely plausible that they inadvertently guided the S-200 onto the Russian aircraft,” Mr Bronk.

A lax approach to firing the missiles may also have played a role.

“During recent attacks, the Syrians have tried to give their public an impression of having effective defences,” said Mr Bronk. “So they have fired missiles blindly – on simple ballistic trajectories, or at least with very weak firing solutions. That may have contributed.”

In a statement released on Twitter, the Israeli Defence Forces said the blame for the incident lay “firmly with the Syrian regime,” which had fired missiles “indiscriminately” in response to Israeli airstrikes.

But the statement also expressed “sorrow for the death of the aircrew members of the Russian plane”.

That show of humility may have given Mr Putin enough to move on.

“The operational dynamic may change slightly, but the politics can’t change,” added Mr Barmin. “Russian doesn’t have so many allies that it can throw one of them under the bus.”

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...-a8543296.html

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Salaam

More analysis on the deal between Turkey and Russia.

Russia-Turkey deal may delay, but not prevent, a battle for Syria’s Idlib province

Syrians disagreed Tuesday about what a new Russia-Turkey deal means, casting into doubt whether it will ultimately prevent a potentially devastating war for control of the Syrian province of Idlib.

The deal announced Monday has been broadly welcomed as an opportunity to forestall the full-scale Syrian government offensive against Idlib that has been widely feared, averting the humanitarian catastrophe it was expected to trigger.

Under the broad terms of the agreement outlined by Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia and Turkey will jointly oversee the creation of a nine-mile demilitarized zone between rebel and Syrian government lines intended to keep the two sides apart.

But it remains unclear whether the deal will prevent an eventual conflict in the area, said Lina Khatib of London’s Chatham House think tank.

“We definitely should not think that the Idlib deal is the ultimate deal. What we are seeing is only a measure for the time being. It is not the endgame for Idlib,” she said. “At best, this deal postpones a potential confrontation in Idlib rather than completely eliminates the possibility of an offensive.”

Unusually for Syria, however, the deal was welcomed by all sides as an opportunity to avert, at least for now, the immense suffering that a battle would inflict on the more than 3 million civilians in the northwestern province. It would also avoid the heavy losses that government forces would incur in launching the biggest battle of the Syrian war.

The Syrian government said in a statement carried by the official Syrian Arab New Agency that it “welcomed any initiative that stops bloodshed and contributes to security and stability in each inch that was struck by terrorism.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Iran, a close ally of Syria, played a role in negotiating the agreement, which he hailed as evidence that “diplomacy works.”

Idlib residents took to the streets to demonstrate against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and celebrate their relief that an offensive had at least been deferred.

But it also appeared as though the government and the Syrian opposition have different understandings of where the deal will lead, calling into question its chances for success. All that is known for now, according to the statements issued by Putin and Erdogan, is that the demilitarized zone is to be established by Oct. 15 along a horseshoe-shaped line roughly corresponding to the borders of Idlib province.

Extremist-linked groups are expected to retreat from the buffer zone to areas farther north. The Turkish-backed rebels in the area are allowed to remain but are expected to move their heavy weapons out of the zone.

No further details were given, leaving many questions unanswered, including the eventual fate of the province.

According to Russian diplomats quoted by the pro-regime Syrian daily al-Watan, the plan envisages a second deadline in November by which all rebel and extremist groups are to surrender their heavy weapons throughout Idlib province. The Syrian government would then restore its authority across the province by the end of the year, al-Watan said.

Capt. Naji Mustafa, a Syrian rebel spokesman, said the opposition has not been informed of any such arrangements and would not agree to the return of Assad regime authority in any part of Idlib. Although the rebels welcome the halt to plans for an imminent offensive, they are going to refrain from committing to the deal, including the surrender of heavy weapons, until the details have been made available, he said.

“Until now, we only have the highlights,” he said. “We need details.”

One concern, Mustafa said, is that the rebels would surrender their artillery, tanks and armored vehicles only to be subjected to a government offensive after all.

“The Russians are known to be deceitful and untrustworthy, and we are going to keep up our vigilance against being double-crossed,” he said. “They have not abided by agreements in the past, and we don’t trust the Russians.”

It is also unclear whether the al-Qaeda-linked groups in the area would agree to leave, given the understanding repeatedly stated by Russia and Turkey that the goal is to eliminate extremist groups from Idlib, said Sam Heller of the International Crisis Group. Those groups include Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which was formerly known as Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, and Hurras al-Deen, a smaller al-Qaeda-allied group.

It will presumably fall to Turkey to persuade the Islamist militant groups to leave, but how is not spelled out, Heller said. “What has been disclosed publicly as part of this new deal seems as if it would be intolerable to Tahrir al-Sham,” he said.

Russia and Turkey may not have figured out all the fine print yet, Khatib said, and the agreement at least buys time for them to continue negotiations and secure buy-in from their respective allies.

Working to the deal’s advantage are the geopolitical alignments that favor a continued alliance between Turkey and Russia in Syria, she said. Russia has an interest in keeping Turkey on the side to secure Moscow’s broader ambition of establishing itself as an important regional player beyond Syria’s borders.

Turkey has a stake in upholding its Russia alliance as a lever against U.S. support for the Kurdish militia in northeastern Syria, which Erdogan described as the “biggest threat” to Syria’s future.

“The deal will succeed if both sides are committed, and they seem to be,” said Mohammed Karkas, a Syrian opposition supporter in the Idlib town of Maarat al-Numaan. “I think this deal will work because it’s a deal between nations, between governments.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/russia-turkey-deal-may-delay-but-not-prevent-a-battle-for-syrias-idlib-province/2018/09/18/9e9050d0-bb4b-11e8-adb8-01125416c102_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.8b 379b0e7dc7

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Salaam

Another update.

On the neverending dangers.

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On medical aid.

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Depressingly familiar.

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It was all planned out.

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Salaam

Another update

Blurb

What is the Islamic perspective regarding the Russia - Turkey agreement and what stance does Sheikh Abdul Razzaq al-Mahdi, one of the Sheikhs of Levant think is a suitable one to take. And what advice does he give the rebels and fighters in this interview with us.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Russia Will Establish an Unofficial No-Fly Zone Over Syria

Today Defense Minster Shoigu announced measures which went far beyond what I had hoped for. Specifically, Shoigu has announced that Russia will

• Supply S-300 air defense systems (with a 250km range) to the Syrians in the next two weeks.
• Russia will deliver advanced automated air defense management systems which will *dramatically* increase the Syrian air defense capabilities and prevent future “friendly fire” incidents.
• Russia will use her electronic warfare capabilities to suppress satellite navigation, onboard radar systems and communications of warplanes attacking targets on Syrian territory in the regions over the waters of the Mediterranean Sea bordering with Syria.

This is a very flexible and elegant solution for the following reasons:

• It establishes a de facto air exclusion zone over Syria, but not a de jure one. Thus, the Russians will have the flexibility to decide on a nation by nation and aircraft by aircraft basis which aircraft should be suppressed/engaged and which ones to only track and monitor. This will give Russia a very powerful negotiating position with all the actors of this war.
• It goes without saying that while these new capabilities will be deployed in Syria in response to the Israeli actions, they will also dramatically boost the Syrian capabilities against any potential aggressors including the USA and US client states. The S-300s will make it possible for the Syrian to detect and even track the Israeli aircraft right after their take-off and while still in Israeli air space.
• While the Russians have not indicated which automated air defense management system they plan to deliver to Syria, it is likely that this is one which is typically used to control the engagement of S-300 and Buk air defense systems, the Poliana D-4. The delivery of this system will dramatically increase the air defense capabilities of the Russian task force in Syria making it much harder for Neocon à la Bolton to target Russian forces.

I have to admit that I am surprised by the magnitude and quality of this response. Clearly, the arrogance of the Israelis did not pay off and this time their usual chutzpah was met with a great deal of Russian anger (albeit carefully controlled anger). For Bibi Netanyahu, the Russian reaction is an absolute disaster because it undermines his entire policy towards Syria (and Lebanon and Iran). The Israeli strikes (over 200, of which they bothered to notify Russia in only about 10% of the cases) did not yield any tangible benefit for Israel, but has now fundamentally undermined Israel’s relationship with Russia. As I have said it many times, for all their self-serving propaganda about being so smart, the Israelis are actually pretty incompetent being blinded, as they are, by their quasi infinite arrogance.

http://www.unz.com/tsaker/russia-will-establish-an-unofficial-no-fly-zone-over-syria/

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

Blurb

Asalamualkum warahmatullah wa barakatuh i hope all of you are well, I know I've been away for so long but inshallah and ill try my best to continue vlogging, don't forget to like share and subscribe inshallah.



Blurb

As the number of families finding themselves in a situation of distress & despair is ever increasing, your donations are providing the people of Idlib with essential food supplies. We would like to thank and say jazzakallah to the beautiful community of Birmingham for donating & supporting the people of Idlib.

You can also provide a family in Syria with a month's supply of food from as little as £20. Support & Donate at: OneNationUk.org 100% donation policy. Regular updates https://www.facebook.com/onenationUK?...

http://www.onenationuk.org/

reg charity no 1156200

Together we can make a difference.



How charity can make a difference.

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[Abz2000]

Brother Shajul's getting a lot done mashaAllah, i still remember the times he used to come to our office in his uni days having under-slept due to qyam-al-layl, he was a computer geek aswell and helped us install vista when it came out, and he made a rotating cctv camera with parts from his little brother's remote controlled car lol, he would also take us to lectures at his uni and helped me to fund a palestinian orphan whose parents had been murdered by israeli criminals.

I later saw from vids that the British government put him through a lot of suffering for his work in helping injured people and abused and humiliated him to the extent that it left him psychologically scarred, then the evildoers went to extreme lengths to have his licence to practice in the uk revoked -probably because they knew that he knew what was actually taking place in Syria and how parts of the struggle had been hijacked.

May Allah :swt: protect and assist him in serving in truth and justice with sincerity.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

Seems Russians want to subvert the agreement.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

A little old but gives perspective on how Hezbollahs impact in the civil war.

Blurb

One of the most powerful forces in the Middle East - set up to oppose Israel and designated a terrorist group by the US and EU. But over the last year, Lebanon's Shi-ite Hezbollah militia - heavily backed by Iran - has begun to change the military balance in the SYRIAN civil war in favour of the Assad regime.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Why some rebels groups have rejected the Sochi agreement.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Congolese doctor, Yazidi activist, champions in fight against rape in war, win Nobel Peace Prize

SURVIVAL

Murad said she shared the award "with all Yazidis with all the Iraqis, Kurds and all the minorities and all survivors of sexual violence around the world".

"For myself, I think of my mother, who was murdered by Daesh," she said said in a statement to Reuters, using an Arabic term for Islamic State.

Murad was 21-years-old in 2014 when Islamic State militants attacked the village where she had grown up in northern Iraq. The militants killed those who refused to convert to Islam, including six of her brothers and her mother.

Along with many of the other young women in her village, she was taken into captivity by the militants, and sold repeatedly for sex as part of Islamic State's slave trade.

She escaped captivity with the help of a Sunni Muslim family in Mosul, then IS's de facto capital in Iraq, and became an advocate for the rights of her community around the world.

In 2017, Murad published a memoir of her ordeal, "The Last Girl". She recounted in harrowing detail her months in captivity, her escape and her journey to activism.

"At some point, there was rape and nothing else. This becomes your normal day," she wrote.

The United Nations has called the assaults launched by the Sunni militants against the religious minority in northern Iraq a campaign of genocide.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi congratulated her on the award, and Vian Dakhil, a Yazidi member of Iraq's parliament, said: "It is the victory of good and peace over the forces of darkness."

Murad, who is also a Sakharov Prize winner, is the second youngest Nobel Prize laureate after Malala Yousafzai.

SPEAK UP

The award follows a year in which the abuse and mistreatment of women in all walks of life across the globe has been a focus of attention.

Asked whether the #metoo movement, a prominent women's rights activist forum, was an inspiration for this year's prize, Nobel Committee Chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said: "Metoo and war crimes are not quite the same. But they have in common that they see the suffering of women, the abuse of women and that it is important that women leave the concept of shame behind and speak up."

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the award was part of a growing movement to recognize the violence and injustice faced by women.

"Let us honour these new Nobel laureates by standing up for victims of sexual violence everywhere," he said in a statement.

The prize will be presented in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who founded the awards in his 1895 will.

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news...prize-10795446

This seems a little too 'scripted' nevertheless we should not forget the evil Daesh were capable off.

Blurb

Stacey accompanies former 23 year-old Isis sex slave Shireen as she returns to the place where she was imprisoned in Mosul, before coming face to face with a jailed Isis commander who claims to have killed 900 people and raped over 200 women.

[fatim.unnisa]

Well i do not know anything about these things but one- thing to say is i will feel very happy if Syria got relief from oppression because they have suffered and have been suffering and till now suffering a lot from oppression and violence. So many innocent lives have been sacrificed and many young and faultless guilt free people died.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Syria's Assad says Russia-Turkey Idlib deal 'temporary measure'

Assad tells Baath Party that Idlib province will ultimately revert to government control

Syria's President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday said that a Russia-Turkey deal for the last major rebel bastion of Idlib was a "temporary measure," state news agency SANA reported.

"The agreement is a temporary measure through which the state has realised many achievements on the ground starting with stemming the bloodshed," SANA reported the president as saying at a meeting of the central committee of his Baath Party.

"This province and other Syrian territory still under terrorist control will return to the Syrian state," SANA quoted Assad as saying, employing his usual term for both rebels and militants.

The deal reached on 17 September between government ally Moscow and rebel backer Ankara aims to avert a massive government assault on Idlib province and adjacent areas, by creating a 15-to -20km buffer zone ringing the country's last major rebel stronghold.

Russian and Turkish forces will patrol the buffer zone. "Radically-minded" groups, including former al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) will withdraw from the zone and heavy weapons held by Syrian rebels in Idlib city would be handed over by 20 October, according to the agreement.

Syrian rebels said on Saturday they had begun withdrawing heavy arms from the planned buffer zone. The Turkey-backed National Liberation Front (NLF) "has started pulling out its heavy weapons from the zone," the rebel coalition's spokesman, Naji Mustafa, told AFP.

More than half of the Idlib region is held by HTS, while Turkey-backed rebels hold most of the rest. HTS has not yet made known its position on the agreement.

Assad's government has retaken large parts of Syria from opposition fighters and militants since Russia intervened militarily on its side in 2015.

Syria's war has killed more than 360,000 people since starting in 2011 with the repression of anti-government protests, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group.

Fighting is continuing in the Deir Ezzor, east of the Euphrates river, with more than 250 members of the Islamic State group and more than 130 Kurdish SDF fighters killed in clashes since 10 September, said the observatory. US coalition bombers have targeted IS forces in support of the SDF, it said.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/syrias-assad-says-russia-turkey-idlib-deal-temporary-measure-1851857902

[JustTime]

They plan and Allah plans, this agreement is a double edged sword but if thought through carefully and proper measures are taken knowing the deceitful nature of the nusayri Bashar and his Rafidi allies this can change the tide of things if may Allah forbid they do keep to their word and pitiful threats and attack Idlib may Allah make it's defenders steadfast against the Majoos, Nusayris, Atheists and Safawis.

[JustTime]

One the leaders from "Iraq's" Rafidi Mobilization Death Squad that murders the Muslims of Iraq and Sham

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Never forget the importance of charity.

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another perspective.

Idlib: Residents of last rebel stronghold declare their hatred for all sides in Syria's civil war

In the battle between Syria's government and opposition groups civilians say they would be 'happy with any solution that stops them again becoming the victims of displacement, destruction and war'

“People in Idlib hate all those with power over them,” says Ahmad Abu Omar, 33, a history teacher living in the province, the last opposition enclave in the west of Syria.

He says that the three million people of Idlib fear a return of government forces, but are almost equally hostile to the armed opposition groups now ruling Idlib because they have spread violence and chaos. He sees Turkey and Russia, who this week started implementing their ceasefire agreement to prevent a government offensive into the province, as acting solely in their own interests.

Abu Omar, in an exclusive interview with The Independent from Idlib city via Whatsapp, describes the mood as war weary and disillusioned. The province south west of Aleppo was once a stronghold of the armed opposition after the original uprising of 2011. Hostility towards the government in Damascus is still intense, but so is antipathy towards its opponents. “At the beginning you could see the youth rushing to fight [against government forces],” says Abu Omar. “But now nobody cares about fighting and religious belief can no longer motivate people to fight for those in control here [the armed opposition].”

Abu Omar, who does not want his real name published because of fear of retribution, was speaking as Russia and Turkey were implementing the terms of agreement reached by president Vladimir Putin and president Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Sochi in September. The terms of the deal show the extent to which Turkey and Russia are now the dominant powers in northwest Syria. They have established a demilitarised zone 15-20 kilometres wide to separate opposition and Syrian government forces which is being monitored by Turkish and Russian patrols. Opposition heavy weapons such as tanks, rocket systems and mortars have been withdrawn, along with 1,000 fighters.

Other provisions of the agreement include the withdrawal of the most militarily effective opposition group, the al-Qaeda linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, by 15 October as well as the opening of the M4 and M5 highways linking the government-held cities of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia.

The city's residents are sceptical about the motives of local and foreign players in Idlib, but they are grateful that a new round of the fighting has been averted for the moment. They see themselves as facing a choice of evils. Abu Ahmad Bakour, 47, who tries to eke out a living as a day labourer in Idlib, says: “We don’t understand what is happening in our region, but we are all happy that there is no fighting and no bombardment.”

He dislikes the continuing rule by opposition militias, said to number some 90,000 fighters, as much as the prospect of a return of Syrian government authority. “If we people are asked whom we would prefer to rule us, then we would say the Turkish rather than the Syrian government,” he says. Mr Bakour is fearful of the Iranian militias on the government side whom, he is convinced, would kill Sunni Arabs like himself and “put us in mass graves” if they ever recaptured Idlib.

He is trenchant in his criticism of the many opposition groups that have held Idlib city since 2015 and the rest of the province for even longer. “We are tired of war and of the militant groups that use the name of Islam to control us,” he says. “They are just stealing money and strangling the people by what they do.”

Abu Omar agrees with Mr Bakour’s rage against both the Syrian government and the armed opposition, though he does not go along with his preference for Turkish rule. He says that less than 10 per cent of people in Idlib are pro-Turkish and that the rest “realise that Turkey is playing for the region for its own benefit”.

People in Idlib are not starving, but they are very poor, particularly in the cities and towns where there is little work. In Idlib city, there are many, like Mr Bakour, who sit in the squares and roundabouts hoping to be hired as day labourers, which will earn them the equivalent of about $2 for a day's work. Others wait beside the road selling fuel, much of which comes from the Kurdish-held oilfields in eastern Syria. Nobody is building anything so there are no construction jobs, but some skilled workers and professionals, such as doctors, nurses, electricians and car repairmen, earn good money providing essential services. The best jobs are with aid organisations that pay between $200 and $700 a month in dollars.

Idlib shares a border with Turkey, but it is not isolated from the rest of Syria despite many government checkpoints in and out of the province. Sieges in the wars in Syria and Iraq seldom amount to a complete blockade of people and goods entering or leaving. This is because checkpoints act more like privatised customs posts. Government and opposition pay their forces too little to live on so their men depend on bribes. It will be a blow to the armed opposition if they lose the revenues from their control of the M4 and M5 highways under the Turkish-Russian agreement.

“Many agricultural goods, especially olives, tomatoes and potatoes, are exported to regime areas and industrial goods, including canned goods, pharmaceuticals, clothes and shoes come back,” Abu Omar says. He says that Syrian goods and produce are mostly cheaper than that those coming from Turkey. This flourishing two-way trade means that when fighting has closed the roads in and out of Idlib, prices in its markets have gone down rather than up because output can no longer be exported to the rest of Syria. When trade is free flowing, tomatoes sell in Idlib for the equivalent of 70 US cents a kilogram, but, when the checkpoints are closed, the price drops to 30 cents. Olive oil likewise costs $6 a litre normally, but when there is fighting the price is half that in Idlib.

The Syrian war has largely been a war of sieges and blockades of which Idlib is the last. All sides have found it profitable to allow trade with their worst enemies, even when Isis controlled the east of the country. This spring the main M4 east-west highway was crowded with road tankers bringing crude from the Kurdish-held oilfields in the north east to the government refinery at Homs.

The Turkish-Russian ceasefire agreement in Idlib is holding, though the Syrian government speaks of it as a temporary arrangement. But it is Mr Putin and Mr Erdogan who decide what will happen in Idlib and neither of them wants the deal to collapse. Almost unnoticed, the remnants of the armed opposition, once promoted by the West and regional powers as the future rulers of Syria, is losing any autonomy it still retained and, if it has a future, it will be as auxiliaries to the Turkish army. Mr Assad has not yet entirely won the war, but the opposition have certainly lost it.

Meanwhile, people in Idlib distrust all sides and with good reason, but, as Abu Omar says, they “are happy with any solution that stops them again becoming the victims of displacement, destruction and war”.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/idlib-syria-civil-war-assad-russia-putin-turkey-erdogan-a8579996.html

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Syria 'expands state control' with strict new laws governing religious affairs

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has signed into law a new bill expanding the powers of a government ministry overseeing religious affairs and limiting the term of the country’s top Muslim cleric.

The draft, which state media reported Assad had signed into law Friday, had been amended by parliament this month after sparking controversy among Syrians at home and abroad.

The new legislation grants additional powers to the ministry of religious endowments, or “waqf”, which already oversees Islamic affairs in Syria.

Specifically, the waqf minister will have a role in naming the next mufti.

The mufti had previously been appointed by the president, as was the case with current mufti Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun, appointed by Assad in 2004.

The new law also sets the mufti’s term, previously unlimited, at a renewable period of three years.

The waqf minister will now oversee religious schools, head the Council on Islamic Jurisprudence, and regulate religious programming on media outlets.

The new law also stipulates that Muslim imams are not allowed to travel outside of Syria or attend any conference even inside the country without the waqf minister’s permission.

It forbids preachers and religious instructors from “stoking sectarian strife” or “taking advantage of religious platforms for political purposes.”

Syria’s pre-war population was overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, with smaller numbers of Shiite Muslims and Alawites, the sect from which Assad’s family hails.

Christian and Druze minority communities are also scattered across the country. It appears that non-Muslim communities are not affected by the new law.

The legislation had sparked controversy this month, with many saying it was state overreach into religious affairs.

Others said it was a way to regulate religious discourse in order to “fight extremism.”

In a recent television interview, current waqf minister Mohammad Abdulsattar al-Sayyed described it as a “huge achievement”.

“This is the first time there’s a law that issues controls and standards for religious work and conditions for appointing imams and preachers,” he said.

But a Syrian lawyer told AFP that the law was a worrying expansion of state control.

The waqf minister could now intervene “in activities unrelated to the ministry’s administration, including in religious literature,” said the lawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

https://www.france24.com/en/20181014-syria-adopts-law-expanding-government-control-over-religious-affairs-assad-muslim

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

[JustTime]

Salaam

Another update

Syria 'expands state control' with strict new laws governing religious affairs

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has signed into law a new bill expanding the powers of a government ministry overseeing religious affairs and limiting the term of the country’s top Muslim cleric.

The draft, which state media reported Assad had signed into law Friday, had been amended by parliament this month after sparking controversy among Syrians at home and abroad.

The new legislation grants additional powers to the ministry of religious endowments, or “waqf”, which already oversees Islamic affairs in Syria.

Specifically, the waqf minister will have a role in naming the next mufti.

The mufti had previously been appointed by the president, as was the case with current mufti Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun, appointed by Assad in 2004.

The new law also sets the mufti’s term, previously unlimited, at a renewable period of three years.

The waqf minister will now oversee religious schools, head the Council on Islamic Jurisprudence, and regulate religious programming on media outlets.

The new law also stipulates that Muslim imams are not allowed to travel outside of Syria or attend any conference even inside the country without the waqf minister’s permission.

It forbids preachers and religious instructors from “stoking sectarian strife” or “taking advantage of religious platforms for political purposes.”

Syria’s pre-war population was overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim, with smaller numbers of Shiite Muslims and Alawites, the sect from which Assad’s family hails.

Christian and Druze minority communities are also scattered across the country. It appears that non-Muslim communities are not affected by the new law.

The legislation had sparked controversy this month, with many saying it was state overreach into religious affairs.

Others said it was a way to regulate religious discourse in order to “fight extremism.”

In a recent television interview, current waqf minister Mohammad Abdulsattar al-Sayyed described it as a “huge achievement”.

“This is the first time there’s a law that issues controls and standards for religious work and conditions for appointing imams and preachers,” he said.

But a Syrian lawyer told AFP that the law was a worrying expansion of state control.

The waqf minister could now intervene “in activities unrelated to the ministry’s administration, including in religious literature,” said the lawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity.

https://www.france24.com/en/20181014...s-assad-muslim

“taking advantage of religious platforms for political purposes.” - Hypocritical

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

What to expect from Turkey-hosted summit on Syrian war

Leaders of Turkey, Russia, Germany and France to discuss Idlib, aid, drafting of constitution and reconstruction.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to host the leaders of Russia, Germany and France at a four-way summit in Istanbul to discuss the long-running war in Syria, now in its eighth year.

In Saturday's meeting, Ankara is expected to press for a clear outline of steps towards a political resolution, as well as for the preservation of a deal reached in September with Moscow that set up a demilitarised zone around Idlib, the last major rebel bastion in Syria.

The solution in Syria "is a political one, not a military one," Ibrahim Kalin, spokesperson for the Turkish president, said on Friday.

Erdogan and his guests - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin - will also hold discussions on humanitarian aid, the drafting of a constitution and reconstruction of the war-torn country.

On Friday, seven people were killed in rebel-held areas in Idlib after Syrian government forces shelled two villages, according to opposition activists.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said three children were among those killed in the shelling of Rafa and Umm Jalal villages.

The White Helmets, a civil defence group operating in rebel-held parts of Syria, also reported the same death toll, as cited by Anadolu news agency.

The villages are part of the demilitarised zone in Idlib, agreed by Turkey and Russia in Sochi last month.

The agreement reached between Russia and Syria prevented a government offensive on the last rebel stronghold in the country.

Idlib has been relatively calm since, though some armed groups have not met an October 15 deadline to evacuate the demilitarised zone.

Many feared that a government offensive in Idlib would trigger a new refugee crisis as the region is home to some three million people, many of whom were already displaced by the war from other parts of Syria.

France has said it intends primarily to promote the maintenance of the ceasefire in Idlib to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe and a new mass wave of refugees.

Paris also said it wants the effective launch of an inclusive political process in accordance with a United Nations resolution.

The summit comes amid Turkish threats of a new military operation across the border into northern Syria, in zones held by Syrian Kurdish fighters.

Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish militia, which is backed by the United States, to be "terrorists" and a part of the Kurdish armed campaign within Turkey.

On Friday, Erdogan said Ankara would not allow "terror groups located east of the Euphrates River" to threaten Turkey's security.

Turkey launched two incursions into Syria, in 2016 and 2018, into areas west of the Euphrates, pushing fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) armed group as well as Syrian Kurdish fighters from its border.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/10/expect-turkey-hosted-summit-syrian-war-181026192441162.html

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

'Entire Families Wiped Out': U.S. Airstrikes Killed Many Civilians In Syria

On a busy street corner in Raqqa, Syria, a digger pushes through the rubble of a building hit by an airstrike. Onlookers shield their mouths and noses from the dust and stench of corpses of those who perished beneath.

Just streets away, three recovery workers pull out the delicate skeletons of two children from under the debris of a partially collapsed home. And across the city, in what was once Raqqa's public park, men unearth more bodies from a mass grave.

"Raqqa did not deserve this destruction," says Yasser al-Khamis, who leads the city's emergency response team. "Of course, we understood its fate because it was the capital of ISIS, but we were hoping that the civilian death toll would be lower."

One year after the U.S.-led military campaign against ISIS ended in Raqqa, Khamis' team is still recovering the remains of the battle's casualties. This grim, daily work is revealing a civilian death toll that is dramatically higher than the assessment offered by the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS.

The rescue workers' findings, which they document in meticulous notes shown to NPR, point to an offensive that killed many more civilians than it did ISIS members, and where the majority of those civilians likely died in American airstrikes.

The U.S.-led coalition against ISIS has so far verified 104 unintended civilian casualties caused by its attacks in Raqqa and is investigating more cases, coalition spokesman Army Col. Sean Ryan tells NPR.

"With new information being submitted to the CivCas [civilian casualties] team by a multitude of sources every month, the numbers will presumably go up," Ryan adds.

The workers in Raqqa, however, estimate the real tally is much higher — likely in the "thousands."

Since January, the rescue team has uncovered more than 2,600 bodies. Through their identification process, they say they have found that most of the bodies were civilians killed in coalition airstrikes during the battle for Raqqa between June and October 2017.

Formally called the First Responders Team, the group receives funding from the U.S. government, but the assistance is limited. Its approximately 37 members work long hours for little pay — some are volunteers — and say their efforts are slowed by a lack of heavy machinery needed to access the bodies.

With many more corpses still under rubble, the rescue workers estimate it will take another year to clean the city of the dead.

Faster strikes and artillery barrages

Raqqa served as the capital of ISIS' self-proclaimed caliphate for almost four years after the militant group seized the city in 2014.

The U.S.-led coalition's offensive on Raqqa came after several years of fighting the extremist group in Iraq and other parts of Syria.

While campaigning for president, Donald Trump vowed to "bomb the s*** out of" ISIS.

In the months following his January 2017 swearing-in, conflict analysts reported increases in both the numbers of U.S. airstrikes and of civilians reported killed in the attacks.

President Trump reportedly handed decision-making power for major bombardments to the military, enabling airstrikes to be more easily called in by commanders on the ground during a battle.

In May 2017, Defense Secretary James Mattis told CBS News the U.S. was accelerating and intensifying the campaign against ISIS, and added, "We have already shifted from attrition tactics ... to annihilation tactics."

In Raqqa, the consequences of the "annihilation tactics" are still keenly felt.

According to Airwars, an independent research group monitoring the anti-ISIS conflicts in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. was responsible for about 95 percent of the airstrikes and all of the artillery barrages in Raqqa. The U.K. and France also participated in the offensive.

Data given to Airwars by the U.S. military's central command show the coalition launched at least 21,000 munitions — airstrikes and artillery — in the city in little over four months.

"Entire families have been wiped out"

By the end of the campaign, Raqqa was a wasteland of smashed concrete; its residential tower blocks were flattened and schools and hospitals toppled. A United Nations study found that over 80 percent of the city — originally home to some 220,000 people — is damaged or destroyed.

Many residents say they lost loved ones in the strikes.

Mohanned Tadfi, 41, recently buried his mother, his brother, his sister-in-law and seven nieces and nephews. "Ten people," he says. "A plane came and hit the house and the building of five floors fell on their heads."

Tadfi says his brother Latuf had found it too hard and dangerous for his family to leave. "ISIS was executing anyone from his neighborhood who tried to escape. And in any case, our mother is diabetic and can't walk well, and it was too difficult [to] carry her because the bridges out of the city had been bombed."

The family stayed in their basement apartment as the war intensified around them. The Syrian Democratic Forces, a U.S.-backed militia, was closing in on the neighborhood and the family thought the fighters would soon capture the area from ISIS.

On Sept. 5, 2017, just after a muezzin in a nearby mosque called the end of noon prayers, an airstrike hit the building where Tadfi's family was. Another brother, Raed Tadfi, went to deliver insulin for their mother. He found Latuf dead on the steps and the building collapsed behind him.

Days later, SDF fighters seized control of the neighborhood. Tadfi says he and his brother asked the militia for access to the house. "Please, there are children under the rubble. My brother's children, young kids. Maybe even just one of them is still alive!" he recalls asking them.

But they were told the area was too dangerous for civilians. It wasn't until three months later that Tadfi was finally able to recover his loved ones. He hired a flatbed truck and took them away to graves he says he dug with his own hands.

The Tadfis' story is one of the cases being looked at by Donatella Rovera, a senior crisis response adviser for Amnesty International who has spent much of the last year in Raqqa. She compiles witness testimonies and analyzes war damage to buildings as part of an ongoing investigation to determine how many civilians were really killed in the coalition attacks.

"This is one case of many that I have been investigating where entire families have been wiped out in places where they thought they would be safe," she says, standing beside the wreckage of the Tadfis home.

https://www.npr.org/2018/11/09/664360606/entire-families-wiped-out-u-s-airstrikes-killed-many-civilians-in-syria?t=1541795959487

[JustTime]

And of course no one cares

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What an example, this man does not stop, may Allah be pleased with him.

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Saving lives in times of war "Medical facilities are repeatedly targets of attacks. How should one save lives under these circumstances? " Shajul Islam has made it its mission to help the local people. In 2012 he decides to go to the crisis area. Together with his local team, the native Briton strives to keep hospitals running and to save as many lives as possible. A seemingly impossible task.

But Shajul Islam brings hope. Together with the British organization One Nation, he set up a prosthetic center for children who lost limbs during the war. "The radiance of the children, when they can walk again after years of amputation, weighs everything up again," says Shajul Islam. On his Facebook account and YouTube channel, Dr. Shajul Islam explicit videos from his everyday life as a doctor in Syria. These included emergency operations, injured children and medical missions at the rocket impact stations. Sometimes he shares the joy of creating a truck with Idlib medical supplies and caring for patients. He wants to give the viewer such an honest insight into the war situation in Syria.

[JustTime]

Infographic illustrating American sanctions

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Another update.

Blurb

Donald Trump's abrupt announcement to withdraw US troops from Syria shocked even his advisors. Who were the winners and the losers in the affair? Bilal Abdul Kareem gives his analysis.



When you're beaten, retreat

Declaring victory and bringing the defeated troops home is absolutely the right move in Syria. The same thing should be done in Afghanistan and Iraq.

President Donald Trump’s decision to declare ISIS defeated and order a full US withdrawal from Syria has been met with anger and disbelief by the Washington establishment that hoped for regime change in Damascus.

Trump declared victory over Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) on Wednesday morning, as media reported that some 2,000 or so US troops will leave Syria within 60 to 100 days. Though Trump had openly spoken about wanting to leave Syria back in March, senior officials in his administration have said that US forces would stay there indefinitely.

One satirical news site perhaps put it best, "reporting" that both the left and the right were taking aim at Trump for "breaking with the longstanding American tradition of remaining in Middle Eastern countries indefinitely."

Cue another round of "the troops weren't defeated, they just weren't permitted to win." Such statements reflect a total ignorance of what war is. The USA completely failed to obtain its military objectives. Despite many, many threats, Assad is still standing and the US-Israeli proxy troops of the Islamic State and the Kurds were repeatedly defeated by the Syrian-Iranian-Hezbollah-Russian alliance. All the US forces have accomplished is to prevent the complete destruction of their Syrian allies.

Like it or not, the USA is an empire in deep decline, and the sooner AIPAC realizes this and stops trying to parasitically make use of the US military forces to accomplish objectives it is incapable of accomplishing, the better it will be for everyone, especially Israel. Israel faces its own problems of a corrupt and declining military, as Martin van Creveld has been pointing out since before its failure to defeat Hezbollah in the 2006 Lebanon War.

But at least Israel can defend its own borders. The much-vaunted US military cannot even manage that.

http://voxday.blogspot.com

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Another update

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'You know what? It's yours': Trump reportedly threw his hands up on Syria during phone call with the Turkish president

• Reports from multiple outlets give some clues as to why President Donald Trump made his decision to pull US troops out of Syria, a move that prompted Defense Secretary James Mattis to resign.
• That development materialized last Friday during a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after Erdogan asked Trump why there were still 2,000 troops in Syria if the Islamic State had been defeated.
• "You know what? It's yours," Trump said, according to The Washington Post. "I'm leaving."

Capping off what has been a tumultuous week for the Trump administration are reports from multiple outlets that offer some clues as to why President Donald Trump made his decision to pull US troops out of Syria that prompted Defense Secretary James Mattis to resign.

That development materialized last Friday during a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after Erdogan asked Trump why there were still 2,000 US troops in Syria if the Islamic State had been defeated.

"You know what? It's yours," Trump said, according to The Washington Post. "I'm leaving."

The Associated Press reported that members of Trump's national-security team, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mattis, wrote out talking points to dissuade Turkey from bringing troops into northern Syria and attacking Turkish Kurds, which would put US forces at risk. The US is allied with the Turkish Kurds in Syria, providing them with supplies and training in the fight against the Islamic State.

But both The Post and the AP explain that Trump went rogue.

"The talking points were very firm," one official told the Associated Press. "Everybody said push back and try to offer (Turkey) something that's a small win, possibly holding territory on the border, something like that."

John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, also allegedly explained on the call that a victory against the Islamic State would need to mean more than just a loss of territory.

Trump, however, sided with Erdogan, and the AP reported that even Erdogan cautioned Trump on pulling troops out too hastily.

Attempts by his national-security team to change course were not successful, and on Wednesday, Trump tweeted out a video where he said that he was withdrawing troops from Syria — catching lawmakers off guard. On Thursday, it was reported that Trump is also cutting down the number of troops in Afghanistan by half.

Mattis, having failed to talk Trump out of leaving Syria, submitted a scathing resignation letter on Thursday, rebuking Trump's "America first" foreign policy and stressing the importance of maintaining alliances.

Lawmakers — including some Republicans that have previously backed Trump— have warned that pulling out of Syria would be a boon for US adversaries. They also expressed dismay at leaving the Kurds, who will likely face an invasion by Turkey.

"If you decide to follow through with your decision to pull our troops out of Syria, any remnants of ISIS in Syria will surely renew and embolden their efforts in the region," a letter from four Republican senators explained.

"The withdrawal of American presence from Syria also bolsters two other adversaries to the United States, Iran and Russia," they continued. "As you are aware, both Iran and Russia have used the Syrian conflict as a stage to magnify their influence in the region. Any sign of weakness perceived by Iran or Russia will only result in their increased presence in the region and a decrease in the trust of our partners and allies."

Trump's campaign platform included ending wars overseas — which he sees as expensive — and on making NATO pay more in defense spending.

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-syria-us-troops-pullout-turkish-president-erdogan-2018-12?r=US&IR=T

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Syria to be readmitted to the Arab League

Syria is to be welcomed back into the Arab League after having been expelled eight years ago after president Bashar al-Assad brutally repressed peaceful protests, leading to years of bloodshed costing hundreds of thousands of lives.

The move to reinstate Damascus back into the bloc has been led by the gulf nations and will see Assad join Arab leaders such as Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Egypt’s Abdel Fatah el-Sisi at the League’s table next year.

Many believe that the readmission of Syria into the bloc will mark the end of the so-called Arab Spring, an attempt by Arab citizens to overthrow their long-standing despotic rulers.

Although such attempts were somewhat successful initially in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, these initial successes were then often reversed by the failure to build a stable government as is the case in Libya and Yemen and the return of authoritarian rulers like el-Sisi in Egypt.

Last week Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir became the first Arab League leader in eight years to visit Syria and hold talks with Assad. The visit has been interpreted by many as a move by Saudi Arabia to foster a friendlier relationship with Assad’s regime.

Although Syria is at odds with Saudi Arabia and the UAE due to its close relationship with Iran, whose forces have propped up Assad in Damascus, it is thought that the gulf nations aim to lure Assad away from his traditional allies with the promise of reconstruction and trade as well as normalised ties.

According to the Guardian, there is growing consensus among the members of the Arab League to normalise ties with Damascus despite pressure from the US to not hold a vote on the issue. [1]

Media outlets in Egypt and the Gulf have given positive coverage to the readmission of Syria to the bloc and according to sources in the Guardian, the Emirati embassy in Damascus is due to reopen after being closed for eight years. [2]

Moreover, Jordan has reopened a southern border crossing with Syria and Israel is working with Russia to reduce tensions in the occupied Golan Heights.

Although Damascus will be welcomed back into the fold of the Arab world, it will remain a pariah state on the international stage. A European diplomat said:

“Our position remains firm, however. There’s no credible, genuine settlement process under way yet in Syria, so fundamentally there’s still no incentive for reconciliation with the regime.”[3]

The UN has estimated that around $250bn will be needed to rebuild the country. However, the global body has said that Assad will not receive a penny until he engages with the UN peace process. [4]

The conflict in Syria has entered its 7th year with over 500,000 deaths and no signs of de-escalation. The crisis has increased tensions between the U.S. and Russia and has brought about a gridlock in the UN with Russia vetoing any resolution brought forth by the U.S. and its allies.

https://www.islam21c.com/news-views/...e-arab-league/

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Interesting perspective and thread.

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Another update

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another update.



Related.

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Another update

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Dozens of people have died during recent days of fighting in rebel-held parts of northern Syria. And there are fears that Turkey is planning a major offensive against Kurdish fighters in Syria soon.

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On Trumps recent speech.

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More on rebel infighting. Only one side but the other side didnt want to be interviewed.

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Infighting is once again plaguing the Syrian revolution. We interviewed the leader of HTS's Aleppo branch in Dar Izza, who gave his account of the recent events.

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Another update. Mentioned earlier I think but to confirm.

UAE assisted Assad in assassinating rebel leaders, claims commander

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) alongside other gulf nations purportedly cooperated with the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad in locating and killing nearly 80 leaders of the Syrian opposition, according to Syrian opposition commander.

During an interview with Yeni Safak daily, the commander of the Mohammed al-Fateh brigade, Mahmoud Sulayman stated that between 2012 to 2014 the UAE and other gulf nations had given hundreds of satellite phones to a group of commanders.

“The passwords of the UAE-made ‘Thuraya’ and the British-made ‘Inmarsat’ satellite phones, which were given to group commanders by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, were shared with Damascus, thus this information led to the killings of dozens of opposition commanders” Sulayman said. [1]

Amongst those martyred by the Syrian regime and its allies include prominent opposition leaders such as Zahran Alloush, commander of Jaish al-Islam, Hassan Aboud and Khalid al-Suri of Ahrar al-Sham and Abdel Qadwr Saleh of Liwa Tawhid. According to the Syrian opposition commander, these leaders were martyred as a result of their locations being shared by the UAE and other gulf nations with the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

These revelations come amidst Abu Dhabi’s decision to reopen its embassy in Damascus after having closed it down seven years ago in the wake of the violent crackdown by the regime of Bashar al-Assad.

The UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr Anwar Gargash tweeted that “the decision of the United Arab Emirates to return its political and diplomatic work in Damascus comes after a careful reading of the developments, and Walid is convinced that the next stage requires the presence and communication of the Arabs with the Syrian dossier in the interest of Syria, its people, its sovereignty and its territorial integrity.” [2]

He further added that “the Arab role in Syria is becoming more necessary towards the regional Iranian and Turkish territorial change, and the UAE today, through its presence in Damascus, seeks to activate this role and to make the Arab choices present and to contribute positively towards ending the war and promoting the chances of peace and stability for the Syrian people.” [3]

The UAE reopened its embassy in Damascus last week, boosting support for Bashar al-Assad whose forces, propped up and supported by Russia, Iran and several sectarian Shia mercenaries, are regaining territory throughout the country. Following the reopening of the embassy, the UAE foreign minister labelled the Syrian opposition as “terror elements”. [4]

In another boost to Assad, the Syrian government will be readmitted to the Arab League after being expelled eight years ago. The move to reinstate Damascus back into the bloc has been led and supported by the same gulf nations allegedly responsible in the deaths of these commanders. [5]

The conflict in Syria has entered its seventh year with over 500,000 deaths and no signs of de-escalation. The crisis has increased tensions between the U.S. and Russia and has brought about a gridlock in the UN with Russia vetoing any resolution brought forth by the U.S. and its allies.

https://www.islam21c.com/news-views/...ims-commander/

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Some responses.

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Another perspective.

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A debate.

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The dangers of living in Idlib.

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They managed to escape.

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A liberal perspective.

Blurb

Donald Trump makes a lot of mistakes, but the Syria Withdrawal is not one of them. If he pulls it off, Trump may have averted the war with Iran that was supposed to end the US Empire.

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Another update

Outgoing Army Chief: Israel Attacked Thousands of Iranian Targets in Syria

In a pre-retirement interview with the New York Times, the IDF Chief of Staff reveals details of the secret battle he fought against Iranian General Qasem Suliemani

Over the last two years, Israel has carried out “thousands” of attacks against Iranian targets in Syria.

In an interview given to the New York Times shortly before his retirement next week, Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Force, has for the first time, in his voice, confirmed details of the secret war Israel has been waging on Iran’s Quds Force in Syria.

The series of attacks on Iranian targets in Syria was authorized, according to Eisenkot, by the cabinet in January 2017. It followed attacks which had previously been carried out by Israel on Hezbollah convoys and targets since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, but which had not directly targeted Iranian assets.

Eisenkot decided to also attack Iranians in Syria following a perceived change in Iranian strategy.

“We noticed a significant change in Iran’s strategy. Their vision was to have significant influence in Syria by building a force of up to 100,000 Shi'ite fighters from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. They built intelligence bases and an air force base within each Syrian air base,” he explained in his interview.

Following the cabinet’s approval, since January 2017, “we struck thousands of targets without claiming responsibility or asking for credit,” says Eisenkot. The Quds Force, commanded by Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, tried to retaliate in May 2018 with a failed rocket attack on northern Israel.

Eisenkot explains that Soleimani made a strategic mistake by choosing Syria as a base for operations against Israel. “His error was choosing a playground where he is relatively weak. We have complete intelligence superiority in this area. We enjoy complete aerial superiority. We have strong deterrence and we have the justification to act.”

As a result of Israel’s operations over the last two years, Iran is now “transferring their efforts to Iraq,” says Eisenkot, who in his interview also detailed Israel’s operations against Hezbollah attempts to build up its forces in Lebanon, with Iranian help.

“I can say with confidence that as we speak Hezbollah does not possess accurate [missile] capabilities except for small and negligible ones,” he said. “They were hoping to have hundreds of missiles in the mid- and long-range.”

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...yria-1.6829836

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An international criminal gang has been smashed, freeing a British kidnap victim in Syria

Kidnapped from Idlib in November 2018, British aid worker Muhammad Shabir's kidnappers demanded a $4 million ransom for his release

An international criminal gang based in Syria which kidnapped a British aid worker in November and demanded a $4 million ransom in Bitcoin has been smashed. Birmingham-born Mohammed Shakiel Shabir was taken at gunpoint two months ago from outside his apartment block in war-torn Idlib.

Kidnapping in this area of Syria has become an everyday risk for civilians and aid workers but Shabir never imagined that it would happen to him. Working in the country since the revolution began in 2011, he is a well-known and charismatic figure who has always managed to navigate his way skilfully through the minefield of warring militias’ on-the-ground politics.

He became a committed humanitarian aid worker after taking part in the first Viva Palestina Convoy which travelled from Britain overland across North Africa to the besieged Gaza Strip in 2009. The enclave was reeling from Israel’s “Operation Cast Lead” military offensive against Palestinian civilians. Later, he would witness Israeli brutality at first hand when he joined the Mavi Marmara humanitarian aid flotilla in May 2010 before the Turkish ship was stormed by Israeli commandos in international waters; nine Turkish peace activists were killed in the assault, and a tenth died later of his wounds.

Never far from danger, the British aid worker continued to devote his time to the “people of Sham” and became admired by many charities operating in Syria. It was, therefore, perhaps inevitable that he would be targeted by the ruthless gang of kidnappers, made up mainly of Chechens and a few Syrian gangsters. They have conducted a reign of terror from Idlib and the surrounding district up to the border with Turkey, targeting mainly wealthy Syrian families. In the past year, they are thought to have made millions from kidnapping, using sophisticated banking networks across Europe for ransom payments which occasionally involved Bitcoin. It is now believed that the whole operation was run by just one group involving no more than 30 people.

Giving the first interview since his release to MEMO, Shabir looked fragile after his ordeal. “Today was the deadline for the payment and I thought that this day would be my last one,” he reflected philosophically.

He described his horrific experience like a plot with so many twists and turns that it could have come from a Hollywood movie. Throughout his detention he was tortured, electrocuted, beaten, drugged and at times denied food and water. During one of the many beatings that he received, his right foot was broken and left untreated and unsupported.

The only act of kindness was when he was given a small copy of the Qur’an. “This is what got me through everything,” he said, holding up the precious book. “It was a wake-up call for me and an opportunity to assess my life and my work.”

So will he be quitting the aid sector? Shabir gave one of his trademark smiles and said, “No way! I am more determined than ever to continue working in Syria for the people. Nothing is going to stop me.”

However, while the experience has brought him closer to his faith, he did admit that the whole nightmare had shaken his trust when it emerged that several of the kidnappers turned out to be a group of men he had actually tried to help. There was little or no normal communication with his captors and he was kept hooded or blindfolded in their presence. As such, he had no clue as to the identity of those around him. It was only when his ordeal ended in dramatic fashion that he discovered their identities.

“I was shocked. Among them were Chechens I’d helped and supported previously. I’d given them food, loans, and even offered them a bed for the night. To be repaid in this way has shaken me. It’s a betrayal of trust.”

When he was initially taken he was hooded and kept in a house in the city before being moved to another location and finally to a house in a village called Jisr Shuhr, which is in the mountains. During the first few weeks, his captors kept changing the narrative in order to hide their true identities. Initially he thought that they were remnants of Daesh, which has been driven out of the region. Then he felt that they might belong to another militant group.

At one point during his captivity, Shabir was accused of being a spy as well as stealing aid. “The questions kept changing direction and I think it was all designed to keep me confused,” he explained. “In the end I realised that this was a criminal gang motivated purely by money. They seemed to think that IHH would pay the ransom.” His work has involved partnership initiatives with the well-known Turkish charity.

The kidnappers made videos of him asking for help. As the payment deadline drew close, the aid worker admitted, he knew that no one would be able to pay anywhere near the $4 million ransom demanded.

While news of Shabir’s kidnapping was kept from the outside world, several charities and Syrian militant groups, including Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) tried unsuccessfully to find him. The major breakthrough happened when the same gang pounced on a 15-year-old boy with wealthy parents. Amazingly, the young lad resisted his captors; grabbing a hand grenade from one, he pulled the pin and threw it at them. He then fled and raised the alarm with neighbours.

Members of HTS who happened to be nearby were able to seize two of the injured kidnappers. A phone without a battery was found in their possession, which aroused the curiosity of one of the militants. It was taken off them and deleted data was recovered, revealing one of the video messages from Shabir.

After further questioning, one of the Chechen kidnappers took HTS to the remote house on the mountain where Shabir was being held. Fighters from the militant group surrounded the building before launching the rescue bid. Within a tense few minutes, the Birmingham aid worker was a free man.

“I was dazed and thought I was dreaming when someone shouted my name. I had previously had dreams of being rescued and I thought this was another.” The footage of the rescue shows clearly that he was dazed. “It took a few moments to realise this was for real.”

He had been shackled in chains for virtually his entire captivity. “When I woke up this morning,” he told me when we met a day after his rescue, “I went to move the shackles around my legs and realised they were no longer there. I was a free man.”

Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, which is largely made up of Syrian men and not foreign fighters, now insists that it will put the kidnappers on trial once all of the suspects are rounded up. They can expect the death penalty.

For Mohammed Shakiel Shabir, meanwhile, life must try to return to normal, whatever “normal” is for Syria. At the moment, it is still too soon to know exactly what it will mean for him, a British kidnap victim about whom most of us know nothing, but he insists that he will be staying put in order to help as many people as possible.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20...ctim-in-syria/

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Another update.

Blurb

Yvonne Ridley is no stranger to facing danger while reporting from a war zone as she was once a prisoner of the Taliban. What brings her to Idlib? You'll never guess!

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How Trump Thwarted Calculated Israeli Effort to Keep U.S. in Syria

They worked hard only to have their plans scuttled. But don't expect them to stop the pressure.

The Pentagon was not the only party pressing Donald Trump to keep troops in Syria last year. It turns out the Israeli government and its supporters in Washington were working very hard to get the Trump administration to use America’s military presence there to support an Israeli campaign of airstrikes aimed at threatening war with Iran.

The Israeli strategy was aimed at dividing Russia from Iran and thus putting pressure on Tehran to withdraw its military personnel from Syria. A campaign by a pro-Israel think tank actually succeeded in getting such a policy ready for Trump’s approval last fall—although it was not supported by some Pentagon officials.

The story of the Israel lobby’s latest attempt to capture American policy, recounted here for the first time, reveals just how far Israel was able to reach into the Trump administration before the president personally intervened.

Israel’s Strategy of Provocation in Syria

In early 2018, Israel had stepped up the pace of its airstrikes against Iran-related targets in Syria. The original rationale for the strikes had been to prevent Iran from transporting advanced, highly accurate missiles through Syria to Hezbollah in Lebanon (although Israeli military intelligence had admitted nearly a decade ago that Hezbollah had already received hundreds of such weapons). But by 2018, the IDF had added another reason for the attacks: to force Iran to give up its military presence in Syria altogether. This despite the fact that Israel had failed to cite any evidence of any permanent Iranian bases there.

To pursue that objective, the Israelis adopted an ambitious strategy to create the impression that war could break out in Syria between Israel and Iran if the Russians didn’t intervene and force the Iranians out. On April 18, Dror Michman, a senior member of Netanyahu’s staff who had been on leave as visiting fellow at Brookings Institute, outlined that strategy in public for the first time. Michman explained that Israel had stepped up its strikes in Syria, which he said might well provoke Iranian military retaliation.

Michman acknowledged that the Israeli ability to carry out such a bombing in Syria could freely disappear at any time because of a Russian decision to provide their most advanced air defense system to the Syrian government (which was reportedly completed in late November). His comments were meant as a spur towards an intensive effort to mobilize Washington on Israel’s behalf.

The think tank on which Israel had long depended to influence U.S. policy—the Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), founded by the leadership of AIPAC in 1985—was already working on that problem. On April 13, a WINEP policy proposal by a senior fellow, Ambassador James F. Jeffrey, cleverly welcomed Trump’s idea of pulling out U.S. troops—but not all of them. Jeffrey suggested that the United States could reduce most of its ground forces in Syria over nine to 12 months, and then rely mainly on airpower over Syria to carry out a mission he called a “show of force” to “shape Russian and Iranian decisions.”

In July, Jeffrey’s initial proposal was elaborated upon in a longer WINEP paper on a “New U.S. Policy in Syria,” co-authored by the entire senior leadership of WINEP. It called for the United States to “[s]upport Israeli efforts to drive wedges between Iran, Russia, and Assad, including Israeli strikes on Iranian military sites.” The paper described an Israeli policy designed to “present Russia with a dilemma: either reign in Iran’s aggressive stance of face the possibility of a war between Israel, Iran and Hezbollah fought on Syrian territory….”

The authors explained the role of the United States in that policy as being to able impose “constraints on Iran’s movements” in Syria by “retaining small numbers of U.S. troops and introducing a no-fly/no-drive zone across the northern territory currently controlled by the United States and Turkey.”

Crafting a Policy to Support the Israeli Strategy

In August, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was already on board with the general line of policy Jeffrey had advanced, created a small group of like-minded officials who supported Israel’s aggressive Syria strategy. He named WINEP’s Jeffrey to the newly created position of special representative to Syria. The Washington Post reported that Pompeo had tasked Jeffrey with creating a “coherent blueprint” for U.S. policy in Syria.

Jeffrey was already declaring in an early September interview with the Post that “the new policy is we’re no longer pulling out by the end of the year.” Instead, he explained, the troop presence would remain to “ensure an Iranian departure” from Syria as well as the “enduring defeat” of ISIS.

In mid-October, NBC News reported that this new policy had been “drafted and is circulating and is expected to be finalized in the coming weeks.” But it was never formally approved by Trump. NBC reporter Carol Lee noted on air that those who were critical of the draft policy—identified in the article as “Defense officials”—were concerned that “this is the first step toward trying to provoke Iran into a military engagement.”

Lee said those who had developed the policy denied that was their intention. But it was precisely the objective that Jeffrey and his WINEP co-authors had identified in their July paper for the larger Israeli strategy into which the U.S. policy was to fit.

While the pro-Israel contingent in the administration was awaiting approval of the new policy, however, the IDF was becoming even more provocative in Syria. On September 18, Israeli jets carried out missile strikes against targets near a Russian military base in Latakia province, the Alawi heartland of the Assad government in the country’s northwest. Syrian anti-aircraft missiles firing at the Israeli planes hit a Russian military aircraft, killing 15.

Russia responded by announcing on September 24 that it was selling S-300 anti-aircraft defense systems to the Syrian government—something it had threatened to do in the past. That was a serious challenge to Israeli strategy. Israel’s oldest ally in the Trump administration, National Security Advisor John Bolton, reacted immediately by declaring: “We’re not going to leave as long as Iranian troops are outside Iranian borders, and that includes Iranian proxies and militias.”

In a State Department briefing on December 3, Jeffrey boldly restated Bolton’s position, asserting that the U.S. military would remain in Syria “until our conditions—enduring defeat of ISIL, as was said earlier, the withdrawal of all Iranian-commanded forces from the entirety of Syria, and an irreversible political process [are fulfilled].”

The pro-Israel hawks were walking on thin ice. To get foreign policy decisions approved, Bolton had substituted one-on-one conversations for formal meetings, enhancing his own power and pushing through a new policy in support of the Israeli strategy.

Nevertheless, Trump informed Mattis, Pompeo, and Bolton of his decision to withdraw from Syria on Monday, December 17, and the three officials tried to get Trump to change his mind on Monday and Tuesday before giving up Tuesday night. Netanyahu himself spoke with Trump once and Pompeo twice before Trump’s December 19 announcement.

So Trump knew that in going ahead with the withdrawal plan, he would face the wrath of not just the national security elite but Israel and its supporters. He went ahead with his announcement anyway, reflecting an important shift in his political priorities.

https://www.theamericanconservative....-syria-failed/

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Another update

Blurb

Whatever Syria's President has done, it now looks like he's going nowhere. Time perhaps to re-set for those who called Bashar al Assad a Monster. Suddenly he's a Monster with whom it might be sensible to do business.

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Another update.

You can make a difference.

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The need for charity never ends.

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As the world knows, there are literally thousands of Expats (Muhajireen) who came to Syria during the course of the war. A group of them are coming forward with an exciting announcement about the future.

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Another update

British Bombing in Syria Reaches Record High

New data shows that Britain has fired over 4,100 missiles and bombs 1,925 strikes against Isis in Iraq and Syria from 2014-2018

Britain carried out a record number of air strikes in Syria during the last month of 2018, despite mounting concerns over civilian casualties and costs.

New data obtained by research group Drone Wars has “laid bare” the scale of British bombing in the region.

The group found that Britain dropped 75 bombs over Syria in December, as planes and drones stepped up their attack on the last Isis stronghold.

It was the most intense month of aerial bombardment last year, bringing the annual total to 464 munitions from 225 separate raids.

And while the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has published the number of air strikes, it is much more secretive about civilian casualties, causing concern about who was caught in the crossfire.

As well as local Syrians, kidnapped British journalist John Cantile may also be among those at risk from air strikes.

The war photographer was snatched by Isis terrorists in 2012 and presumed dead, but last week Security Minister Ben Wallace insisted he was still alive.

Mr Cantile’s supporters said on Twitter that they “hope and pray that this turns out to be true.”

Campaign group Stop the War said the new data “marks an astonishing increase in strikes in Syria.”

Its convener, Lindsey German, said: “These were supposedly against Isis, which all sides agree has been much weakened in recent months.

“The concern must be that many casualties from these strikes will be civilians.

“There is neither monitoring of death and injury by the Ministry of Defence, nor is there any coverage of these attacks by media in this country.

“Parliament voted for these interventions but doesn’t bother to discuss or assess the consequences.”

The new data, obtained through freedom of information requests by Drone Wars, shows that Britain has fired over 4,100 missiles and bombs in a total of 1,925 strikes against Isis in Iraq and Syria from 2014-2018, costing over £300 million.

However the MoD has only acknowledged one civilian casualty throughout the entire campaign.

Reacting to the latest figures, Ms German said: “In a time of austerity we are spending millions on these strikes. Time to stop.”

Analysis by Drone Wars shows a quarter of these strikes were conducted by Reaper drones.

The weapons dropped on Syria and Iraq include the so-called “Hellfire” and “Brimstone” missiles.

Chris Cole from Drone Wars said: “Although Isis has been virtually defeated as a military force in Iraq and Syria, with its territory reduced to a few square miles in the Euphrates Valley, UK ministers and defence officials insist that UK strikes will continue until the group is absolutely and totally defeated.

“This [is] though other nations are withdrawing their forces and senior UK commanders acknowledge that Isis is no longer a credible military force.”

An MoD spokesperson said: “We use whichever asset meets the operational requirement, that can be either manned fast jets such as Typhoon, or remotely piloted aircraft such as Reaper.”

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/index.php/...es-record-high

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

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Anthony Loyd speaks to Shamima Begum, one of the Bethnal Green girls who fled to Syria in 2014.



Reaction.

Blurb


Shamima Begum was one of three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green who fled to Syria to join ISIS and has recently made a plea to be able to return home to the UK. Macer Gifford and Moazzam Begg debate with Dal Babu and Yvonne Ridley on whether or not she should be allowed back.

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[CuriousonTruth]

Syrian war proves Turkey isn't ready as a global power, they struck too soon. A long way to go still for Turkey.

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Salaam

Another update.

Blurb

Today on The BAK Show we have Moazzam Begg with us discussing how it is that British citizens who travelled to Syria are having their citizenship revoked whilst Asma Assad, the wife of Bashar al-Assad, still retains her British citizenship.



Questions being raised about the coverage.



Oh dear.

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Corbyn being even handed.

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Salaam

Syrian war proves Turkey isn't ready as a global power, they struck too soon. A long way to go still for Turkey.

Assad is taunting Erdogan.



More importantly the situation in Idlib.

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Situation is escalating in Idlib.

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After the Syrian Regime have been firing indiscriminately on civilians for weeks. The rebels decided that enough is enough and have been returning heavy fire on regime military positions.

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Salaam

Need this to be confirmed, but if true goes to show that war is big business.

Blurb

US forces are reportedly transferring tons of gold from ISIS-held areas in Syria to the US. According to Kurdish Bas News Agency, the US transferred about 50 tons of gold from areas seized from ISIS in Deir Ezzor province. The report says that the gold was withdrawn from Syria through the US military base in Ayn al-Arab. A part of it was allegedly shared with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), which are the core of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

Separately, the Syrian state-run SANA news agency claimed that US forces relocated large boxes containing ISIS gold treasure from al-Dashisheh region in southern Hasakah. The UK-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights (SOHR) claimed that ISIS members in the Euphrates poses about 40 tons of gold, which is being used to buy a safe passage from the area besieged by US-backed forces. The SOHR claimed that the SDF and the US-led coalition “deliberately” do not attack the ISIS-held area in order to force ISIS to surrender its treasure.

On February 28, the SDF acknowledged that ISIS had released 24 SDF members, whom were captured by the terrorist group in the previous battles. The US-backed force also confirmed that it had paused its anti-ISIS operation claiming that this is done in order to avoid civilian casualties. At the same time, according to reports, over 350 ISIS members surrendered to the SDF during the last few days.

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Salaam

Another update.

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What Assads regime is capable of and the foolishness of her husband :(

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Salaam

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British citizens are being deprived of their nationality because of racism, not terrorism

The case of a British aid worker in Syria who has had his citizenship revoked reinforces the growing belief that racism, and not national security, is driving such decisions

It came as a surprise when, in 2017, my friend, Tauqir Sharif, a British aid worker based in the Atmeh camp in northern Syria, told me he’d received notification that his British nationality would be revoked.

I first met Tauqir - or Tox as he is widely known - in 2012, when we travelled on an aid convoy together across Europe into Turkey to help Syrians fleeing the conflict. As we spoke, I learned about his journey on the Viva Palestina convoy to Palestine in 2009, and his trip to help survivors of the Pakistan floods in 2010.

He also told me about his time on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish ship that sailed as part of a flotilla attempting to bring relief to Palestinians in Gaza in 2010, and how a group of unarmed Turks were killed by Israeli soldiers after they boarded the ship.

A true humanitarian

In Syria, Tox was known for his humanitarian beliefs and work. He toured the camps for people displaced by the war and quickly established a working system of finding out what was needed, ensuring that aid was sent from Britain through convoys or containers, or bought from neighbouring Turkey. He was relentless and deeply compassionate.

Despite the scale of the growing conflict - we’d often attend hospitals and funerals on a daily basis - Tox greeted everyone with his infectious smile. Although he’s fluent now, it was his attempts to translate words into Arabic through his East London accent, coupled with his smile, that ingratiated him with locals.

I returned from Syria after about six months, but Tox remained. His British wife joined him, and they have since been broadcasting news about their projects online. This husband-and-wife team have become household names among Britain’s Muslim community and beyond.

Tox appeared on mainstream British news distributing aid under bombs, speaking about the effects of chlorine gas attacks, working alongside the White Helmets as they pulled bodies out of the rubble, and dealing with the influx of refugees after the fall of Aleppo.

Because of the work of people like Tox, British-built hospitals, clinics, aid centres, schools, houses and orphanages run by British volunteers, doctors and teachers - serviced by British ambulances, fire engines and refuse trucks - remain a lifeline to Syrians in the Idlib region.

Blackmailed by IS

So why, then, did the government decide to revoke Tox’s nationality? Perhaps they know something the people in Syria don’t.

Tox told British media recently that he carried a weapon in the early days of his time in Syria, with the intention of using it only to defend himself and his aid convoys in hostile territory. As time went on, that hostility ranged from armed robbers to the Assad regime and the Islamic State (IS).

A few months before he learned that his nationality was to be revoked, Tox told me that he’d received messages from members of IS demanding he hand over £50,000 ($65,700), or they would hand over photos of him holding a gun to the British. Tox assumed they were referring to the media because of his high profile. He was being blackmailed by the “caliphate”.

Tox refused every demand, even as it lowered, incrementally, to £10,000. Eventually, the messages stopped - but it didn't end there.

Tox has been an opponent and outspoken critic of IS from the start. This isn’t because of some attempt to ingratiate himself with the West, but because he knows many people who have been killed by them.

Once, he discovered a bomb attached to his car; another time, a bomb exploded in a building where he had been due to be holding a karate class for children. Fortunately he was running late and nobody was killed.

That’s one reason why he now has security for both himself and the aid he delivers, instead of relying on arming himself.

‘Guilty by association’

Tox’s citizenship revocation was made under “closed evidence” rules, meaning he doesn’t know what he’s actually accused of. He’s appealed the decision, but even his lawyers don’t know exactly why he’s no longer a British citizen.

All they can do is assume, and one hypothesis is that evidence - including the aforementioned photos - was provided by IS blackmailers to British security services, and the government acted upon it.

If true, such a revelation would be devastating. But because of the secret way in which citizenship revocation appeals are handled, there is no way of knowing.

The Home Office letter Tox received simply states that “it is assessed that you are a British/Pakistani dual national who has travelled to Syria and is aligned to an AQ (al-Qaeda) aligned group”.

As Tox wrote in a recent tweet: “What does that even mean? Guilty by association with a degree of separation?”

Considering almost every one of the hundreds of armed groups operating in Syria have been accused either by the Syrian government, Russians, Americans, Iranians or British of being “al-Qaeda affiliates”, the allegation is contentious at best.

Currently, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the group in control of Idlib where Tox often operates, is the latest incarnation, after a series of efforts by the former Jabhat al-Nusra to distance itself from al-Qaeda.

More concerning for the British government in making these assessments is consistency. Britain openly supported the Free Syrian Army (FSA) with non-lethal aid until late 2013, at a time when the FSA fought alongside and shared resources with Nusra.

The former’s leader described the latter as “brothers” who were “proficient in fighting” and had “treated the people very nicely”.

Failed by the system

By this association, Britain is far more guilty of alignment with al-Qaeda than Tauqir Sharif is. But unlike many non-Muslim, white, British foreign fighters, Tox maintains he’s never joined any armed group.

A few weeks ago, I appeared on Good Morning Britain as part of a discussion around the case of Shamima Begum, the London teenager who travelled to IS-controlled Syria, and whether she should return to the UK. My co-panelists included journalist and former Taliban captive Yvonne Ridley, former Metropolitan police chief Dal Babu, and former city banker Macer Gifford, who joined a Syrian Kurdish militia to fight against IS.

In the discussion, Babu, Ridley and I argued that Begum and her friends had been groomed by IS and failed by police, their school and a Prevent programme that is supposedly designed to stop such things from happening. However, we all felt that Begum should return to home because she was British - at least she was that morning.

Days later, Home Secretary Sajid Javid wrote to Begum’s family in the UK, stating that her British nationality had been revoked.

On Good Morning Britain, Gifford said that Begum shouldn’t be allowed to return to the UK because she was ideologically motivated to join IS and was a "very dangerous woman".

I found this position strange, considering that he joined the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which is considered a terrorist organisation by NATO ally Turkey and linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is proscribed as a terrorist group in Turkey, the EU and the US.

Gifford has openly argued to delist the PKK, while his British co-fighters have described Turkish forces as “terrorists”.

British YPG fighters

Last year, former British soldier Joe Robinson was convicted for membership of the YPG and sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison in Turkey. Last December, however, he managed to flee pending an appeal while on bail, and returned to Britain.

Several other Britons not only joined the YPG, but took part in military operations against Turkish forces last year in the former Kurdish enclave of Afrin, Syria. At least eight are known to have been killed. The Turks have been battling their own Kurdish insurgency for decades, and intervened in Syria to both deplete IS and prevent the expansion of YPG forces as part of operations Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch.

The YPG has been accused of receiving support and weapons from the Assad regime while the latter was engaged in committing massacres against the Syrian opposition.

Amnesty International in 2015 accused YPG forces of committing “war crimes” - especially the destruction of homes and forced displacement - against Turkmen, Arabs and other Kurds in Syria. Last year, Amnesty also accused Turkish-backed rebels of "widespread human rights violations" in Syrian territory under Turkish control.

Despite at least one of the British YPG fighters being of Chinese origin, there is no suggestion that he will be stripped of his nationality. As for those who are ethnically white, few have faced prosecution, let alone citizenship deprivation.

Xenophobia and racism

Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that “everyone has the right to a nationality” and “no one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality”.

Thus far, the discussion around nationality has centred on the Begum case, as though it had set a “precedent”. The truth is that since the process of nationality revocation increased during Theresa May’s tenure as home secretary, there have been more than 100 cases.

That trend continued after she became prime minister. Most people now see this as a two-tier system driven by Brexit Britain - where Islamophobia, xenophobia and racism drive the conversation.

Those who lost their nationality did so under the premise that they would technically not be left stateless, as they have recourse to the nationality of their parents or grandparents - not because they were guilty of terrorism.

There are other cases, such as Tox’s, where the details have yet to surface. Many have chosen to remain silent for various reasons. Despite this open violation of their basic rights, many, like him, are not “begging” to come back. They just want people to see that race - and not risk - is

what determined their fate.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinio...-not-terrorism

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

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The BAK is back again, but there's no Bilal Abdul Kareem this evening. Abdussamed Dagül is hosting the show and will be discussing Kashmir and Tox Sharif, a British aid worker in Syria who's British citizenship was revoked.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

Former captive Iraqi doctor tells of dissent and despair within Islamic State's ranks

Some foreign fighters regretted joining IS when they witnessed the reality of the group's rule, but were stuck, says physician who treated them

Mohamed, an Iraqi orthopaedic surgeon forced to work in Mosul hospitals under the Islamic State group, said he saw firsthand cases of foreign fighters who regretted joining IS but felt unable to leave.

“The foreigners who changed their minds after they arrived couldn’t leave. They couldn’t go back because they had no passport and IS had ordered that any IS fighter who escaped and ran away, especially from battles, must be killed,” Mohamed told Middle East Eye.

Accounts of regret from former IS members themselves - fleeing the last pocket of territory that IS still occupies in Syria and now seeking clemency and repatriation to their home countries - are often treated with suspicion.

Mohamed, however, confirmed that IS members were often unable to leave and would face severe penalties for trying to do so.

Upon arrival in the so-called IS "caliphate", male foreign fighters surrendered their passports, were often given new Arabic names - the surname usually reflecting their home country - and were issued with IS ID cards. The only IS passport available was a "Passport to Paradise" - a one-way ticket to heaven - its design loosely based on standard-issue earthly passports.

“When foreign IS fighters arrived here, they brought their principles, they took a different name and IS sent them to fight. But it was actually like a rat trap and IS was the cheese.

"They gave the impression in their videos and propaganda that they were a force for good - helping patients and giving money to the poor - but, when the foreigners arrived, they saw this was not the case,” said Mohamed.

Some foreign fighters quickly became disenchanted.

“The Western IS fighters wanted to come here and they thought they’d be fighting bad people but after they’d arrived, they realised those people they were supposed to fight were not actually bad people but just ordinary Iraqis,” he said.

“One Western IS fighter, I don’t know his nationality, was given orders to blow himself up in a nearby village. He went to do the bombing and saw all the people were at mosque, praying at prayer time. He didn’t bomb them but came back and said, ‘They’re not Kuffar [infidels], they’re Muslim,’ and he had a very big fight with IS about it. Local people said he was a good Muslim and not really IS at all,” said Mohamed.

“[Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi loved foreign IS much more than Iraqi IS because they were stronger believers and were more committed and true to the IS cause than the Iraqis. Locals here often only joined for money or to have power and carry a weapon.”

Foreign fighters and would-be IS brides were essential to the self-proclaimed "caliphate" and were largely recruited online or through widespread dissemination of IS propaganda. English language, music videos of nasheed - vocal-only religious chanting without instruments - such as "For the Sake of Allah", targeted young men, and many Arabic language propaganda videos were subtitled in English.

“IS had doctors from all over the world,” said Mohamed, listing nationalities - Pakistani, British, Indian, Australian, Syrian and Russian - adding that these foreign doctors were only for treating members of IS and would rarely see civilian patients.

“There was a British IS doctor here for six months. He was British-born but of Algerian descent and very religious. He’d had a long journey to get here and most of his radicalisation was over the internet, which is how IS talked to people all over the word and converted them,” said Dr Mohamed.

He said the British doctor was called Abu Muslim, adding that foreign IS members always concealed their true names and identities.

“These foreigners were indoctrinated by IS ideologies because IS had very good, strong and effective press and propaganda. They were excellent liars and made a lot of press and propaganda with pictures and videos about happiness under IS, glamourising IS, showing how great IS was and how it stood up to the EU and US,” said Mohamed.

“I last saw the Algerian-Briton in mid-2016. We didn’t talk much, as he was never friendly or talkative, but I felt he was afraid of IS and had become very uncomfortable with the situation. I really felt he didn’t accept what IS was doing, or even what he himself did.”

An Iraqi Special Forces medic who worked in Mosul and dealt with injured IS fighters captured in battle suggested around ten percent of foreign fighters regretted joining IS, especially more recent converts to Islam or those who had been brainwashed with IS’s extreme ideologies.

“They came to Mosul to help, as IS had called them to do but, when they arrived, they saw the reality of IS was quite different, but they couldn’t leave because they didn’t have their passports anymore, just rubbish IS ID cards, some of which they appeared to have made themselves,” said the medic.

He added that other foreign IS fighters were so completely brainwashed they were “beyond help,” including very young children rescued during fighting, who scolded Iraqi medics for smoking, telling them it was haram [forbidden].

It wasn’t only Western foreign fighters who, having pledged allegiance to IS, became troubled when they saw the realty of the group. Members from neighbouring countries also expressed doubts.

“One Syrian IS came here with severe migraines and, after talking to him, I understood these headaches were brought on because he was thinking too much, thinking all the time, ’Am I on the right path or am I on the wrong path? How do I know if what I’m doing is right or wrong?’” said Mohamed.

He said he gave the fighter a vague diagnosis of psychological problems, so the man would not get in trouble with his IS superiors who, apparently deciding the Syrian was crazy and a liability, kicked him out.

Disillusion and dissension

IS fighters seized Mosul in June 2014. By 2015, there was serious dissatisfaction and dissension within IS ranks which sharply increased from late 2015, said Mohamed.

“People saw things were being done in the wrong manner and started to realise IS were liars and then a lot of problems started inside IS,” he said. “We saw a lot of disagreement between IS themselves.”

This was confirmed in a September 2018 interview on Iraqi TV with imprisoned former IS commander Issam al-Zobai (whose IS name was Abu Abd al-Haq al-Iraqi), who admitted that disagreements could be so fierce they left some commanders injured or imprisoned. The appointment of foreign IS commanders over locals was also deeply contentious.

“They started to blame themselves or each other and became unhappy. They even started to fight each other, or to try and escape,” said Mohamed.

Leaving was particularly difficult for IS foreign fighters, whose appearance and inability to speak Iraqi dialects made them stand out.

Their escape could only be facilitated by paying large sums - reportedly up to $10,000 per person - to smugglers. With IS members also working as smugglers, there was an additional risk that a smuggler might be an IS spy.

Mohamed saw only a handful of cases where foreign fighters gave indications of regretting their decision to join IS. Others, locals said, contributed to the increasing reign of terror the group inflicted upon Mosul residents.

Mosul resident Ahmed said that after the first three months of IS rule, which he described as “very good and secure”, large numbers of foreign fighters and their wives started arriving in the city, coinciding with the time when IS became stricter and started meting out harsh punishments and public executions.

“I saw a Russian IS member inside Souk Halib and he had a child with him, maybe 10 years old, who also looked Russian and he gave the boy a gun and told him to shoot people,” he said.

“That happened here, if you did something wrong, they got their own sons to carry out the punishments.”

The foreign IS wives, which some locals described as “beautiful” with tall slender physiques and light-coloured eyes, also became feared.

“The IS wives were scary, to be honest. They carried guns under their abayas but I never saw any of them fighting, they were just in the Hisbah (morality police),” said Mosul resident Hassan.

“They had a biting machine, made of metal, and if women were caught not wearing a full-face veil, they would be punished by the female Hisbah. This was mainly happening inside Mosul, in the city centre. We stopped going out because we were scared.”

'From decent person to killer'

The harsh reality of IS also dashed the hopes of many locals that the group’s self-proclaimed "caliphate" might have offered a viable solution to the sectarianism which blighted Iraq following the US-led 2003 invasion.

“Social and sectarian problems were rife in Mosul before IS and people were angry about bad governance. IS presented itself as a solution to these problems and Mosul accepted this,” Mohamed said.

“But then IS changed its face, from Islamic to criminal, from helper to purveyor of cruelty, from decent person to killer. With each passing day, people started to question this behaviour and started to reject IS.”

IS members started covering their faces with balaclavas after around a year, he said, because they had become so widely hated and knew they would become “wanted” people in the future.

Zobai, the imprisoned former IS commander, admitted in the TV interview that the increasing oppression and injustice IS inflicted on civilians was one of the main reasons IS lost both territory and local support.

He said one of Baghdadi’s biggest mistakes in the Mosul battle was to forcefully keep 64,000 families of IS members and supporters, as well as thousands more ordinary civilians, in the city as human shields.

“We expected that they would be evacuated, and were surprised that the roads were blocked by the Caliphate's office, and nobody was allowed to leave Mosul,” he said.

"Nobody was allowed to leave, whether it was a family of an IS commander or just any Muslim family. It was a battle for life or death.”

Such mistakes, he said, had led to IS losing virtually all its support base in Iraq, destroying the concept of a successful "caliphate", and reducing IS to a position of insurgency.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/f...c-states-ranks

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Situation is going from bad to worse in Idlib.

As ISIS fight nears end, violence flares on other Syrian front

BEIRUT — While the final battle to retake the Islamic State group’s last pocket of territory rages in eastern Syria, violence is escalating in the country’s northwest, pitting al-Qaida-linked militants against Syrian government forces.

The alarming violence in the Idlib region threatens to unravel a truce reached between Turkey and Russia last year that averted a bloody assault by the government to retake the province, the last major rebel stronghold in war-torn Syria. The escalation raises fears once more of a major assault by the forces of President Bashar al-Assad.

Idlib has been in the hands of opposition forces for years, even as Assad’s military has succeeded in retaking other rebel enclaves one after the other. The province is now home to some 3 million people, many of them displaced from other former opposition territory. Earlier this year, al-Qaida-linked militants took over the province, squeezing out most other factions after clashes with Turkey-backed opposition fighters.

Since then, government forces have intensified airstrikes and bombardment of Idlib towns. Since mid-February, some 100,000 people have been displaced, largely by government bombardment, and have fled to villages deeper in rebel-held territory, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights. The group said that around 140 people, including 69 civilians, have been killed.

The mounting violence points to how Syria’s nearly 8-year-long civil war still has the capability to burst once more into major bloodshed. The focus of the US and other countries has been on defeating the Islamic State group, which once held eastern and northern Syria, and Assad’s conflict with his opponents has quieted in recent months after government victories and the truce. But the root of that conflict remains.

The militants, from an al-Qaida-linked group called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS, Arabic for the Levant Liberation Committee, have also stepped up their attacks — in retaliation, they say, for the government bombardment.

In the early hours of a cold morning earlier this month, militants attacked several Syrian army positions and checkpoints on the edge of Idlib in the village of Masasneh, killing nearly two dozen soldiers — one of the most serious attacks on government forces since the truce reached in September. The attack triggered hours of fighting and bombardment that killed and wounded dozens of insurgents.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry warned afterward that the military was in “full readiness” to deal with repeated violations of the truce.

Russia, which backs Assad, and Turkey, which supports opposition factions, put together the truce in September. They agreed to establish a 15-20 kilometers deep demilitarized zone in Idlib in which they said militants will not have a presence. The deal also offered the Syrian government and Russia one of their main demands — opening two key highways that pass through Idlib and link northern Syria with Damascus and other cities. But neither provision was implementing despite a deadline for opening the roads by the end of 2018.

Still, the truce has been vital to keeping a degree of calm and preventing an all-out battle for Idlib that could be extremely bloody and drag in Russia and Turkey.

The US deputy ambassador at the United Nations, Jonathan Cohen, last month expressed American concern over the increase in government airstrikes and other violence in Idlib.

“Terrorism cannot be used as a pretext for targeting civilians,” he said in a reference to al-Qaida-linked group’s control of the area. “Any major military operation in Idlib would be a reckless escalation of the conflict and would result in a humanitarian catastrophe far beyond what we’ve witnessed.”

The main immediate aim of the government operations appears to be to eventually force open the key highways crossing though Idlib — the M5 that links southern and northern Syria and the M4 that links the coastal city of Latakia with the northern city of Aleppo, said Akram al-Ahmad, a Turkey-based Syrian opposition activist who heads a monitoring group called the Syrian Press Center.

The towns most targeted by government bombardment have been Khan Sheikhoun, Saraqeb and Maaret al-Numan, which control the M5 highway.

An HTS military commander known as Abu Khaled al-Shami released a video statement Wednesday expressing pride for killing government soldiers and vowing more attacks.

“Hayat Tahrir al-Sham will retaliate forcefully if regime forces try to advance toward liberated areas,” he said.

The leaders of Russia and Turkey held another summit in mid-February after which both leaders said there will be no offensive by Syrian government forces on Idlib and promised to work together to prevent the province from becoming a “stronghold of terrorists.”

On Friday, Turkey’s defense minister said Turkey and Russia will begin patrols in the demilitarized zone in Idlib — though violence continued over the weekend despite some patrols.

Turkey has struggled to rein in HTS.

According to al-Ahmad and Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Observatory, there appears to be a split within HTS. On one side is its leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who has gotten closer to Turkey, and on the other is an Egyptian religious figure in the group known as Abu al-Yaqzan al-Masri, who represents hard-liners in HTS opposing Turkey’s role. Al-Masri defected from the group in February along with other hard-liners.

Another militant group in Idlib, Horas al-Din, is also resisting the Turkish mediation. The group, made up mostly of non-Syrian al-Qaida-linked fighters, rejected the demilitarized zone, calling it a “great conspiracy.”

The Syrian government has repeatedly vowed that its forces will eventually retake the whole country.

The government “is determined more than ever to regain control of its land and liberate from terrorism and illegitimate foreign presence,” said the Syrian ambassador to the United Nations, Bashar Ja’afari.

http://www.rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/12032019

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Salaam

Another update

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Another update from Idlib.

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After a long period of relative calm, Russia has resumed airstrikes on civilians in Idlib province. Many are wondering why. OGN explains that disagreements in trade between Turkey and Russia in relation to the Syrian M5 Highway, which runs through Free Syria, may be the reason.

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Trumps changed his mind about troop withdrawals.

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Salaam

Another update. ISILs last redoubt is about to fall.

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'Suffocating smell of death' as SDF attacks last ISIL pocket

Amid fierce fighting, ISIL fighters remain squeezed in a few hundred metres in besieged Baghouz village, SDF says.

Asmar al-Bahr says he saw scores of bodies strewn across ISIL's last encampment in the eastern Syrian village of Baghouz and stockpiles of weapons.

However, it was the "suffocating smell of death" that he worries he may never forget.

Bahr is a photographer with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the US-backed group fighting ISIL in Baghouz. He says he went to the village on Tuesday, hours after fierce fighting the night before.

"I talked to several Daesh fighters," he told Al Jazeera on the phone, using the Arabic acronym for ISIL.

"There were Russians, Swedish, Germans [and others]," Bahr said on Thursday. "Many of them told me that they never surrendered and will come back for the heads of the infidels; some of them said they regretted joining Daesh but just couldn't leave easily so they stayed."

On February 9, the SDF began an operation to wipe out the remnants of ISIL from Baghouz in Deir Az Zor province, the group's final holdout on the Syria-Iraq border.

Since then, ISIL has been said to be near to defeat at any moment, any day, any hour. The operation undertaken this week has pushed ISIL fighters to the tiniest part of the sliver of territory it has been holding on to, SDF says.

'Hiding in caves'

According to maps posted on Twitter by SDF spokesman Mustafa Bali, the remaining ISIL fighters and their family members are squeezed in a few hundred metres along a stretch of the Euphrates River.

However, Bali urged caution against a premature declaration. "SDF is in control of Daesh encampment area in Baghouz," he wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

"This is not a victory announcement, but a significant progress in the fight against Daesh. Clashes are continuing as a group of ISIS terrorists who are confined into a tiny area still fight back."

A day later, US President Donald Trump appeared ready to declare for the second time victory over ISIL - the first being in December last year.

Those left, he said on Wednesday, would be "gone by tonight".

Ahmad Sultan Abu Araj, deputy commander of Jaish al-Thwar, the Arab contingent with the Kurdish-dominated SDF, said on Thursday that Trump's comments came too early.

"The US president has said the same thing before and no liberation was announced," Abu Araj said. In the commander's estimation, there were still obstacles to cross and sometime before victory was announced.

"The declaration would be by the end of March or the beginning of April, if nothing unexpected happened, after we make sure that Daesh is completely over," Abu Araj said.

"Still Daesh fighters may be hiding in the caves at the Euphrates bank east of Baghouz and near the camp. Those caves might be linked to the desert of Iraq or Deir Az Zor via tunnels, we don't know. We are about 500-1,000 metres away from them."

Remaining cautious

Asmar, the photographer, argued that "there will be no announcement" for Baghouz's "liberation" before "the full transfer of weapons and before SDF clears the area".

"There are lots of trucks in Baghouz to clear the dead bodies," he said.

Since the operation began, at least 60,000 people, mostly women and children, have left Baghouz and are now in the al-Hol camp in Hasakah in northeastern Syria.

The SDF has said its operation was slowed down to avoid harming women and children.

According to interviews of SDF leaders previously reported on Al Jazeera, the delay has also been a result of negotiations between SDF and ISIL over the release of hostages - Westerners, Kurds and Arabs.

But they have largely seemed to fail.

Ahmad Sultan Abu Araj, the SDF's Arab commander, said that there was no confirmed information about the hostages.

"We haven't had any information about the hostages, but if they were still alive then they would be used to apply pressure in the future. We still don't know where they are. Maybe they are being held by ISIS leaders in the desert, or maybe they are dead," Abu Araj said.

Thousands of ISIL fighters have been detained in makeshift prisons by the SDF. Those remaining in Baghouz are believed to be die-hard ISIL fighters, along with family members unwilling to surrender.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/middl...160510019.html

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

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Last gasp.

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Prisoners.

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[سيف الله]

Salaam.

Like to share, mini-documentary on Dr Shajul Islam work

Blurb

Dr Shajul Islam is a British surgeon with a mission to save lives in Syria. After having his hospitals destroyed by Russian jets on numerous occasions, he begins building a new hospital inside a cave.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.



Reappearance of ISIS leader may herald a bloody new stage

Veteran Arab journalist Abdel Bari Atwan warns that the re-emergence of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi could herald an intensification of terrorist attacks.

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has only appeared on audio-visual recordings twice.

The first time was in July 2014 when he proclaimed the establishment of his “Caliphate” from the pulpit of the Grand Nouri Mosque in Mosul.

The second, and perhaps not last, time was this week when he resurfaced in a high-quality 18-minute video to declare that he was alive and well, and that the caliphate has ceased to exist in its previous form.

Baghdadi’s emulation of Osama Bin Laden as a role-model – whether by seating himself on the ground with a Kalashnikov by his side or by tingeing his beard with henna — is telling.

It indicates that he intends to inaugurate a new phase featuring terrorist attacks in different parts of the world, i.e. to revert to the path of al-Qaeda which he abandoned when he sought to set up the Caliphate as an alternative.

Surprise reappearance

The re-emergence of the ISIS leader came as a surprise to many people in the West and the Arab world alike, given the many previous news reports claiming he had been killed.

Western intelligence services have been analysing the video and examining it for clues – such as the style of clothing or embroidery on the cushions – to where the video was filmed. But this is of no practical value.

They used the same methods for ten years to try to track down Osama Bin Laden after the invasion of Afghanistan but failed to locate his hiding-place or that of Taliban leader Mulla Omar.

Were it not for the Pakistani doctor who gave him away to the Americans, reportedly for a $25 million bounty, he would probably still be alive today.

Bin Laden made a point of taking his Kalashnikov with him wherever he went and would place it on his lap while holding meetings. It held sentimental and symbolic value for him as a reminder of the days when he was involved in the Afghan jihad, and he boasted he had taken it from a Russian officer he had killed in a battle in the Tora Bora region.

We do not know the story of the old Kalashnikov that appeared by Baghdadi’s side, whether it was obtained after some battle or given to him by one of his fighters.

Unknown whereabouts

Baghdadi’s whereabouts are unknown, and it is pure speculation to conclude from the cushions, clothing or headgear that he is still in the Iraq-Syria border region.

These items could have been shown as a deliberate deception and part of the propaganda war. He may have left the area completely and relocated somewhere else after the video was recorded, perhaps with the assistance of Arab or other intelligence agencies.

Baghdadi made a point of showing that the video was recorded recently by mentioning events in Sudan and Algeria and the Israeli elections, a method Bin Laden employed in all his videos.

But the quality of the recording and the professional sound engineering and lighting give the impression that he is not a man on the run or constantly on the move, but rather in a safe place, accompanied by some of the media specialists who ran ISIS’s propaganda operation and specifically its al-Furqan outlet.

Bloody new stage

Baghdadi’s praise for the churches massacre in Sri Lanka, which was claimed by a local ISIS affiliate, must be seen as the start of a bloody new stage. It indicates that similar terrorist attacks are to follow, not only in Western capitals but also invulnerable Third World countries where security is less tight.

ISIS may have lost its state, its Caliphate, and its attempt at on-the-ground empowerment. But it has not lost its leadership, and it has not abandoned terrorism, which it was diverted away from when it was busy trying to maintain and manage its state and the affairs of the seven million people living under its rule.

This is why, in our view, it is now more dangerous having been freed of this heavy burden. Its bloody international terrorist operations used to be a secondary and less important priority, but the situation has now changed.

The “empowerment” phase ended after the heavy defeat suffered by ISIS in western Iraq and eastern Syria. But a new phase of regrouping, mobilisation and exacting bloody revenge may have begun. The conditions that led to the emergence of the organisation, with direct or indirect American backing, continue to apply, and it retains nurturing environments in many places in Iraq, Yemen, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan an elsewhere.

That is where the danger lies.

https://5pillarsuk.com/2019/05/03/re...ody-new-stage/

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

Dozens killed as Russian, Syrian air attacks in Idlib intensify

The escalation has raised fears that a truce that lasted almost eight months in Idlib will be declared over.

Syrian government forces and their Russian allies had intensified their air offensive on the country's rebel-held northwest for a fifth consecutive day in a widening campaign, killing and wounding dozens and forcing thousands to flee their homes.

After an overnight lull, government and Russian warplanes escalated bombings on Saturday hitting rebel areas in Idlib and the neighbouring province of Hama, aid workers in the area said.

The Syrian military sent new reinforcements towards Idlib, including tanks, armoured personnel carriers and hundreds of troops on Saturday.

The official SANA news agency said the army had destroyed "jihadist" positions in southern Idlib and nearby Hama province in response to what it called repeated violations of a de-escalation agreement.

But the UN humanitarian coordinator said schools, health facilities and residential areas have been hit and the government forces are employing the worst barrel bombing in at least 15 months.

Barrel bombs are containers packed with explosives dropped from helicopters.

"Now, the bombing has returned and is much heavier and has spread very widely in Jabal al-Zawiya and rural northern Hama," Ahmad al-Dbis, safety and security manager for the US-based Union of Medical Care and Relief Organisations (UOSSM), told Reuters News Agency.

"The planes are not stopping at all and the bombing is continuing in a very big way like yesterday and worse," al-Dbis added.

The recent upsurge in violence is the most serious in Idlib since Russia and Turkey negotiated a ceasefire in September.

The shaky truce had averted a major government offensive on the last rebel stronghold in Syria.

The Syrian Civil Defence, a rescue service operating in rebel-held areas, said it had recorded more than 30 deaths in the last few days.

Dbis said the number of dead was at least 50 while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which monitors the war, said at least 67 people had been killed.
Medical facilities bombed

Mustafa al-Haj Yousef, the civil defence director for Idlib, said more than 130,000 people had fled towards more secure areas, adding: "Civil defence centres have been targeted directly."

UOSSM says four medical facilities have been bombed.

Over the past weeks, government forces have bombarded rebel-held areas while al-Qaeda-linked fighters attacked army positions around Idlib killing more than two dozen troops and pro-government gunmen over the past week, according to the AP news agency.

Idlib is the last major area of Syria still in rebel hands after a string of government offensives backed by Russian air power since 2015 turned the tables in a protracted civil war.

President Bashar al-Assad has regained control over most of the country, with the northeast held by Kurdish groups backed by the United States.

Idlib is held by an array of rebel groups, including the powerful Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a coalition of armed groups including those formerly affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Turkey, which has supported the rebels and has troops to monitor the truce, has been negotiating with Moscow to halt the air attacks with little success.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/...141214968.html

Blurb

The killing machine of Bashar Assad is back in full swing as it has been targeting the civilian population in Syria again for the past several weeks. But why now? Bilal Abdul Kareem analyses the situation and takes your questions.



Blurb

The Syrian Arab Army and loyal militias are once again trying to take over territory in rebel-held areas of Idlib and the surroundings. Bilal Abdul Kareem explains how this could be a sign of weakness and desperation rather than strength.

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Preparing for battle.

Blurb

Jaish al Izza is announcing their readiness to stop regime aggression in the Northern Hama area. OGN visited them on the front lines!

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

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Fog of war.

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Part of the reason?

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A response.

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

Russia and Turkey landgrab 'behind fresh Syria bombardment'

Twelve healthcare centres destroyed in bombardment of Idlib province


Renewed bombardment in north-west Syria that has displaced 200,000 people and destroyed 12 healthcare centres could have been sparked by Russia and Turkish moves to entrench their zones of influence as the seven-year conflict winds down, according to regional diplomats.

The bombardment in Idlib province began two weeks ago and has intensified in recent days, prompting rescue workers to describe an “unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe”.

Hospitals and clinics in the southern end of Idlib and northern edge of neighbouring Hama province have been systematically attacked by Russian warplanes, observers on the ground and monitoring groups have confirmed. The blitz has raised the spectre of a long-anticipated ground attack on the province, where a cornered population of at least 3 million people has nowhere left to run.

However, two senior diplomats believe such a scenario is less likely than a limited campaign that gives Russian and Syrian forces a foothold in Idlib, in return for allowing Turkey to deepen its current zone of control further to the east.

The British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, condemned the “flagrant violation” of the ceasefire agreement by Russia and the Syrian regime, which has also forced 150,000 people from their homes and had reportedly left a dozen children dead.

Hunt said the attacks included the use of barrel bombs “for the first time in seven months” and threatened a “swift and appropriate response” if Syria used illegal chemical weapons.

Since the Syrian conflict erupted in 2011, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s backers have played an increasingly decisive role in shaping the outcome. And with battlefields subdued elsewhere in the country, intention has shifted to Idlib.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, agreed last September that Moscow and Ankara would jointly oversee a nine-mile demilitarized zone between rebel and regime lines intended to keep the two sides apart. That agreement had been the centrepiece of a de-escalation pact that had kept the province relatively stable until mid-April.

Its apparent collapse has drawn little criticism from Ankara, which had strongly backed elements of the anti-Assad opposition in Idlib and has taken a stake inside northern Syria to safeguard its own interests. “There are suggestions of an arrangement between Russia and Turkey and the regime which would eat into the buffer zone by up to 25 miles in exchange for the Turks being able to take Tel Rifaat,” said one diplomat.

The small Kurdish controlled town of Tel Rifaat in northern Syria has long been a target of Turkey’s military, which ousted Kurdish militants from the neighbouring town of Afrin early last year.

On Sunday, Turkey’s vice president, Fuat Oktay, suggested that Tel Riffat was once again in military leaders sights. Responding to an attack, which reportedly killed a Turkish soldier in the area, Oktay said: “The agreement was for us to stop there [Tel Rifaat], but if these attacks continue, this may take a different shape. We are discussing this with Russia.”

“The Turks are in there somewhere,” the diplomat said. “They’re at least aware of what the Russian plans are.

Labib al-Nahhas, a political activist formerly connected to the Syrian armed opposition leadership, said other factors may be driving the assault on Idlib. “The latest offensive by Russia is due to two main reasons,” he said. “They have reached a real bottleneck in the Astana peace process … and realised that the current dynamics will not enable Russia to achieve its vision in Syria.

“The other reason is the fast demise and disintegration of the Assad regime at all levels: political, economic, social, army and recently even security. Russia knows that the window of opportunity to make sustainable gains in Syria is closing down, and they needed to cover up the regime’s current situation by launching this attack and hoping to achieve a victory that would shake things up in their favour.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ia-bombardment

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

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The destruction.

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Protests.

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Assad troops 'celebrating'.

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Breaking fast.

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[Abz2000]

I came across this piece of paper which it occured to me to print for some reason or other (something i don't normally do) - it felt as if it was a social media bot or a team of posters copying and pasting bits from a single database due to the verbatim spelling mistakes and grammatical errors - i'm thankful i did though since it shows that Muslims were being manipulated into turning their attention to assad at a time when the illegal invaders who were still in iraq and afghanistan were pushing for turmoil between iraq and ash-shaam as mujahideen were crossing over from the syrian border into iraq to expel the illegal invaders, in my opinion it was an attempted bloodletting of mujahideen:

From may 28 - 2012


The page was related to the bbc article which had posted images of a huge hall filled with dead children -claiming that they were killed by Assad - when in reality they were pictures of dead children from iraq - which had been earlier presented after the british-american illegal invasion as "iraqi children killed by saddam hussein's forces".



Oops, BBC: Iraq photo to illustrate Houla massacre?

https://www.rt.com/news/bbc-iraq-syria-houla-400/amp/


Click to enlarge:


Attachment 6685

Edit: i found the original screenshot of the fake comments seemingly made to appear is if they were from genuinely concerned average people from around the world:


Attachment 6686


Syrian government denies involvement in Houla massacre

https://www.rt.com/news/damascus-ref...sacre-339/amp/

[Abz2000]

Automating power: Social bot interference in global politics


Article in First Monday 21(4) · March 2016 with 348 Reads · Download citation
DOI: 10.5210/fm.v21i4.6161

Samuel C. Woolley
Abstract

Over the last several years political actors worldwide have begun harnessing the digital power of social bots - software programs designed to mimic human social media users on platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit. Increasingly, politicians, militaries, and government-contracted firms use these automated actors in online attempts to manipulate public opinion and disrupt organizational communication. Politicized social bots - here 'political bots' - are used to massively boost politicians' follower levels on social media sites in attempts to generate false impressions of popularity. They are programmed to actively and automatically flood news streams with spam during political crises, elections, and conflicts in order to interrupt the efforts of activists and political dissidents who publicize and organize online. They are used by regimes to send out sophisticated computational propaganda. This paper conducts a content analysis of available media articles on political bots in order to build an event dataset of global political bot deployment that codes for usage, capability, and history. This information is then analyzed, generating a global outline of this phenomenon. This outline seeks to explain the variety of political bot-oriented strategies and presents details crucial to building understandings of these automated software actors in the humanities, social and computer sciences.


https://www.google.com.bd/amp/s/www....l_politics/amp





How Political Campaigns Weaponize Social Media Bots

By Philip N. Howard
Posted 18 Oct 2018 | 15:00 GMT


In the summer of 2017, a group of young political activists in the United Kingdom figured out how to use the popular dating app Tinder to attract new supporters. They understood how Tinder’s social networking platform worked, how its users tended to use the app, and how its algorithms distributed content, and so they built a bot to automate flirty exchanges with real people. Over time, those flirty conversations would turn to politics—and to the strengths of the U.K.’s Labour Party.

To send its messages, the bot would take over a Tinder profile owned by a Labour-friendly user who’d agreed to the temporary repurposing of his or her account. Eventually, the bot sent somewhere between 30,000 and 40,000 messages, targeting 18- to 25-year-olds in constituencies where the Labour candidates were running in tight races. It’s impossible to know precisely how many votes are won through social media campaigns, but in several targeted districts, the Labour Party did prevail by just a few votes. In celebrating their victory, campaigners took to Twitter to thank their team—with a special nod to the Tinder election bot.

How a Political Social Media Bot Works


Illustration: Jude Buffum
1. The bot automatically sets up an account on a social media platform. 2. The bot’s account may appear to be that of an actual person, with personal details and even family photos. 3. The bot crawls through content on the site, scanning for posts and comments of interest. 4. The bot posts its own content to engage other human users. 5. Networks of bots act in concert to promote a candidate or message, to muddy political debate, or to disrupt support for an opponent.

By now, it’s no surprise that social media is one of the most widely used applications online. Close to 70 percent of U.S. adults are on Facebook, with three-quarters of that group using it at least once a day. To be sure, most of the time people aren’t using Facebook, Instagram, and other apps for politics but for self-expression, sharing content, and finding articles and video.

But with social media so deeply embedded in people’s lives and so unregulated, trusted, and targetable, these platforms weren’t going to be ignored by political operators for long. And there is mounting evidence that social media is being used to manipulate and deceive voters and thus to degrade public life.

To be sure, the technology doesn’t always have this effect. It’s difficult to tell the story of the Arab Spring [PDF] without acknowledging how social media platforms allowed democracy advocates to coordinate themselves in surprising new ways, and to send their inspiring calls for political change cascading across North Africa and the Middle East.

But the highly automated nature of news feeds also makes it easy for political actors to manipulate those social networks. Studies done by my group at the Oxford Internet Institute’s Computational Propaganda Research Project have found, for example, that about half of Twitter conversations originating in Russia [PDF] involve highly automated accounts. Such accounts push out vast amounts of political content, and many are so well programmed that the targets never realize that they’re chatting with a piece of software.

We’ve also discovered that professional trolls and bots have been aggressively used in Brazil [PDF] during two presidential campaigns, one presidential impeachment campaign, and the mayoral race in Rio. We’ve seen that political leaders in many young democracies are actively using automation to spread misinformation and junk news.

And in the United States, we have found evidence that active-duty military personnel have been targeted [PDF] with misinformation on national security issues and that the dissemination of junk news was concentrated in swing states [PDF] during the U.S. presidential election in 2016.

The earliest reports of organized social media manipulation emerged in 2010. So in less than a decade, social media has become an ever-evolving tool for social control, exploited by crafty political operatives and unapologetic autocrats. Can democracy survive such sophisticated propaganda?

The 2016 U.S. presidential election was a watershed moment in the evolution of computational techniques for spreading political propaganda via social networks. Initially, the operators of the platforms failed to appreciate what they were up against. When Facebook was first asked how the Russian government may have contributed to the Trump campaign, the company dismissed such foreign interference as negligible. Some months later, Facebook recharacterized the influence as minimal, with only 3,000 ads costing US $100,000 linked to some 470 accounts.

Tactics of Political Social Media Bots


Illustration: Jude Buffum
Zombie Electioneering: Gives the appearance of broad support for an issue or candidate through automated commenting, scripted dialogues, and other means
Finally, in late October 2017, nearly a year after the election, Facebook revealed that Russia’s propaganda machine had actually reached 126 million Facebook users with its ad campaign. What’s more, the Internet Research Agency, a shadowy Russian company linked to the Kremlin, posted roughly 80,000 pieces of divisive content on Facebook, which reached about 29 million U.S. users between January 2015 and August 2017.

Facebook was not the only social media platform affected. Foreign agents published more than 131,000 tweets from 2,700 Twitter accounts [PDF] and uploaded over 1,100 videos [PDF] to Google’s YouTube.

What propagandists love about social media is a network structure that’s ripe for abuse. Each platform’s distributed system of users operates largely without editors. There is nobody to control the production and circulation of content, to maintain quality, or to check the facts.

The propagandists can fool a few key people, and then stand back and let them do most of the work. The Facebook posts from the Internet Research Agency, for instance, were liked, shared, and followed by authentic users, which allowed the posts to organically spread to tens of millions of others.

Facebook eventually shut down the accounts where the Internet Research Agency posts originated, along with more than 170 suspicious accounts on its photo-sharing app, Instagram. Each of these accounts was designed to look like that of a real social media user, a real neighbor, or a real voter, and engineered to distribute disinformation and divisive messages to unsuspecting users’ news feeds. The Facebook algorithm aids this process by identifying popular posts—those that have been widely liked, shared, and followed—and helping them to go viral by placing them in the news feeds of more people.


Illustration: Jude Buffum
AstroTurf Campaign: Makes an electoral or legislative campaign appear to be a grassroots effort
As research by our group and others has revealed, computational propaganda takes many forms: networks of highly automated Twitter accounts; fake users on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram; chatbots on Tinder, Snapchat, and Reddit. Often the people running these campaigns find ways to game the algorithms that the social media platforms use to distribute news.

Doing so usually means breaking terms-of-service agreements, violating community norms, and otherwise using the platforms in ways that their designers didn’t intend. It may also mean running afoul of election guidelines, privacy regulations, or consumer protection rules. But it happens anyway.



Images: Oxford Internet Institute
Election Botnets: During the November 2016 U.S. election, the largest Trump Twitter botnet [bottom] consisted of 944 bots, compared with 264 bots in the largest pro-Clinton botnet [top]. What’s more, the Trump botnet was more centralized and interconnected, suggesting a higher degree of strategic organization.
Another common tactic is to simply pay for advertising and take advantage of the extensive marketing services that social media companies offer their advertisers. These services let buyers precisely target their audience according to thousands of different parameters—not just basic information, such as location, age, and gender, but also more nuanced attributes, including political beliefs, relationship status, finances, purchasing history, and the like. Facebook recently removed more than 5,000 of these categories to discourage discriminatory job ads—which gives you an idea of how many categories there are in total.


Images: Oxford Internet Institute
Election Botnets: During the November 2016 U.S. election, the largest Trump Twitter botnet [right] consisted of 944 bots, compared with 264 bots in the largest pro-Clinton botnet [left]. What’s more, the Trump botnet was more centralized and interconnected, suggesting a higher degree of strategic organization.
One of the chief ways to track political social media manipulation is to look at the hashtags that both human users and bots use to tag their messages and posts. The main hashtags will reference candidates’ names, party affiliations, and the big campaign issues and themes—#TrumpPence, #LivingWage, #Hillary2016, and so on. An obvious shortcoming of this approach is that we don’t know in advance which hashtags will prove most popular, and so we may miss political conversations that either have hashtags that emerged later in the campaign or that don’t carry any hashtag.

Nonetheless, we can use the hashtags that we do know to identify networks of highly automated accounts. Twitter data is for the most part public, so we can periodically access it directly through the company’s application programming interface (API), which is a type of server that connects Twitter with its developers and other customers. For a 10-day period starting on 1 November 2016, we collected about 17 million tweets from 1,798,127 users. We also sampled Twitter data during each of the three presidential debates.


Illustration: Jude Buffum
Hashtag Hijacking: Appropriates an opponent’s hashtag to distribute spam or otherwise undermine support
Sifting through the data, we saw patterns in who was liking and retweeting posts, which candidates were getting the most social media traffic, how much of that traffic came from highly automated accounts, and what sources of political news and information were being used. We constructed a retweeting network that included only connections where a human user retweeted a bot. This network consisted of 15,904 humans and 695 bots. The average human user in this network shared information from a bot five times.

We then focused on accounts that were behaving badly. Bots aren’t sinister in themselves, of course. They’re just bits of software used to automate and scale up repetitive processes, such as following, linking, replying, and tagging on social media. But they can nevertheless affect public discourse by pushing content from extremist, conspiratorial, or sensationalist sources, or by pumping out thousands of pro-candidate or anti-opponent tweets a day. These automated actions can give the false impression of a groundswell of support, muddy public debate, or overwhelm the opponent’s own messages.

We have found that accounts tweeting more than 50 times a day using a political hashtag are almost invariably bots or accounts that mix automated techniques with occasional human curation. Very few humans—even journalists and politicians—can consistently generate dozens of fresh political tweets each day for days on end.

Once we’ve identified individual bots, we can map the bot networks—bots that follow each other and act in concert, often exactly reproducing content coming from one another. In our modeling of Twitter interactions, the individual accounts represented the network’s nodes, and retweets represented the network’s connections.


Gratitude: Campaign workers tweeted about their successful chatbot, which rallied support for the UK Labour Party through automated conversations on the dating platform Tinder.
What did we learn about the 2016 U.S. election? Both of the major presidential candidates attracted networks of automated Twitter accounts that pushed around their content. Our team mapped these botnet structures over time by tracking the retweeting of the most prominent hashtags—Clinton-related and Trump-related as well as politically neutral.

The Trump and Clinton bot networks looked and behaved very differently, as can be seen in the illustration “Election Botnets,” which depicts the largest botnet associated with each campaign. The much larger Trump botnet consisted of 944 bots and was highly centralized and interconnected, suggesting a greater degree of strategic organization and coordination. The Clinton botnet had just 264 bots and was more randomly arranged and diffuse, suggesting more organic growth.

The pro-Trump Twitter botnets were also far more prolific during the three presidential debates. After each debate, highly automated accounts supporting both Clinton and Trump tweeted about their candidate’s victory. But on average, pro-Trump automated accounts released seven tweets for every tweet from a pro-Clinton automated account. The pro-Trump botnets grew more active in the hours leading up to the final debate, some of them declaring Trump the winner even before the debate had started.


Illustration: Jude Buffum
Retweet Storm: Simultaneous reposts or retweets of a post by hundreds or thousands of other bots
Another successful strategy for the Trump botnets was strategically colonizing pro-Clinton hashtags by using them in anti-Clinton messages. For the most part, each candidate’s human and bot followers used particular hashtags associated with their candidate. But Trump followers tended to also mix in Clinton hashtags. By Election Day, about a quarter of the pro-Trump Twitter traffic was being generated by highly automated accounts, and about a fifth of those tweets contained both Clinton and Trump hashtags. This resulted in negative messages generated by Trump’s supporters (using such hashtags as #benghazi, #CrookedHillary, #lockherup) being injected into the stream of positive messages being traded by Clinton supporters (tagged with #Clinton, #hillarysupporter, and the like).

Finally, we noticed that most of the bots went into hibernation immediately following the election. In general, social media bots tend to have a clear rhythm of content production. Bots that work in concert with humans will be active in the day and dormant at night. More automated bots will be front-loaded with content and then push out messages around the clock. A day after the election, these same bots, which had been pumping out hundreds of posts a day, fell silent. Whoever was behind them had switched them off. Their job was done.

In the run-up to the U.S. midterm election, the big question is not whether social media will be exploited to manipulate voters, but rather what new tricks and tactics and what new actors will emerge. In August, Facebook announced that it had already shut down Iranian and Russian botnets trying to undermine the U.S. elections. As such activity tends to spike in the month or so right before an election, we can be certain that won’t be the end of it.

Meanwhile, Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms have implemented a number of new practices to try to curtail political manipulation on their platforms. Facebook, for example, disabled over 1 billion fake accounts, and its safety and security team has doubled to more than 20,000 people handling content in 50 languages. Twitter reports that it blocks half a million suspicious log-ins per day. Social media companies are also investing in machine learning and artificial intelligence that can automatically spot and remove “fake news” and other undesirable activity.


Illustration: Jude Buffum
Strategic Flagging: Tools intended to flag inappropriate content are instead used to flag an opponent’s legitimate content, which may then be erroneously deleted by a social media platform
But the problem is now a global one. In 2017, our researchers inventoried international trends in computational propaganda [PDF], and we were surprised to find organized ventures in each of the 28 countries we looked at. Every authoritarian regime in the sample targeted its own citizens with social media campaigns, but only a few targeted other countries. By contrast, almost every democratic country in the sample conducted such campaigns to try to influence other countries.

In a follow-up survey of 48 countries, we again saw political social media manipulation in every country in our sample. We are also seeing tactics spreading from one campaign cycle or political consultant or regime to another.

Voters have always relied on many sources of political information; family, friends, news organizations, and charismatic politicians obviously predate the Internet. The difference now is that social media platforms provide the structure for political conversation. And when these technologies permit too much fake news and divisive messages and encourage our herding instinct, they undermine democratic processes without regard for the public good.

We haven’t yet seen true artificial intelligence applied to the production of political messages. The prospect of armies of AI bots that more closely mimic human users, and therefore resist detection, is both worrisome and probably inevitable.

Protecting democracy from social media manipulation will require some sort of public policy oversight. Social media companies cannot be expected to regulate themselves. They are in the business of selling information about their users to advertisers and others, information they gather through the conversations that take place on their platforms. Filtering and policing that content will cause their traffic to shrink, their expenses to rise, and their revenues to fall.

To defend our democratic institutions, we need to continue to independently evaluate social media practices as they evolve, and then implement policies that protect legitimate discourse. Above all, we need to stay vigilant, because the real threats to democracy still lie ahead.

This article appears in the November 2018 print issue as “The Rise of Computational Propaganda.”

To Probe Further

For further details on social media manipulation in political campaigns, see

“Computational Propaganda in Russia: The Origins of Digital Misinformation,” by Sergey Sanovich (June 2017)
“Junk News on Military Affairs and National Security: Social Media Disinformation Campaigns Against U.S. Military Personnel and Veterans,” by John D. Gallacher, Vlad Barash, Philip N. Howard, and John Kelly (October 2017)
“Polarization, Partisanship and Junk News Consumption Over Social Media in the U.S.,” by Vidya Narayanan, Vlad Barash, John Kelly, Bence Kollanyi, Lisa-Maria Neudert, and Philip N. Howard (February 2018)
“Computational Propaganda in the United States of America: Manufacturing Consensus Online,” [PDF] by Samuel C. Woolley and Douglas Guilbeault (2017)
“Algorithms, Bots, and Political Communication in the U.S. 2016 Election: The Challenge of Automated Political Communication for Election Law and Administration,” by Philip N. Howard, Samuel Woolley, and Ryan Calo, Journal of Information Technology & Politics (April 2018)
“Challenging Truth and Trust: A Global Inventory of Organized Social Media Manipulation,” by Samantha Bradshaw and Philip N. Howard (2018)
About the Author

Philip N. Howard is the director of the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford and principal investigator of the Computational Propaganda Project.

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https://www.google.com.bd/amp/s/spec...-bots.amp.html





Applying Interestingness Measures to Ansar Forum Texts D.B. Skillicorn School of Computing Queen’s University Canada

skill@cs.queensu.ca

ABSTRACT Documents from the Ansar aljihad forum are ranked using a number of word-usage models. Analysis of overall content shows that postings fall strongly into two categories. A model describing Salafist-jihadi content generates a very clear single-factor ranking of postings. This ranking could be interpreted as selecting the most radical postings, and so could direct analyst attention to the most significant documents. A model for deception creates a multifactor ranking that produces a similar ordering, with low-deception postings identified with highly Salafist-jihadi ones. This suggests either that such postings are extremely sincere, or that personal pronoun use and intricate structuring are also markers of Salafist-jihadi language. Although the overall approach is relatively straightforward, the choice of parameters to maximize the usefulness of the results is intricate.

1.

DATASET DETAILS

The Ansar aljihad forum is a mostly English language forum, with limited access – at one time registration, but now only by referral from an existing member. Of the 29,056 posts in the dataset, about half come from a small subset of members. This paper applies ‘bag of words’ textual analysis of various kinds to the contents of the forum postings. It does not examine characteristics of the authors or timings of posts. In general, it is not obvious what aspects of a set of forum data such as this will be interesting in any given context, so the approach is purely inductive. The lack of ground truth about these postings and the inductive approach makes it hard to draw firm conclusions that would be useful in an intelligence setting. On the other hand, analysis using several different models focuses attention on the same small set of postings. This approach is therefore useful, because it is usually not practical for an analyst to read all of the postings in a timely way (and, of course, many relevant datasets would be much larger).

2.

ISSUES

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. To copy otherwise, to republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. ISI-KDD 2010, July 25, 2010, Washington, D.C., USA Copyright 2010 ACM 978-1-4503-0223-4 ...$10.00.

The texts of postings are mapped to a series of documentword matrices using sets of words that model phenomena of interest. The raw data for each analysis is therefore a matrix whose rows correspond to the 29,056 postings, whose columns correspond to members of the set of chosen words, and whose entries are counts of the frequency of each word in each document. The data is very skewed in both dimensions. There are a small set of authors who have made very large numbers of postings; and the size of postings varies from literally a few words to tens of thousands of words. Nevertheless, even for models built using a small set of words, the matrices are extremely sparse. A major difficulty with data in this form is deciding what kind of normalization is appropriate. The goal is to maximize the variation in markers relevant to the analysis, while minimizing irrelevant artifacts. The problem is that some words, typically function words, occur often and it is changes in their rate of occurrence that is potentially significant. Other words, typically nouns, are significant if they occur at all in a document, but their subsequent repetition in the document is much less significant (the document is already ‘about’ the noun). This big difference in the significance of frequency makes normalization challenging. Some of the possible normalizations are: • tfidf, a conventional normalization from IR. The intent of this normalization is to ‘spread’ or differentiate the stored documents more evenly, making it easier to find the appropriate neighbors when a query is mapped into the representation space (vector or LSI). This would disturb the inherent cluster structure in this data and so should not be used. • Normalize based on the length of each document, either in terms of total number of words present, or the total number of model-specific words present. Such a normalization is usually motivated by assuming a generative model for postings. The particular set of postings observed is regarded as a sample from an underlying distribution that describes the hypothetical process that creates postings, and so contains artifacts due to sampling. For example, long documents have drawn more often from a word-choice distribution and so contain more, and more different, words. Taking length of documents into account allows some of this bias to be discounted (not all, because long documents, even when normalized, can take on a greater set of values; so the analysis technique should also be resistant




to quantization variation – which eigendecompositions are). There remains the question of which document length to use to get normalized frequencies. Some of the choices are: – Normalize to the unit hypersphere. This is the standard approach in information retrieval, partly because queries are modelled as really short documents, and this normalization makes documents of all lengths comparable. The problem in a dataset that contains both very short and very long documents, as this one does, is that this normalization blurs the structure substantially. – Divide by the document length. This provides a more gentle increase in similarity between short and long documents. In short documents, though, this increases the apparent signal strength of individual words well above that of any word in a long document, and so is still quite distorting. – Choose some quantum of length, say k. Documents longer than k have their word frequencies divided by their length; documents k words or shorter have their word frequencies divided by k. k then behaves as the unit within which words that occur at predictable rates will have occurred a stable number of times. It should probably be chosen so that most documents are shorter than k. The document length distribution is very skewed for this dataset, with the ‘knee’ of the frequency histogram at about 500, so relatively few documents would be normalized by their actual length. – Do not normalize by length at all. This amounts to an assertion that word frequencies are attributes all on a comparable scale, and so raw values are meaningful. From a different perspective, this also asserts that documents are not simply samples from a distribution of word frequencies, but that document length is also a meaningful choice by the author. This has some plausibility for this dataset, because length correlates with the style of posting quite strongly, but it certainly emphasizes longer documents in the results. • Apply a flattening transformation such a taking logarithms of word frequencies. This does not explicitly take length of documents into account but compresses the distribution of points corresponding to documents into something closer to a hyperspheric annulus. Such a normalization implicitly asserts that presence of a word in a document is more important than absence, but significance does not increase linearly with frequency. For example, many authors have stylistic tics in which they use particular words frequently without altering overall meaning. Different choices of normalization will completely alter the resulting analysis, but there seems no deeply principled way to make this choice. Fortunately, although different choices change the medium-scale structures for this dataset, they seem to have little effect on the extremal structure. There is also an issue of how to normalize
the columns of the matrix. After row normalization, the matrix entries




remain non-negative, so measures of similarity between documents (rows) are always positive, and there is no concept of dissimilarity, just weaker similarity. However, an alternate view is that similarity measures should also allow dissimilarity, based on deviations from some ‘typical’ base frequency. In this case, normalizing the columns to z-scores is appropriate. However, there is a further complication. As these matrices are sparse, computing means and standard deviations based on all entries of a column loses available information – the denominators are large regardless of how many documents each word appears in. Furthermore, the mass of zero entries typically ends up very slightly on one side of the origin. As a result, computing correlations in standard ways constructs similarity based partly on the absence of word use between two documents, which is not usually sensible. It is better to compute means, standard deviations, and so z-scores only from the non-zero entries of each column. Assessment of content of the postings is complicated by the fact that they are written in extremely different registers. Many postings, especially the shorter ones, are written in a very informal style typical of many write-once postings on the web (chat, comments, etc.). At the other extreme, there are postings, typically long, that are written in a very ornate and flowery style, often coupled with religious ornamentation. There is a tendency to express religious thought in English from the 17th Century, for example using archaic words like “thou” and “doth”. Tools that were register-aware would be helpful for data such as this, but the lack of practical systemic functional parsing tools limits this level of sophistication at present. In common with much informal writing, spelling is not standard across the postings. This is further complicated by the numerous possible transliterations of Arabic words into English, especially greetings, slogans, and names. These different spellings of English words are not conflated in the analysis, as it is probable that they reflect cultural and geographical variations among authors that might be significant. Examining the list of statistically significant phrases extracted from the document set using the Logik tool suggests that the majority of the discussion is driven by news. The focus is on incidents, people, and places that were likely to have been discussed in the media over the relevant time period, rather than discussions of people within the jihadi movement (for example, mentions of Qari Mohammad Yousuf, one of the Taliban press spokesmen, are far more frequent than mentions of Mullah Omar). The most frequent phrases extracted, in decreasing order, are: Allah, Quote, Afghanistan, Taliban, Islamic Emirate, Mujahideen, government, soldiers, military, American, Pakistan, attack, Brother, Iraq, police, video, militants, troops, Somalia, district, mujahid, local time, Salaam, President, attacks, army, brothers, wa, Mogadishu, country, Baghdad, Islamic, vehicle, Afghan, Iraqi, city, officials, puppet army, Islam, Peace, news, Obama, download, Acer, alaykum, terrorists, landmine, Security, MB [presumably megabyte], Muslims, Muslim, http, tank, fighters, war, alaikum, Pakistani, British, Swat, Soldier, Insha Allah, Somali, Bomb, civilians, enemy, report, html, rapidshare [a file sharing service], capital, Kandahar, explosion, ameen, killing, view, fight, akhi [brother], Jihad, Reuters, Qari Muhammad Yousuf, Israel, Sheikh, insurgents, amir, Gaza, Islamist, Assalamu, release, Zabihullah, God, Media,




Aswat, Israeli, WMV, convoy, fileflyer [another file sharing service], al-Iraq, NATO. The country focus is on Afghanistan (307 documents), Pakistan (202), Somalia (148), Israel (54), Iran (39) and not America (23), Britain (12), Canada (5) and Australia (2). Adjectival country names are more common, for example American (204 documents). Frequencies of references to news sources are: BBC (16 documents), al Jazeera (12), CNN (13), Reuters (55) (an interesting sidelight on technology), and Associated Press Writer (24).

3.

ANALYSIS METHODOLOGY

The analysis that follows uses singular value decomposition applied to document-word matrices using different combinations of possible words and their frequencies. Suitably normalized, a singular value decomposition discovers axes (essentially, eigenvectors) along which the set of documents exhibits variation. The resulting space is then projected into few dimensions (typically, 2 or 3). In the resulting similarity space, proximity corresponds to global similarity (among both documents and words, since SVD is completely symmetric); direction corresponds to global differences (that is, clusters); and distance from the origin corresponds to interestingness. This last is because projection both of points that correlate well with many other points, and points that correlate with few other points places them close to the origin. Points that correlate only moderately with other points are mapped far from the origin in lowdimensional space. This kind of moderate correlation often captures useful notions of interestingness, since it avoids both documents whose word usage is exceedingly typical and those whose word usage is unique. When frequencies of large numbers of words are used, this approach is a kind of clustering. When particular words associated with some property of texts are used, the projection is more typically a spectrum representing the intensity of the property captured by the set of words. When the property is truly single factorial, then the resulting space contains a 1-dimensional manifold, or spectrum, along which points corresponding to each posting are placed. Most complex properties are multifactorial, so it is more typical to see a structure in two or three dimensions. Such a structure can be projected onto a line passing through the first two or three singular values to create a single score, representing interestingness with respect to the model words. In both cases, a plot provides a visualization of global similarities and differences, and distance from the origin provides a visualization of interestingness. The distance from the origin in some k dimensions can be computed, and the documents ranked according to it. Such a ranking loses information about direction, but provides a quick method of focusing attention on a small subset of the records.

4. 4.1

ANALYSIS RESULTS Overall word use

Word extraction on the set of forum postings produced a set of 198,211 distinct “words”. Typical of informal multilingual documents, a substantial fraction of these do not appear in any dictionary; some are ‘wrapper’ words from the context (such as “http”), many are typos or transliterations

Figure 1: Based on words occurring frequently, the postings fall into two well-separated classes. of Arabic words or fragments of Arabic words. Stop words were not removed because, in second-language contexts, differences in stop word use might be significant, reflecting, for example, relative fluency in English. From this set of words, the 779 words that occurred more than 50 times overall were retained to produce a documentword matrix. This threshold was chosen pragmatically, although it is in a linear range of the threshold versus words curve, and the resulting structure did not seem very sensitive to the choice. The matrix was processed as discussed above, without row normalization, but normalizing columns to nonzero z-scores. Figure 1 shows that the documents form two very distinct clusters. One cluster, oriented vertically in the figure, contains postings about military and insurgent activity, focused on Afghanistan and Pakistan. These postings tend to be news or reportage of various kinds, some copied from mainstream organizations. The words associated with it are largely content words, and are visible in Figure 3; words such as “killed”, “province”, “district”, “mujahideen” (apparently the preferred transliteration by mainstream news organizations), “America”, “Islamic”, and “enemy”. The second cluster, oriented horizontally in the figure, contains postings that might be called Jihadi-religious. Figure 3 shows that the words associated with this cluster are primarily function words. This suggests that, for this cluster, it is not content that matters, so much as persuasion, sentiment, power, and emotion. It is surprising that the content of the forum separates so strongly into two clusters – the existence of these two distinct topics is not at all obvious from reading a subset of the postings. To human readers, both the tone and content of postings from the different clusters do not seem markedly different. Because there is no normalization by length, the extremal documents tend to be the longer ones. Normalizing using a boundary of 500, which is about the knee of the curve of lengths, produces very similar structure in the words, but makes it clear that the number of postings in the horizontal cluster is much larger than in the vertical cluster. The overall structure does not change much, providing reassurance that normalization choices here do not dominate the results.




Figure 4: For most-frequent words, the mutual similarity between words and documents. Because of the symmetry of the SVD, rows of both matrices can be plotted as points in the same space. A word and a document are attracted to similar locations when the frequency of the word in the document is large. One interpretation of the SVD is that it is a global integration of this pairwise attraction.

Figure 2: For most-frequent words, document clusters labelled with their posting number. Document 25606 lies between the two clusters; it is a long list of insurgent activities, in the style of the horizontal cluster, but with the content of the vertical cluster. As expected, it uses the word “in” at extremely high rates.

Salafist, al Qaeda, or jihadist content. Koppel et al. [1] built an empirical model of Salafist-Jihadi ideological word use in contrast to that of other ideologies (mainstream, wahhabist, and Muslim Brotherhood) which we use as a surrogate for Salafist-jihadi content in this forum’s postings. At best, this is only a rough approximation to the desired content and style; in particular, it is not designed to discriminate between Salafist-jihadi language and ‘ordinary’ language such as news reports. We begin with the top 100 words from the Koppel model. Several of these Arabic words translate to the same English word, so we end up with 85 English words in the model (shown in Table 1) The frequencies of these words are extracted from the forum data, and the resulting matrix is row normalized by replacing each entry by log(aij + 1). The columns are then normalized to non-zero z-scores as before. Different forms of normalization were tried, but made little difference to the qualitative structure. The results are shown in Figure 5. This model appears to be working well in the sense that it projects postings almost entirely to a 1-dimensional structure that can be interpreted as a continuum from plentiful non-jihadist postings to rarer but more extreme jihadist postings. There is a second, roughly orthogonal component of postings with differentiated use of the words “said”, “were”, “the”, and a few others. Especially the presence of “the” as such a strong marker suggests that second-language issues are relevant here; perhaps the postings in this smaller component are primarily quotations from mainstream news organizations. Removing this component, by removing the associated words from the model, leaves the large component almost unaffected. Some of the extremal postings at the Salafist-jihadist end of the spectrum are: 15646 – “words for jihadis”; 14621 – Book of a Mujahid; 9916 – an extensive political/religious argument; 14736, 17431 – pro-jihadi religious tracts by alMaqdisi, the spiritual mentor of al-Zarqawi; At the other end of the spectrum are postings that are quite vicious in tone, but about other subjects (and shorter which is partly why the extent of the spectrum is not symmetric around the origin). For example:

Figure 3: For most-frequent words, global word similarity. Use of a tool such as Palantir would enable much of the basic content structure in this set of documents to be extracted in sophisticated ways. The advantage of the analysis here is that (a) it is purely inductive rather than analyst-driven, (b) it shows the high-level structure very directly, and (c) using distance from the origin as a surrogate for ‘interestingness’ allows the documents to be ranked, so that analyst attention can automatically be focused on the most significant postings within the set.

4.2

Finding radical postings

It would be most useful to exploit projection and ranking to select those postings with the greatest signs of radical

13494 – comment on a visit by Huckabee to Jerusalem; 10416 – a brief comment suggesting that backlash to insurgent attacks came from drug lords, rather than the general population; 3201 – a posting about Kashmir; 23314 – almost entirely transliterated Arabic, so relevant words not captured; 22406 – a brief news report; Figure 6 shows that the words most strongly associated with Salafist-jihadi postings are function words such as “those” “who”“these”, “they”, and “when”, suggesting that it is relationship and conviction rather than propositional discussion that are important. Content words are not strong markers, but there is perhaps a characteristic style associated with radical postings. This is supported by the results of Koppel et al. [1] who were able to classify documents with different ideologies with about 75% accuracy using only function words. The existence of inflammatory postings at both ends of the spectrum suggests that sentiment analysis could be




Figure 5: For words related to Salafist-jihadi radicalism, the mutual similarity between words and documents.

Figure 6: Structure in the words associated with radicalism.

Figure 7: Postings and words using the deception model.

helpful for this problem, but it would need to be sophisticated since the relevant words go far beyond adjectives and negations.

postings that ranked as highly jihadist. Examination of these extremal postings shows that they are off the charts in terms of first-person singular pronoun and exclusive word frequency. In other words, the reason that Salafist-jihadist postings look low in deceptiveness is that they tend to be intricate yet personal discussions/arguments. This may be a signal of passionate belief, or it may be a stylistic signature developed from particular kinds of religious activity. The postings at the other end of the deception spectrum are primarily news reports copied from mainstream media. In the context of typical forum postings, such documents contain first-person singular pronouns only when someone is being quoted, and are written in a simple, expository style that uses very few exclusive words. Couple this with steady use of action verbs to keep the story moving, and a generally negative tone about war-relevant reporting, and it is clear why such stories rank at the deceptive end of the spectrum. This again emphasizes the need to consider the pool of documents when interpreting relative deceptiveness. The structure of the words from the deception model, shown in Figure 8, shows a 1-dimensional structure, aligned with the axis of deception in the postings, except for a small set of words roughly orthogonal to it. These words, “me”, “my”, and “I” tend to be strongly associated both with relative power and with deception in Western documents. It seems plausible that these pronouns are not so routinely used in Islamic culture so their use frequencies may be author related.

4.3

Looking for deception

We now turn to consider deception. The work of, amongothers, Pennebaker’s group [2, 3] has shown that (a) deception causes characteristic changes in text or speech, and (b) these same changes can be observed over a large range of different activities that have an element of deceptiveness, from outright lies to negotiation. Since propaganda has an element of deception built into it, we consider whether postings that rank highly using Pennebaker’s deception model are of interest. The model, which is determined empirically but has been widely validated, posits that the characteristic signature of deception is changes in the frequencies of four classes of words: • first-person singular pronouns decrease; • exclusive words, words that introduce a subsidiary phrase or clause that make a sentence more complex, decrease; • negative emotion words increase; and • action verbs increase. The model uses 86 words in all; they are listed in Table 2. As before, the frequencies of the words in the model were extracted from the forum dataset. The entries were scaled by logarithms, and non-zero z-scoring was applied. The column entries, now symmetric about zero, were negated for columns 1–20, which correspond to the first-person singular pronouns and exclusive words for which decreased frequencies are signals of deception. In the resulting matrix, a larger magnitude always represents a positive signal of deception. The same analysis process as before was applied to the resulting matrix. The results are shown in Figure 7. The basic structure is fan-like, resulting from variation in the use of the words shown towards the right of the figure: “I”, “or” and “but”. However, the most striking feature is that the extremal postings to the left, the putatively least deceptive, are the same

5.

DISCUSSION

The goal of this analysis is to provide shortcuts for analysts by ranking postings in order of properties of interest, so that only some top part of the ranking need be examined in detail. Ranking using the content of documents shows that postings to this forum are of two quite distinct kinds. Ranking is of limited usefulness, since length plays a large role in distance from the origin. Different normalizations are possible and might produce an interestingness ranking, but “interesting” here means roughly “on topic” so this may not be very

Figure 8: Structure of the words in the deception model. useful. Ranking using an existing model of Salafist-jihadist word usage patterns turns out to be surprisingly useful, producing a single-factorial ranking of postings where the top-ranked documents do indeed seem to be significant. Ranking using the deception model also turns out to be useful, although in a slightly surprising way. Documents that rank highly on the Salafist-jihadi scale rank low on the deception scale. This may be a signal for sincerity, or a result of stylistic markers acquired during radicalization.

6.

REFERENCES

[1] M. Koppel, N. Akiva, E. Alshech, and K. Bar. Automatically classifying documents by ideological and organizational affiliation. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Intelligence and Security Informatics (ISI 2009), pages 176–178, 2009. [2] M. Newman, J. Pennebaker, D. Berry, and J. Richards. Lying words: Predicting deception from linguistic style. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29:665–675, 2003. [3] J. Pennebaker, M. Francis, and R. Booth. Linguistic inquiry and word count (LIWC). Erlbaum Publishers, 2001.

Words in the Koppel model, ranked from top left to bottom right Jihad Parents How Platform Religion Much Monotheism Muslim Family Mujahideen Worlds Ye Way Oppressors Alone Unbelievers Word Understand Infidelity Idolaters Say Faithful Nation Was Tyrants War Rahim They Abi The Fighting Rahman Were God More Revealed Themselves Jewish Taymiyyah Faith Command When Juggernaut Right Earth Folk Greater Mercy Believers Those Prophet Combat Under Struggler Killing Iraq Them America Falsehood Companions Some You Governance Almighty Kfar Minimum Country Shirk These Afghanistan Who Youth Enemy People Terrorism Messenger O Said Including Entire Force Islam Trial Illusion Name Table 1: Top ranked words indicative of Salafist-jihadi ideology in contrast to other forms of Islamic thought, from Koppel et al. [1]. The word set is in Arabic and was translated using Google Translate, introducing some artifacts. For example, “rahman” would usually be written as “merciful” in English, but “kuffar” could appear either transliterated or translated as “infidel”. We ignored such effects, since repeating the experiments with a set translated by a human made little difference. In practice, if an automated tool is ‘good enough’ it should be preferred, since Arabic speakers remain rare in intelligence settings. “Shirk” here is the Arabic word meaning “associating partners in the worship of Allah”; Taymiyyah was a 14th Century Islamic theologian whose ideas have strongly influenced the most conservative versions of Islam.




Categories First-person pronouns Exclusive words Negative-emotion words

Motion verbs

Keywords I, me, my, mine, myself, I’d, I’ll, I’m, I’ve but, except, without, although, besides, however, nor, or, rather, unless, whereas hate, anger, enemy, despise, dislike, abandon, afraid, agony, anguish, -------, -----, boring, crazy, dumb, disappointed, disappointing, f-word, suspicious, stressed, sorry, jerk, tragedy, weak, worthless, ignorant, inadequate, inferior, jerked, lie, lied, lies, lonely, loss, terrible, hated, hates, greed, fear, devil, lame, vain, wicked walk, move, go, carry, run, lead, going, taking, action, arrive, arrives, arrived, bringing, driven, carrying, fled, flew, follow, followed, look, take, moved, goes, drive

Table 2: The 86 words used by the Pennebaker model of deception.

https://mafiadoc.com/applying-intere...5358b4567.html

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

Blurb

The United Nations has warned of a humanitarian crisis unfolding in Syria's northwest province of Idlib, as Western powers challenged Syria and its ally, Russia, to provide assurances that attacks on hospitals and schools would stop. Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on Friday, UN humanitarian affairs coordinator, Mark Lowcock, said there had been concern about the escalating situation in Idlib for months.

The UN warned that three million civilians are at risk as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces - backed by the Russians - have launched an offensive. Hospitals have been bombed and aid agencies have been forced to suspend their work.

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What is needed.

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[Al_Ghazali]

It's been seven years since this thread was created and "victory" (whatever that means ) isn't in sight. I don't expect any change seven years later.

[سيف الله]

It's been seven years since this thread was created and "victory" (whatever that means ) isn't in sight. I don't expect any change seven years later.

Thank you for your profoundly worthless contribution to this thread.

More importantly another update.

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Turkey-backed fighters join forces with HTS rebels in Idlib

Rival armed groups ally with each other in northern Syria against President Assad's forces in a 'battle for survival'.

Turkey-backed rebels poured fighters onto the front line in northeastern Syria, joining forces with a rival armed group to beat back government troops from a town they had recaptured earlier this month.

Hay'et Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) seized the town of Kfar Nabuda in Idlib province on Tuesday with the help of the National Liberation Front (NLF), a conglomeration of rebel groups supported by Ankara. The town had been retaken by the Syrian government in its recent assault.

More than 80 combatants were killed in the battle for the town, according to the UK-based war monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Mostafa Maarati - spokesman of the Al-Ezzah Army, which took part in the Kfar Nabuda operation and is part of the NLF - said it assisted HTS to protect rebel-held territory from President Bashar al-Assad's forces, a "common enemy".

"The liberation operation had been planned in a mutual operation room that includes all the groups on the ground," Maarati told Al Jazeera. "They coordinated the use of anti-armour missiles and other weapons."

NLF has clashed with HTS, formerly the al-Qaeda wing in Syria, over ideological differences and also over territorial control. HTS took over numerous NLF-run towns and villages, but united with its adversary to oppose Assad's army.

"Our goal is not only Kfar Nabuda, we will keep moving until we topple the tyrant Bashar Assad and liberate all our land," said Maarati.

'Battle for survival'

A senior commander with a moderate rebel group in the NLF, who spoke to Al Jazeera on the condition of anonymity, said despite their differences rebel groups are coordinating in a "battle for survival".

"We cannot say they merged, but the people of the liberated north were attacked, their homes were destroyed, and their towns were occupied, so all of them had to defend their land together," he said.

Adnan, a resident of Kfar Nabuda whose real name was not used for security reasons, has been hiding in a nearby town since the government began shelling and ground operations in late April. He gave an account of the plight of people as the attack unfolded and power changed hands.

"At 11pm on Monday, April 29, the army of the regime started to bomb unarmed civilians who were sleeping," he said. "Kfar Nabuda's people fled without carrying any of their belongings. They were just trying to escape death.

"On Tuesday evening, a large-scale military action of all factions of the Syrian revolution began. They managed to liberate Kfar Nabuda completely."

He said the rebels captured or destroyed a number of military vehicles and seized ammunition depots and medium and heavy weapons.

About 200,000 civilians have fled their homes since the Syrian government forces, backed by Russian air power, began its latest offensive.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/...172523064.html

Fierce fighting.

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Brother Bilals been injured.

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Latest update.



An appeal

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[Al_Ghazali]

Thank you for your profoundly worthless contribution to this thread.

So stating facts is now "worthless?" All you're doing is copy/pasting twitter stuff and spreading more fitna. Some contribution.

[سيف الله]

So stating facts is now "worthless?" All you're doing is copy/pasting twitter stuff and spreading more fitna. Some contribution.

Wish I could do more but I'm a busy man, and as a general rule don't like 'debating' on the internet for obvious reasons.

Oh some friendly advice dearest 'brother', do try to do better with your 'masquerade', the mods on this forum dont take kindly to those who 'masquerade' as something they are not.

[Al_Ghazali]

Wish I could do more but I'm a busy man, and as a general rule don't like 'debating' on the internet for obvious reasons.

Oh some friendly advice dearest 'brother', do try to do better with your 'masquerade', the mods on this forum dont take kindly to those who 'masquerade' as something they are not.

I couldn't care less what you or the mods think. Allah knows what is in my heart, and that is sufficient. You guys don't own Islam, so stop thinking that you do.

[سيف الله]

I couldn't care less what you or the mods think. Allah knows what is in my heart, and that is sufficient. You guys don't own Islam, so stop thinking that you do.

So this is the new 'hasbara' line, advertise your ignorance as if its a virtue? too easy. You dont even understand the 'basics'.

You should seek help, your behaviour shows you have deep-seated 'issues', better resolve them sooner rather than later.

As an aside whats happened to the quality of trolling? It was bad in the past at least they pretended to make an effort, but it's beyond dire now.

[Al_Ghazali]

So this is the new 'hasbara' line, advertise your ignorance as if its a virtue? too easy. You dont even understand the 'basics'.

You should seek therapy, your behaviour shows you have deep-seated 'issues', better resolve them sooner rather than later.

As an aside whats happened to the quality of trolling? It was bad in the past at least they pretended to make an effort, but it's beyond dire now.

Derp, hasbara, derp.

As for "deep-seated issues," I believe you're projecting your own insecure state.

[Igotlost]

Im sorry whats going on? Why are people fighting?

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

A reasonable assessment.

Anon3d

Do you support efforts such as the rebels in Syria or the Mujahedeen in Afghanistan when Soviets invaded or insurgents during Iraq war?

Vinnie Bèyda
@ortegaksv (twitter)

Two very different conflicts.

- afghanistan we saw the mujahideen were united there was no in fighting the goal was clear and the unity and by the will of allah swt they crushed communism alhamdulliah. ( side note after they won they did start infighting for power keyword being AFTRR)

- syria we saw the revolution and armed groups splinter. So much so it hindered the progress militarily and eventually as we can see now its backfired massively. Isis rose up jabhat al nusra became traitors and sold out, america armed the SDf (ypg) who have their own personal goals. Turkey armed their rebels for their strategic goals of removing the sdf from their borders to xreate a buffer zone. So whats left? Idlib. Surrounded and besiged. Allahul mustaan.

All we can say is eventhouhh they made absolutely masssssive military blunders and even on the grounds of religion, we make dua for ahlul sunnah wherever they may be for peace freedom and victory.

BarakaAllahu feek.

https://curiouscat.me/ortegaksv/post...3?t=1560726670

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Like to share. A wide ranging discussion.

Blurb

Bilal Abdul Kareem will be answering your questions and taking your comments LIVE from Syria, so please join in.



The battle of Idlib continues, there is a lot of fog of war and its hard to make sense of who is gaining territory and who is not. Heres two different perspectives.

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Regime media outlets have been trying to convince the masses that they control the strategic area of Tal Milh. However OGN interviews rebels from the very location in question.



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On June 18, the joint forces of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and Turkish-backed militant groups launched an assault on several positions of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in northern Hama. The so-called “moderate opposition” reportedly used at least two suicide vehicle borne improvised explosive devices. One exploded near SAA positions in Jalamah. Another one was eliminated in the nearby area. At the same time, clashes were reported near Sheikh Hadid, Qiratah and Jub Suleiman. By June 19, the militant attack had been fully repelled by the SAA.

Despite this, pro-militant media outlets claimed that all devices had worked as intended and “Assad regime forces” had suffered dozens of casualties. According to pro-government sources, the militants lost up to 30 killed or injured fighters, and 6 pieces of military equipment, including a battle tank. The militant advance also triggered a new round of Syrian airstrikes on their infrastructure in southern Idlib and northern Hama.



Good point

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Turkey getting directly involved.

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[SintoDinto]

@Junon @Abz2000 please stop inciting hate and sectarianism on this forum. im asking you nicely.

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This hasbara --- is derailing another useful thread with unnecessary provocative bickering.

How long before the mods close all the threads on the forum.

No wonder most people on earth hate israelis, and people who research a little deeper hate americans and british and french secularists who back those evil and deceitful israelis.

brother, was that really necessary? the prophet saws said not to jump to conclusions about a man's heart, how can you sit there and judge someone from a few texts ina certain context on the other side of the world and judge him to be a kaafir, let a lone a hasbara troll? and don't you have a job with the level of knowledge you have? youre on here all day. im just a spoiled student.

[Abz2000]

@Junon @Abz2000 please stop inciting hate and sectarianism on this forum. im asking you nicely.

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brother, was that really necessary? the prophet saws said not to jump to conclusions about a man's heart, how can you sit there and judge someone from a few texts ina certain context on the other side of the world and judge him to be a kaafir, let a lone a hasbara troll? and don't you have a job with the level of knowledge you have? youre on here all day. im just a spoiled student.

Who r u judging?

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Like to share

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[Abz2000]

@SintoDinto

No reply as of yet.... other than a lame post like.

Who are you judging? And is your judgement correct?

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

Blurb

Bilal Abdul Kareem will be answering your questions and taking your comments LIVE from Syria.



Blurb

Bilal Abdul Kareem interviews Dr. Abdullah Muhaysini, Shaykh Abdul Razaaq, and Shaykh Muslih regarding their new trench digging campaign. 'It's a chance for everyone to participate in jihad'



Blurb

Syrian Rebels forces liberated the very strategic town of Hamamiyaat last night from Assad forces. OGN Maps explains it's importance.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

Blurb

After Russian jets systemically destroyed more than half the hospitals in rebel controlled territory, the opposition began to build them underground. One such hospital is in Jabal Turkman, but you'd never imagine it was inside of a mountain.



Most recent atrocity.

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Chinese military operating in Syria?

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Im sorry whats going on? Why are people fighting?

Dealing with a fake Muslim. Internet atheists really are tiresome.

Good news, seems he's given up on his crusade, good.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update, like to share. Not too bad, helps understand the Iranian agenda for the Middle East.

Blurb

The Qods Force is the irregular warfare unit of Iran’s Corps of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enghelab-e Eslami). Created during the Holy Defense to augment the capabilities of the Sepah to include irregular warfare, it has since become one of the chief means of expanding Iranian ‘soft power’ within the Middle East and throughout the world.

Carrying the Persian name for Jerusalem, it is emblematic of the eschatological significance of the Islamic Republic’s regional military strategy. More has come to light about this secretive organization since its inception, but precious little of its organization, personnel, weaponry and operations is known, and comes to light only in the wake of its suspected activities.

The close of the Holy Defense in 1988 saw the completion of the first chapter of the history of the Islamic Republic – conventional war. The peace which followed left the new government intact but the population war-weary; the government needed to turn its attention to rebuilding the infrastructure and bringing orderliness to the disrupted lives of its people. The armed forces – both the Artesh and the Sepah – though rich with battle experience, had been worn down and desperately need this peace.




Hah!

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update, the battle for Idlib continues, Assad forces are making slow progress.

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Khan Sheikhoun a ghost town as Syrian regime advances

As the Syrian government inches closer to retaking rebel-held Khan Sheikhoun, the once-vibrant town in southern Idlib province is now largely abandoned.

Ahead of an expected regime assault on their hometown, residents have emptied out of Khan Sheikhoun and fled to the relative safety of areas further north. On Sunday night, the Syria Civil Defense workers known as the White Helmets helped evacuate the remaining families.

“The children were so afraid,” Hamid Qutini, a search-and-rescue volunteer, said. “We gave them cookies and tried to assure them that we would take them far away from the sounds of the explosions.”

Families in need of transport flagged the White Helmets down in their neighborhoods or contacted them on the online messaging service WhatsApp. Qutini describes seeing scores of frightened children, many of them orphans, clutching their blankets and pillows.

“This isn’t their fault,” Qutini said. “I felt so helpless that I couldn’t stop the bombings for them.”

Under the cover of darkness, Qutini and other volunteers drove the families to neighboring al-Dana, Atmeh and Idlib city.

With the nearby Turkish border closed to refugees, many of the displaced are now living in olive groves and sheltering beneath trees. Others are packed into overcrowded displacement camps.

Ziad Abboud, head of the White Helmets organization in Khan Sheikhoun, said his team rescued 90 residents earlier this week. They’re now focused on evacuating the northern countryside, including the towns of Hesh, Alteh and Kafar Sijnah.

“God willing, we will try to help them all,” Abboud said.

Since late April, forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad have fought to wrest control of Idlib province which, along with parts of northern Hama, is the country’s last opposition stronghold after eight years of civil war.

The latest round of fighting near Khan Sheikhoun comes after the collapse of a brief ceasefire brokered by Syria’s main allies, Russia and Iran, and neighboring Turkey, which backs the opposition.

More than three million people are packed into the northwestern enclave. Nearly half are displaced from fighting elsewhere in the country.

Since late April, Russian and Syrian aerial attacks have pummeled Idlib, which is dominated by the al-Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group. The violence has killed at least 450 civilians and forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes, according to the United Nations.

Rights groups accuse the regime and its ally Russia of intentionally striking civilian areas, which they deny. Earlier this month, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for an internal U.N. investigation into the targeting of hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in the densely populated region.

Khan Sheikhoun is of strategic importance. The town sits on what was once a vital commercial highway connecting the large northern city of Aleppo to the capital of Damascus.

The town is also symbolically significant. Khan Sheikhoun captured headlines in April 2017 when a sarin gas attack blamed on the regime killed some 90 people, including children. President Donald Trump ordered retaliatory missile strikes on Shayrat airbase from where the attack was likely launched.

Early on Wednesday Syria’s pro-opposition STEP News Agency reported that pro-regime forces had captured the village of Tal Aas, less than 5 km (3.1 miles) west of Khan Sheikhoun.

U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported troops loyal to Assad were just a few kilometers away from Khan Sheikhoun. Pro-government forces captured the village of al-Hobeit and made gains on the towns of Morek, Kafr Zeita and Latamneh, according to state news agency SANA and opposition activists.

“Russia is practicing a scorched-earth policy, paving the way for Assad’s troops,” said Captain Naji Mustafa, spokesperson for the Turkey-backed National Liberation Front rebel coalition.

Despite advancing from multiple axes, regime troops have taken some hits, Mustafa says.

“They haven’t been able to achieve their strategy so far, and the rebels are determined to resist them,” he told The Defense Post.

Mohammed Salloum was the last in his family to flee. His plan was to stay behind to keep watch over their house in Khan Sheikhoun, but then the aerial bombardment picked up.

“The barrel bombs were falling all around,” he said. “It was terrifying and I tried to get used to it, hoping it would stop.”

On Thursday, Salloum tossed his computer, camera and phone into a backpack, locked the door behind him and got on his motorcycle. On his way north to al-Dana, he passed rows of eerily quiet streets.

“There is no substitute for the former beauty of my city,” said Salloum. “Now, Khan Sheikhun is a ghost town,” said Salloum.

Salloum is currently living in a small, three-bedroom house he is sharing his parents, his three brothers and their families in al-Dana. None of them have found jobs in their new city and are struggling to pay the $100 owed each month in rent. Salloum hopes their situation is just temporary.

“There really is nothing harder than leaving your home.”

https://thedefensepost.com/2019/08/1...efugees-idlib/

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More generally

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Bilal Abdul Kareem will be answering your questions and taking your comments LIVE from Syria, so please join in.

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update.

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Rapid opposition losses in southern Idlib & northern Hama in the past 2 weeks prompted Turkey to send additional convoys into Idlib, risking the lives of its soldiers & confrontation with the regime & Russia. What's behind these losses?

In the past 2 weeks, since the collapse of the brief ceasefire in Idlib, the regime & Russian-backed militias were able to take more territory than they were able to do in the first 3 months of their campaign.

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I spoke to Idlib residents, incl rebels & opposition commanders to try to understand what's behind this collapse.

The main reason appears to be simply exhaustion: the rebels have been subjected to thousands of airstrikes. At least 2,000 rebels have been killed since late April.

2 weeks ago jihadist cleric Muhaysini said the opposition lost 1,600 fighters, probably an under-counting. Since then, the number of rebels killed has grown by the hundreds. Idlib is home to tens of thousands of rebels, but many of them have little recent fighting experience.

The fighting experience of some factions is lobbing rockets & manning checkpoints. The brunt of Idlib front-line fighting is being shouldered by Jaysh al-Izza, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) and some sub-factions of the National Liberation Front. Attrition in their ranks is immense.

Only this week, "fresh" experienced fighters were dispatched to Idlib - jihadist factions moved forces from Lattakia to the Skayk-Tel Tar'i front-line, halting regime progress there.

Only this week HTS concluded a deal w/ the Turkish-backed National Army (SNA) to enter Idlib.

Some of the SNA factions recently underwent training in Turkey, but they have not fought without Turkish air cover for years. They're useful for fire support, tho.

In short: the opposition does not have enough experienced fighters on the front-lines to make up for fast attrition.

On the other hand, as shown in research of @Gregory PWaters, the regime is able to rotate fresh units to the front-lines. Having destroyed all other rebel pockets, the regime can concentrate on Idlib (while neglecting the fighting against ISIS in the Homs/DeZ desert).

Thanks to Russian training, the regime also improved its fighting capacity, particularly at night, and its fighters now routinely utilize night-vision goggles/scopes (pic of regime fighters from Madaya).

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Previously, nights were when opposition fighters often regained ground due to inability of regime air force to operate at night.

Rebels are fundraising to purchase night-vision goggles, but they are expensive & require training to be able to use effectively in combat.

The rebels are relying on ATGM strikes & SVBIED attacks, but those are not as effective as before. In the past, such attacks would prompt regime fighters to retreat. Now they launch new offensives merely hours after losing dozens of fighters to an SVBIED attack.

The regime & Russia have also changed targeting patterns of airstrikes. In the past, they would randomly bomb areas far from the front lines, just killing & terrorizing civilians. Now, air strikes are much more concentrated on areas close to front-lines, where the regime & Russia want to kill and displace civilians, and hit supply routes of the armed opposition.

For example, Idlib city, al-Atareb and towns in northern Idlib have largely escaped strikes, thus far. The concentration of firepower on a small stretch of land is much more effective militarily.

2 explanations to rebel losses commonly heard among Syrians are wrong, imo:

1) Iranian-backed forces joining the fight: no public evidence exists for this opposition claim (such as "martyrdom" notices)

2) A supposed deal between Turkey & Russia to hand over parts of Idlib in exchange for SDF areas: no evidence exists for this either & Russia doesn't get to decide the fate of SDF areas, the US does. Turkey also did not prevent SNA fighters from going to Idlib & provides ATGMs.

This theory is incredibly prevalent among Syrians residents incl rebels (I've heard it from all rebels with whom I spoke except HTS fighters). It possibly affects their morale and willingness to fight. Now that Turkey dispatched new convoys, this perception may change.

How does all of this affect civilians? This collapse in rebel ranks is terrifying civilians in Idlib. Many are rallying to help the rebels by cooking food for them, digging trenches, filling sand bags, donating money, providing tires to burn for makeshift air cover.

The rebels are much more reliant on the population now that support has been reduced/cut off by foreign backers. Weapons are still coming from Turkey, but salaries are laughable (NLF fighters get 50 Turkish Lira per month, $30), meaning families finance their sons' fighting.

Civilians in Idlib feel they have no choice but to stand behind the opposition. They believe, probably rightly so, that they will be slaughtered & jailed if the regime takes over. The border with Turkey is locked & smuggling is unaffordable.

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The int'l community seems to have accepted that a tiny stretch of land populated with 3 million civilians, more than half of them children, will be bombed into oblivion. On an hourly basis, humans who feel pain just like we do are crushed under rubble, burned & displaced. Enough.

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...705381376.html

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Good thread. IMHO, these are the main reasons for oppo losses (Which align mostly with yours)

- Effective Russian targeting of supply/reinforcement columns

- Effective co-ordination between Tiger ground forces, air, and arty

- Increased use of thermal optics/night attacks

I'd also say:

- Weak and entirely opaque Turkish actions

- and of course, oppo exhaustion

However imho Tigers have absolutely suffered and new rebel personnel movements, belated as they have been, may well make this fresh imputus stutter. As would a influx of Kornet

Also, Tigers are not especially skilled from all I hear. They do enjoy unending numbers of co-ordinated air/arty strikes that are rather effective, some training, lots & lots of new munitions that can be used to pummel into dust. Kafr N showed that if off guard, they have issues mentions Turkey has no will to stop this, or so it seems. Maybe the Tigers crowing over Turkish troops will switch this, but I doubt it.

Best case for oppo is National Army reinforcements in big numbers and attempts to grind Tigers like at Kabana with TIP, who are fighting hard.

However, I think after a pause regime will totally consolidate N. Hama (Having lost some armour from the hardcore HTS still there) then look to advance more. Idlib will certainly be v hard for them and I await Turkey finally realising what the numbers fleeing will be mentions Who knows?

If a Kaf N. happens again maybe we will see a prolonged stutter along with actual Turkish backbone, but I doubt it

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...193678337.html

[سيف الله]

Salaam

You cannot doubt their commitment and heroism.

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Here's one notable example.

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He's been reported dead a couple of times during this conflict so have to wait for confirmation.

He was in the news a couple of years back. Its sensationalist and one sided, still a good watch.

Blurb

Malhama Tactical, the world's first ever PMC for the Jihadi sector, was founded by a mysterious Russian speaking Uzbek called "Abu Rafiq."

[سيف الله]

Salaam

Rebels have suffered a significant defeat. They have been forced to withdraw from Khan Sheikhoun and its surroundings.

Family stayed in Syrian town during offensive as rebels ousted

Russia-backed Syrian forces found Abu Abdo and family this week in Khan Sheikhoun, a town which almost all other residents had fled during shelling in an offensive to take the area from rebel fighters.

“The last month was very bad. We couldn’t stand by the door because of the shelling ... We couldn’t go anywhere,” 55-year-old Abu Abdo told Reuters.

He said his was one of only around three families that stayed in the town through the offensive while all other civilians fled north, away from the shelling.

“When the army came they opened the door of the house and entered, thinking no one was here. But when they saw us they were very respectful and asked us what we needed,” he said from his house which had a couple of shell holes in the walls.

Khan Sheikhoun was one of the towns lost early in the eight-year-old war to rebels opposed to the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. On Friday the Syrian army said it had taken it back, along with a handful of other settlements.

“The fighters ran away a day before the army entered. There was a huge number of fighters here,” Abu Abdo said, referring to the rebels.

A renewed push by Syrian government and Russian forces to take the area has seen heavy strikes and advances this week in the south of Idlib province and nearby Hama, prompting a civilian exodus.

Hundreds of people have been killed in the campaign since late April and more than 500,000 people have been displaced, the United Nations said.

“The operation (to take Khan Sheikhoun) was difficult. The rebels were holed up for a month under heavy, continuous bombardment. Which caused them to withdraw to the north,” a military official said.

rest here

https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-sy...-idUKKCN1VE0U7

Frank acknowledgement of the defeat.

Blurb

The Syrian Arab Army with support from Russia have managed to capture the strategic town of Khan Shaykhun and all towns south of it from rebel forces. The Turkish Observation Post in the town of Morek, which was supposed to deter the Syrian Arab Army from advancing, is currently besieged.



Some comment.

Coco Jumbo

15 hours ago

What do you expect Turkey to do? They cant fight with rebels, it will upset Russia and they will start arming Kurds, 20milion Kurds live in Turkey.

Muhammed 3198Denix

1 day ago

I think the biggest problem that the mujahideen have is they don't have an organised leadership. By that, what I mean is that they don't have an ameer to tell them "hey look, this is how we will organise the economy, this is how much revenue we will gain, this is how we will attack the enemy, etc."

See, the reason why the taliban are successful is because they have an ameer in charge of them. While they are composed of tribal elements they are not factions like the national liberation army. It's also because of this ikhwani ideology that the rebels are suffering quite a lot. By that, they have this idea to bring islam through democratic principles, which has been proven not to work - look at Morsi as a recent example to see what I mean.

The people of Syria need a good old King like good old King Faisal rahimahullah to kick the daylights out of the regime. When the rebels have a propper King to manage their affairs the regime won't be able to do much because the rebels will be able to be coordinated better as they would gain orders from a higher authority.

The salvation government is far too weak to actually do anything major in this sphere.

Dr Shajul forced to leave.

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Russians testing their latest weaponry.

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Commenting on the aftermath.

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The Turkish observation post surrounded.

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[سيف الله]

Salaam

Another update, not sure what to make of this, could be propaganda having said this there's been so much skulduggery going on in this conflict that one can see the plausibility.

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Related? Is it likely that Erdogan (in the long term) prefers national stability & good relations with Russia (access to their weaponry, economics etc) over supporting the rebels? Or is he wary, given the history.

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