and he may have had a stroke http://english.alarabiya.net/en/med...-Assad-suffering-a-stroke-has-gone-viral.html
Syria’s forgotten siege: The noose tightens around Deir Ezzor How Islamic State advances will test Trump, Putin, and al-Assad http://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2017/01/30/syria’s-forgotten-siege-noose-tightens-around-deir-ezzor Spoiler By Aron Lund Syria expert, and regular IRIN contributor STOCKHOLM, 30 January 2017 The recent advance of the so-called Islamic State (IS) through Syrian army lines in besieged Deir Ezzor has deepened a humanitarian crisis and created a complex problem for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Russians, and the new US president, Donald Trump. A month after his army retook the rebel stronghold in eastern Aleppo, al-Assad has plenty of reasons for optimism. Recent peace talks in the Kazakh capital of Astanaproduced no agreement, but they signalled the growing clout of his Russian ally and the shrinking ambitions of his Turkish enemy. Syrians and their international backers will soon head for another round of negotiations in Geneva, to which al-Assad looks certain to arrive with a strong hand to play. Yet, the Syrian leader does have some serious chinks in his armour. Some are structural and well known, such as his over-dependence on foreign support or the terrible state of the Syrian economy. More immediately though, al-Assad’s forces are taking serious blows in the east of the country, at the hands of IS. The jihadi group has been through a rough couple of years and is relishing a chance to show its claws against al-Assad, whose army has been distracted by events elsewhere. In December, when the Syrian army was tied up in eastern Aleppo and Eastern Ghouta, a besieged area on the outskirts of Damascus, IS snatched back Palmyra, the ancient desert town it previously held between May 2015 and March 2016. Then it attacked Deir Ezzor, the Syrian government’s last stronghold in the borderlands near Iraq, throwing al-Assad’s eastern flank into disarray. The war for Deir Ezzor Already in mid-2011, after a few months of protests, Deir Ezzor had begun to slide into armed insurgency. By 2013, the Syrian government was bleeding territory in Deir Ezzor to a coalition of mostly Islamist rebel groups. However, by structuring military defences and government services around a cluster of neighbourhoods in the western parts of the city, al-Assad’s forces were able to regroup and maintain control over most of the local population. If he ever hoped to regain eastern Syria, al-Assad needed to keep control over Deir Ezzor. As long as the insurgency was divided among uncoordinated factions, the conflict seemed winnable. But one day, it wasn’t. By late 2013, the rebel outfits of eastern Syria were disintegrating one by one, their manpower and equipment cannibalised by a monster grown in their midst: IS. When the group captured Mosul in June 2014 and declared itself a “caliphate”, large swathes of western Iraq fell to its forces and, in a lethal game of dominoes, eastern Syria soon came tumbling down too. IS rampaged through the region, seizing rebel towns and army bases and massacring their defenders, but it ran aground at Deir Ezzor. For more than two years, the group has failed to crack the city’s defences, but it has instead imposed a suffocating siege, forcing al-Assad to resupply the enclave by air, at great cost to his cash-strapped government. In September 2015, the airport in Deir Ezzor came within range of IS rockets, which effectively prevented fixed-wing cargo aircraft from landing. Since then, all transport has been conducted by helicopters, which swoop in and out of the city at considerable risk. Siege warfare After five years of non-stop urban combat, much of Deir Ezzor lies in ruins. The remaining inhabitants of the city, which had a pre-war population of around 250,000, have suffered tremendously, particularly since IS banned commercial and humanitarian transports into regime-held areas in an attempt to starve them into submission – just as the Syrian government has done elsewhere in the country, in places like Madaya, Yarmouk, and eastern Aleppo. In January 2016, the United Nations put the number of civilians in army-controlled Deir Ezzor at approximately 200,000, more than two thirds of them women and children. Recent UN reports say the figure is closer to 93,500 people. For comparison, the rebel-held enclave in eastern Aleppo had around 147,000 inhabitants before it fell in December 2016, according to recent UN estimates. Even beyond IS shelling and the corrupt and violent rule of al-Assad’s government, life in besieged Deir Ezzor has been grim. Electricity was cut in 2015 and though locally extracted oil and a makeshift refinery help fuel generators, they cannot continuously operate the full baseline infrastructure, such as water pumps. A year ago, according to the UN, drinking water was available only for three hours every seventh day. Some edible crops can be grown on the banks of the Euphrates, and other supplies are flown in by helicopter and perhaps smuggled across front lines, but many inhabitants struggle to feed their families. If Trump’s America shrinks humanitarian support, will China fill the void? In early 2016, meat sold at four times the cost in Damascus and the street price of bread was eight times higher. By then, a majority of inhabitants survived on a diet of bread and water only, and the UN had received reports of 15-20 deaths from starvation, though they could not be independently verified. To stave off disaster, the World Food Programme established an air bridge in April 2016 and has since conducted nearly 180 aid drops. January 2017 collapse Recently, the situation has deteriorated significantly. Two weeks into the new year, IS advances cut the government enclave in two. Airdrops were halted on 15 January, which sent food prices skyrocketing, although WFP said on Twitter that the deliveries had been restarted to an alternative site on 29 December. Worse, the lack of fuel has shut down the water pumps, leaving tens of thousands of civilians with nothing to drink but untreated river water from the Euphrates. Damascus is reportedly sending reinforcements to Deir Ezzor and Russian bombers are pounding IS positions day and night. But so far, they do not seem to have made much progress. For all of Moscow’s boasts about high-tech precision strikes, the Russian Air Force still seems to depend mainly on old-fashioned unguided bombs, albeit a lot of them. With that kind of support, al-Assad may turn the battle around, especially if the ceasefire that was elaborated upon in Astana holds and allows him to shift resources further east. But it is far from certain. IS may be able to prevent major reinforcements from reaching the city, and air superiority alone will not suffice to hold the city if al-Assad's foothold on the ground starts to slip. The enemy of my enemy? This raises a number of questions for the new US president, Donald Trump. From Washington’s point of view, the fall of Deir Ezzor is clearly undesirable: it would hand IS a symbolic victory while also freeing up its manpower for use against US-backed Kurdish or Iraqi fighters elsewhere. In the longer term, it would complicate American strategy even more, since it is difficult to envisage the Kurdish-dominated, US-backed coalition known as the Syrian Democratic Forces moving far enough into Arab lands to reach the city. While US military is already opportunistically striking IS targets around Deir Ezzor, it could of course make much more of a difference if it chose to. But it has no way of hurting IS in Deir Ezzor without helping al-Assad, and that was always seen as unacceptable under Barack Obama’s presidency. For years, US policy in Syria has been to isolate the Syrian president and squeeze him out of power, not to provide close air support to his army. Any move to help al-Assad with air strikes would complicate ties to Syrian rebels or regional states, and it could cause a stir in US politics as well. It would also likely be a thankless task. Despite thousands of US air strikes against IS in Syria, al-Assad and his allies still accuse Washington of secretly conspiring with the group. If the US were to send its air force to support vulnerable regime positions in eastern Syria, a likely outcome would be that al-Assad could use more of his own military to pummel rebels in western Syria – including US-backed groups. Nevertheless, during the election campaign of 2016, then-candidate Trump indicated that he would change the Syria policy of the United States. While he never produced a clear plan, Trump repeatedly hinted that he wants to scale down the campaign against al-Assad and focus more on IS, possibly in collaboration with Russian President Vladimir Putin. That still seems to be the policy. In his first phone call with Putin, now-president Trump promised to unite their forces against “international terrorism,” which likely refers to IS. If Trump does indeed wish to order a strategic shift in Syria and the strengthening of al-Assad is no longer viewed as an obstacle to joint action with the Russians, then keep an eye on eastern Syria – Deir Ezzor may well be the place for that collaboration to begin. al/as/ag (TOP PHOT
One of the Islamic State’s chief executioners — who beheaded more than 100 people with a long ceremonial sword — was shot to death during an ambush in Iraq, according to published reports. Abu Sayyaf, infamous for his beefy physique and pitch-black clothing that covered him from head to toe, was gunned down Sunday by several shooters who rode up to him in a car near Mosul, ARA News reported. The gunmen then sped away. http://nypost.com/2017/01/30/top-isi...ead-in-ambush/
seems to be okay now but likely was ill http://eaworldview.com/2017/01/syria-daily-reports-assad-suffered-mini-stroke-brain-clot/
Making bombs in dangerous you say? ISIS bomb expert accidentally blows himself up http://www.geopolmonitor.com/isis-bomb-expert-accidentally-blows/ Spoiler by GEOPOLMonitor Staff42 minutes ago Senior Islamic State terrorist Abu Abdullah killed himself and a fellow militant while laying a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) in Mosul, Iraq. Described as a senior bomb expert, Abdullah was a leader in the terrorist group, based in Iraq and Syria, and was reportedly responsible for dozens of previous detonations. During the Iraqi army’s advance through the city, Abdullah’s cell was focused on rigging buildings and road sections in an effort to inflict casualties on Iraqi troops. Local news outlets reported the death had been confirmed by a security official, who said that the terrorist was killed in the town of Shirqat, northern Iraq. Abdullah’s death marks yet another blow for the terrorist organization after a number of leading militants were killed in recent weeks. On Monday, reports emerged that the terror group’s chief decapitator had been stabbed to death in western Mosul. The jihadist, nicknamed Abu Sayyaf, was reportedly killed by unknown individuals west of the city of Nineveh. Meanwhile, Abu Abdel Rahman, an ISIS extremist who used a meat cleaver to kill women, was shot dead last week. The senior commander is believed to have been gunned down in the al-Askari neighborhood, which is yet to be wrestled from ISIS control. Earlier this week, Iraqi security and popular mobilization forces reportedly killed 42 Islamic State extremists in the area. Iraqi government forces, backed by popular mobilization forces, have been fighting the Islamic State terrorists out of Iraqi cities it took over in 2014, notably Mosul, half of which was recaptured by security forces on January 24th this year.
Assad meeting with far members of the Belgian parliament, seems to be okay SAA's best commander Suheil al-Hassan celebrating with his Tiger Forces
After ISIS falls how long til the Syrian govt and Tiger forces start killing off all of their other allies.
What are you referring to as other allies? Hezbollah, Liwa al Quds, and Iranian/Iraqi militias aren't gonna fight the SAA. The SAA and the SDF/Kurds are essentially neutral staying out of each other's way at this point but despite rhetoric one could easily see Assad turning on them once the rebels/ISIS are done. Not sure how much support he'd get from anyone other than maybe Turkey and no one knows how strong the SAA would be at that point, but conflict is always possible.
Russian airstrikes accidentally hit Turkish position but Putin has formally apologized, seems like everything is okay http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38919426
"The report is fake news/you can forge anything" "On the internet you can find pictures of terrorists who went to Europe" The contradictions are so blatant.
Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched a surprise offensive on Daraa called "Death Rather Than Humiliation" a few gains so far 2 SBVIED's used so far
Lololol Think spliff posted about this guy earlier. Omfg Listen to Episode 82 - War Is Heck feat. @PissPigGranddad (2/13/17) by Chapo Trap House #np on #SoundCloud
Why attack the Sufi? Blast hits Pakistan's Lal Shahbaz Qalandar Sufi shrine http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/...baz-qalandar-sufi-shrine-170216144747128.html Spoiler In Pakistan's deadliest attack in more than two years, a suicide bomber has struck a crowded Sufi shrine, killing almost 100 people including women and children. Hundreds of others were also wounded in Thursday's attack as they performed a ritual at the famous Lal Shahbaz Qalandar shrine in Sehwan in Sindh province. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group claimed responsibility for the blast via its Amaq propaganda website. Khadim Hussain, deputy inspector-general of Hyderabad police, told Al Jazeera that at least 75 people were killed and more than 200 were injured in the attack. At least 43 men, nine women and 20 children were among the victims. The death toll was feared to rise. Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said: "Hundreds are wounded and have been moved to local hospitals where the facilities aren't in the best shape." Sikandar Mandhro, Sindh's health minister, told Al Jazeera: "There was a huge crowd gathered there for the [religious ceremony] at the shrine, and there was a very big explosion. "The medical facilities at Sehwan are not equipped to deal with a very big emergency, so our first priority right now is to get help to the wounded." Police cordoned off the shrine following the attack [Wali Muhammed/Al Jazeera] The closest hospital to the shrine is around 70km away. Witness Nazakat Ali was praying when the bomb exploded. "The explosion happened, and everyone started running," he told Al Jazeera, speaking from a hospital in Sehwan. "We were pushed out, there were so many people. I saw blood. I saw people injured and dead bodies." Haider Ali, manager of a nearby hotel, told Al Jazeera that police sealed off the shrine. "Our security staff heard it," he said. "There are a lot of police and ambulances around now. It's complete chaos." Thousands gather at the shrine every Thursday to pray and participate in the Sufi tradition of "dhamaal", a form of devotional percussion and dance. The shrine, built in 1356, is by the tomb of Syed Muhammad Usman Marwandi, the Sufi philosopher poet better known as Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, one of Pakistan's most venerated saints. Each year, hundreds of thousands gather to celebrate "Urs", his death anniversary. Faisal Edhi, who heads the Edhi Foundation, told Al Jazeera that the place of worship was difficult to access because it is surrounded by narrow streets. "Ambulances have all been sent in from Hyderabad, Jamshoro, Dadu, Sukkur and Morho ... about 20 ambulances are headed in to help transfer patients to hospitals," he said as he was on his way to Sehwan. The Edhi Foundation operates ambulance services, orphanages, women’s shelters, dispensaries and morgues in several Pakistani cities. File: The shrine is busy on Thursdays as many come to worship and perform rituals [EPA] A police source in Sindh told Al Jazeera: "Police were present, but there were hundreds of people. There is obviously some lapse in security." In November, at least 52 people were killed in a suicide attack on a shrine to Sufi saint Shah Noorani in Balochistan province, in an attackclaimed by ISIL. Thursday's blast is the latest in a series of attacks across Pakistan since Monday, when 13 people were killed in a suicide bombing at a rally in the eastern city of Lahore. That attack was followed on Wednesday by a suicide bombing at a government office in the Mohmand tribal area and a suicide attack on government employees in Peshawar, killing six people. Devotees look at the blood-stained floor of the shrine [Yousuf Nagori/ AFP] Two police officers were killed on Tuesday while trying to defuse a bomb in the Balochistan provincial capital of Quetta. Asif Ghafoor, spokesman for Pakistan's army, blamed recent attacks on "hostile powers". Writing on Twitter, he said that recent "terrorist" attacks were executed on direction from hostile powers and from sanctuaries in Afghanistan. "We shall defend and respond," he said, later adding that the Pakistan-Afghanistan border was closed until further notice "due to security reasons". Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan's former president, took to Twitter to condemn the attack, calling the victims "innocent brotherly people of Pakistan". Thursday's attack was the deadliest in Pakistan since December 2014, when fighters assaulted a school in Peshawar, killing 154 people, mostly schoolchildren.
Mosul assault: Iraq troops make headway against IS http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-39018984
Kind of happy Trump has been too occupied with the nonsense bullshit he's dealing with to leave Iraq alone. Let the Iraqi forces keep fighting and winning.
4 Russian servicemen killed in car blast in Syria – MoD https://www.rt.com/news/377947-russian-servicemen-killed-syria/ Spoiler Four Russian servicemen were killed in Syria on February 16, when a radio controlled bomb targeting a Syrian military convoy exploded, the Russian Defense Ministry has said in a statement. Two other Russian servicemen were injured in the blast, the Ministry added. The vehicle had been part of a Syrian Army convoy traveling to the city of Homs from the Tiyas airfield in central Syria’s Homs Province. Russian military advisers were in the car when it blew up, according to the ministry’s statement. Read more Russian military adviser dies after ‘opposition’ shelling in Aleppo – MoD When the vehicle was some four kilometers (2.5 miles) from the airfield, a radio-controlled improvised explosive device (RCIED) went off under the vehicle, the ministry said. Since September 2015, when Moscow was invited by the Syrian government to take part in the anti-terrorist campaign, Russia has lost 26 servicemen in Syria, including the four recent victims, according to TASS estimates, based on Russian Defense Ministry statements. READ MORE: 2 Russian pilots killed as ISIS shoots down chopper near Palmyra – MoD In late December of last year, a ceasefire brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran was established in Syria. The Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Nusra Front terrorist groups are not included in the truce. The joint efforts of the three nations to bring peace to the war-torn country have been praised by UN Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura, who said “the ceasefire is holding more than previous ones.” READ MORE: Russia & Turkey-brokered Syria ceasefire has more chances than any other – UN Syria envoy Russia was recently actively involved in meetings on Syria in Astana, Kazakhstan, where several rounds of peace talks were held with the participation of Ankara and Tehran. The sides generally agreed on the details of how the cease fire should be monitored, Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov said. Efforts to convince more fighting groups to enter into talks with the Syrian government have also been ongoing.
You'd think they would learn to not stand out in the open right next to where their friend just got shot, but if I've learned anything from watching Middle East videos, it's that none of them have any tactical awareness.