The remaining HTS fighters near the Lebanese border are being bussed to Idlib after they agreed to a ceasefire with Hezbollah/SAA. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-lebanon-idUSKBN1AC0GN
How Syria’s War Economy Propels the Conflict The conflict in Syria has given way to a new class of nouveau riche, dominated by warlords and independent businessmen who benefit from the status quo, and may make it difficult for an international deal to be implemented locally, writes Syrian journalist Lina Sinjab. https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/community/2017/07/28/how-syrias-war-economy-propels-the-conflict Spoiler THE DYNAMICS OF Syria’s war economy mean that any deal on the international table might be hard to implement locally. The conflict has given rise to warlords on both sides of the conflict, who benefit personally from the status quo and provide important sources of funding to their backers. It is hard to see how they will give up the benefits they have acquired. Indeed, almost every detail in the war is being squeezed for profit. This is especially the case on the regime side, as many of the militiamen once known as “Shabiha,” who later became “popular committees,” then National Defense Forces, have turned into warlords. In doing so, they have capitalized on the authority they were given by the regime and as well as their possession of weapons to gain advantages and privileges. Most of these warlords come from poor minority sects and had been in the low income range before the conflict. Their involvement in the war turned them into a class of nouveau riche, with many going from earning 10,000 Syrian pounds a month (worth $200 before the war) to earning nearly 2 million Syrian pounds a month (nearly $4,000 in today’s rates). They appear to have no qualms about displaying signs of their newfound wealth: In Damascus, such individuals can be seen driving fancy cars and sitting in expensive cafes, indicating the rise of a new socioeconomic class in Syria. Their rapid wealth comes not from the top down but from the bottom up – the product of having been given the green light by the regime to earn whatever they can get however they can get it in return for loyalty. As such, they impose fines on people in areas they control. They also demand high ransoms that vary from a few thousand U.S. dollars to hundreds of thousands for businessmen they kidnap in areas under government control. The money is said to be shared up the command chain: the higher the rank, the bigger the cut. The war economy is also generating money for the regime through the handling of detainees. There are set fees these days for judges, lawyers and dealers who give families news about their detained children or help get these people out of detention centers or the chain of prisons or get charges of terrorism dropped. It has become known that it is easier to get out of prison if one took up arms against the government than if one protested peacefully. Some of the peaceful activists spend months in prison and their families pay thousands of dollars to get them out. In prison, if a detainee has money, they may be spared torture; if not, their fate is often unknown. The regime continues to receive financial aid from Iran to help it stay in power, but it is also making local deals to agree to send food or material to besieged areas. Douma, for example, gets its food supplies in exchange for exporting its dairy products to regime-held areas. The main broker there is al-Manfoush, known to be the king of dairy, while the main broker on the regime side is George Hasswani, who is also said to be the oil middleman between ISIS and the regime. The regime is additionally profiteering from cash transfers and currency exchanges. It is taxing the transfer of cash in U.S. dollars, whether sent directly from Syrians living abroad to their families inside or through brokers that help get money into besieged areas. The middlemen who get the foreign currencies into besieged areas get a cut of the deals. In government-controlled areas, any transaction that is sent from abroad in U.S. dollars is only paid in local currency with the exchange rate set by the government. All employees, including those in the private sector and local U.N. staff, are only allowed to earn their salaries in Syrian pounds. All these exchanges allow the government to get more cash in hard currencies. Sieges are another money-making method for the regime. The exchange rate in besieged areas is tighter than in government-controlled areas. The dollar exchange rate in Damascus is around 500 Syrian pounds per incoming dollar while it is 430 Syrian pounds in besieged eastern Ghouta. The fees to send money to besieged areas also increase the longer the sieges last. In besieged Ghouta, while the fee was 3 percent for any transfer in 2016, it jumped to reach 22 percent in February this year when the siege was tightened. (It is now at 10 percent.) There are also the tunnels that are dug to smuggle people and goods in and out of besieged areas in which everything has a price. The cost of smuggling a family out of Ghouta reached $6,000 at one point, all paid to government militias or fighters and sometimes shared with rebels who are in charge of their end of the tunnel. Syria is additionally witnessing the rise of a number of businessmen who have monopolies over different lines of business, whether food, oil, imports or local sales. Checkpoint personnel have control over everything that crosses their point, such as personal belongings, production material or even aid convoys. One of the checkpoints near eastern Ghouta is known as the “million pound checkpoint,” which generates 1 million Syrian pounds a day in fees and smuggling goods, or people, in and out. The profits to be made from reconstruction, of course, will provide even more opportunities for enrichment. It is already said that some names close to the regime have been given promises of particular projects, some of which have already started in areas around Damascus. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Syria Deeply.
Desert Hawks are maybe the most powerful Syrian regime supporting militia, speaks to concepts in the article right above. They plundered Aleppo after it was conquered and were more interested in spoils than fighting. Regime definitely needs the manpower, whoever wants to keep fighting.
Could be start of new HTS led Hama offensive which would probably bring the SAA Tiger Forces back from their offensive to relieve besieged Deir ez Zor
Rebels continue killing each other in East Ghouta just making it easier for the SAA to eventually re-take the area.
pictures of jet, not confirmed it was shot down or some other failure but the SyAAF planes are all really old and in rough shape Tunnel bomb destroys regime held building
There have been a few AMAs of former/defected SyAAF pilots who described the horrible conditions of the SyAAF, it's a miracle those things aren't crashing every day.
The international coalition forces carry out their second landing operation in western Deir Ezzor within a week http://en.deirezzor24.net/the-inter...peration-in-western-deir-ezzor-within-a-week/ Spoiler Date: 30 / 8 / 2017 The coalition forces carried out a landing operation in the western countryside of Deir Ezzor in the afternoon. A D24 correspondent said that the landing operation was carried out at 5.00 pm by three helicopters belonging to the coalition in the area of Al-Sawh southwest the town of Al-Massrab and near the Madhul highway. He added that the operation has resulted in the evacuation of some coalition agents who were in the ranks of Daesh. It should be noted that the coalition carried out a landing operation south of the mine of salt in western Deir Ezzor days ago, during which they managed to evacuate two of their spies, along with their families, (European nationals) who infiltrated the ranks of Daesh and were working for the IC. SDF captured big parts of Nahdah, Al-Huni and Thakanah districts and besieged al-Tashih and Moroor districts
About all I know is that it fills a similar role to the F16. The Flanker is probably a better over all aircraft (especially the new ones) but the Fulcrum is cheaper and a better dog fighter.
Iraq readies to retake Islamic State bastion near Syria border http://www.hindustantimes.com/world...yria-border/story-6RZV97uRxWNE84TjzhClqK.html
Al-Qaeda is a sunni extremist group. Iran is a Shia nation. They aren't supporting Al-Qaeda. They did however back Shia militia groups like the Mahdi army which attacked US troops in Iraq. Hell there was a civil war in Iraq in 06-07 between Al-Qaeda and Iran proxies.
Right but as that said, the Sunni Jihadists started getting out of control almost immediately after the occupation and it resulted in a civil war in Iraq. Tacit support by letting Sunni extremists operate in your territory is different than giving them material support. We all know that AQI went into Syria and became ISIL, but that isn't because Assad was actively courting them.
Jihadists launch big attack on Syrian government near Hama http://www.reuters.com/article/us-m...-on-syrian-government-near-hama-idUSKCN1BU0JY Spoiler BEIRUT (Reuters) - Jihadists launched an offensive against government-held parts of northwestern Syria near Hama on Tuesday in their biggest attack there since March, triggering heavy air strikes on rebel territory, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. It said air strikes hit three hospitals, a medical center and premises used by a rescue service in rebel-held Idlib. A Syrian military source denied the report, saying only insurgent convoys and positions had been hit. The insurgent attack north of Hama revived hostilities in the northwestern region near the Turkish border that has been relatively calm in recent months as Russian-led diplomacy seeks to shore up ceasefires in western Syria. Islamist militants who hold sway in Idlib reject the diplomacy, including a tripartite deal struck last week by Moscow, Tehran and Ankara to deploy an observer force on the edge of an Idlib “de-escalation zone”. A Syrian army source cited by state media said the attack launched on several fronts was being repelled, and the insurgents had suffered losses. “The clashes are continuing and the air force and artillery are targeting the headquarters and movements of the terrorist convoys in the area,” said the source. An insurgent source told Reuters that rebels were making advances in the northern Hama countryside, in an area where President Bashar al-Assad and his allies have been steadily rolling back rebel gains over the last two years. The Observatory said insurgents taking part in the assault included Tahrir al-Sham, the jihadist Turkistan Islamic Party, and rebels fighting under the banner of the Free Syrian Army. They had captured four villages, it said. The ex-Nusra Front, which cut ties with al Qaeda and rebranded last year, spearheads the Tahrir al-Sham alliance of Islamist groups. A media outlet run by the Damascus-allied Lebanese group Hezbollah said Syrian army air strikes were targeting insurgents in the northern Hama and southern Idlib area. Insurgents advanced to within a few km (miles) of government-held Hama city earlier this year, before the Syrian army and its allies retook the territory in April. Ceasefire deals in western Syria - for years the main theater of the war - have helped the Syrian army and its allies advance against Islamic State in the east, where government forces are battling IS in Deir al-Zor. A U.S.-backed militia force, the Syrian Democratic Forces, is waging a separate offensive against Islamic State in Deir al-Zor province, focusing on areas on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River. The rival forces have generally stayed out of each other’s way, with the river often acting as a dividing line. Syrian government forces and their allies have however crossed into the SDF’s area of operations on the eastern bank of in recent days. The Hezbollah-run media unit said on Tuesday that government forces and their allies captured a village and parts of the nearby town of Khasham on the eastern bank. Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said Syrian soldiers, with Russian air power, “continued to expand the captured area” in recent days. ”Despite the persistent resistance of ISIS (Islamic State) fighters, Syrian troops managed to free more than 60 square kilometers of terrorists on the left bank of the Euphrates,” he said.