ISIS update 2/16/2016..Syrian Army Is Now 15 Kilometres Away From Cutting ISIS in Half
Saudi Arabia Threatens to Remove Assad ‘By FORCE’
Provocative Saudi-Led Regional Military Exercises
http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2016/02/provocative-saudi-led-regional-military.html
by Stephen Lendman
Saudi Arabia’s support for ISIS and other terrorist groups, as part of Washington’s regional imperial agenda, threatens world peace and security.
According to the state-controlled Saudi Press Agency (SPA), 20 Middle East and North African countries will participate in Ra’ad Al-Shamal (Thunder of the North) military exercises.
They’re being held at King Khald Military City in Hafr Al-Batin in northern Saudi Arabia.
Participating countries include Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Bahrain, Senegal, Sudan, Kuwait, Maldives, Morocco, Pakistan, Chad, Tunisia, Comoros, Djibouti, Oman, Qatar, Malaysia, Egypt, Mauritania, and Mauritius – along with what Riyadh calls the Peninsula shield forces.
Not coincidentally timed with Riyadh’s hostile anti-Assad threats, the exercises are clearly provocative, SPA calling them “the largest of (their) kind in terms of the number of countries with the participation of 20 Arab, Islamic and friendly countries.”
They involve “ground, air and naval forces,” sending a “clear message,” indicating Riyadh will “confront all challenges” – at a time the only regional threats are ones it created and fosters, allied with Washington’s imperial agenda and other rogue states supporting it.
Rejuvenated Syrian forces along with Russian air power are a formidable deterrent against any potential foreign invaders.
Government troops head closer to liberating Aleppo. They seized control over Raqqa province’s strategic heights. They control the Salamiyah-Raqqa road, leading directly to ISIS’ self-declared capital.
They cut its main supply route to Hama province. Their fighters were forced to flee toward the Raqqa/Hama border. Intense fighting rages. Tabaqah airbase in southwest Raqqa province is close to being liberated.
Controlling Aleppo and Raqqa provinces are key Syrian objectives. Achieving them will be major government victories, the most important ones since Obama’s war began.
They’ll deal a significant defeat to Washington’s regional imperial agenda. Syria’s liberation, if achieved, could be a fatal one.
Syria ground operation could lead to full-fledged war
What Turkey & Saudi Arabia Aim to Gain with Possible Ground Invasion in Syria
KSA, Turkey get cold feet on Syria troops
http://presstv.ir/Detail/2016/02/16/450600/Syria-Saudi-Arabia-Turkey-ground-operations
Saudi Arabia and Turkey appear to be backpedaling on rhetoric to launch ground operations inside Syria, with officials saying they would wait for a go-ahead from the US and to see if a planned ceasefire transpires.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Tuesday Turkey will continue to take preventative measures to avoid becoming involved in the war in Syria.
He made the remarks in an address to members of his ruling AK Party in parliament as Turkey’s military shelled a Syrian city across the border for the fourth straight day.
Both Turkey and Saudi Arabia have said they were waiting for a US nod after announcing their bid for ground operations inside Syria.
Moscow and Washington said on Sunday Russian President Vladimir Putin and and US President Barack Obama spoke by phone about a possible ceasefire.
The Kremlin said the phone call was at Washington’s initiative, and that the two leaders agreed to implement an agreement reached in Munich to determine the technicalities of a Syria ceasefire.
On Tuesday, a Turkish official said Ankara would not launch an offensive in Syria on its own, even though it thought “there should be a ground operation.”
“Turkey is not going to have a unilateral ground operation. We are asking coalition partners that there should be a ground operation. We are discussing this with allies,” the official told reporters at a briefing in Istanbul.
The official, however, said four Saudi jets to will be deployed to Turkey’s Incirlik air base by end of February, which indicates earlier claims of warplanes having already been deployed to the base were not true.
Defense Minister Ismet Yilmaz had said on Sunday that Ankara had no intention of intervening in Syria.
Meanwhile, a Saudi diplomat said the kingdom was “very serious” about sending ground troops into Syria, but would wait to see if the planned truce would take effect, The Independent reported.
The unnamed diplomat said Saudi Arabia and Turkey were largely “on the same page” concerning the potential deployment and that Saudi officials had discussed the possibility with Prime Minister Davutoglu.
“Turkey isn’t against the ground troops, but they want to say ‘we gave the peace process a chance,’” added the diplomat, whose name was not published.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, meanwhile, said, “The kingdom’s readiness to provide special forces to any ground operations in Syria is linked to a decision to have a ground component to this… US-led coalition.”
Syrian Army Begins Major Advance into ISIS HQ Raqqa
Syrian Army Is Now 15 Kilometres Away From Cutting ISIS in Half
http://russia-insider.com/en/syrian-army-now-15-kilometres-away-cutting-isis-half/ri12841
Since direct Russian military intervention in Syria began in September 2015, expressed in terms of area size Damascus has not been able to re-capture much of Syria’s territory. However, the ground that it has recaptured has been in key sectors so that the value of the gains has been considerably greater than its acreage might imply.
Firstly, it recaptured territory in Latakia on the approaches of Syria’s Alawite coast – thus giving the region and the community that has bled disproportionately in the Syrian armed forces some breathing space and alleviated the sense of crisis and siege. This allows at least Syria’s Alawite soldiers and officers fighting on other fronts to do so in the knowledge that their families and villages back home are relatively safe.
https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/Ca4Qx42WcAAnOMT.mp4
Secondly, it made sufficient gains around Aleppo as to cut off the crucial Azaz corridor that served as the rebels’ main bloodline from Turkey. This has also allowed the Kurds’ of Afrin enclave to make gains of their own. Indeed, backed up by Russian airstrikes, they look set on mopping up the remnants of the Azaz corridor by pocketing up Tal Rifat and Azaz.
Recently, however, while all eyes have been on Aleppo, the Syrian army has also made gains in the eastern direction taking ground from ISIS. A number of commentators have noted the new gains are in the direction of ISIS’ headquarters in Raqqah, and it well may be that this is the final goal of the efforts.
However, it should be noted that loyalist forces do not actually have to reach Raqqah to score a major victory.
A cursory glance at the map will reveal with the Kobani region along with the crucial Tishreen Dam (an important crossing) firmly in Kurdish hands, a large swathe of ISIS-held territory in northern Syria has only one remaining road connection to the rest of ISIS-held territory left.
That connection runs through a narrow corridor south of Lake Assad that at its thinnest is less than 15 kilometres wide. If the Syrian army can cover those last 15 kilometres and reach the beaches of the lake at Al Tabqah (also Al-Thawrah), then even that last connection will be lost.
In that situation the only remaining way for ISIS to move back and forth would be across Lake Assad itself which is certainly possible to do – but it’s safe to say that if that happened on any meaningful scale the Russian air force in Syria would have a turkey shoot.
Of course, there is no guarantee that the Syrian army can perform this feat any time soon – in some cases 15 kilometres may as well be a thousand.
However, if the trend where the Syrian army makes only small territorial gains but makes them where they count the most then the situation around Al Tabqah to the south of Lake Assad may be the one to keep an eye on.
http://russia-insider.com/sites/insider/files/styles/h500/public/Lake_Assad.jpg?itok=6nb8waWc
“Ground incursion will have global repercussion”
Turkey Bomb Azaz Hospital & Blame Russia
Kurdish Forces of YPG & YPJ liberate Tal Rifat North Aleppo
EU, Russia & US call on Turkey to stop shelling Kurdish Forces
Syrian army makes more gains around Aleppo
Syria: SAA/Hezbollah Operations in N. Aleppo: Misqan & Ihras
Russian Su 24′s dropping huge cluster bombs on Islamist strongpoints in Aleppo on February14 2016
Syrian Army Captures Ahras in northern Aleppo
Aleppo City: YPG & YPJ attack Al Nusra
Kurdish Forces in Til Rifat North of Aleppo
Turkey Vows “Harshest Reaction” To Kurdish Advance In Syria As Missiles Hit Hospitals, School
Over the weekend, the biggest story in the geopolitical world was Turkey’s escalation in Syria.
With the Sunni-backed opposition on its last legs in Aleppo and under near constant bombardment by Russia from the air and Hezbollah on the ground, Ankara and Riyadh have a decision to make: intervene or allow the rebellion to be crushed.
We’ve spilled quite a bit of digital ink explaining why allowing the rebels to be routed really isn’t an option. It would represent a key victory for Iran at a time when the country is already on a roll. International sanctions have been lifted, oil revenue is set to quintuple by year end, and Tehran’s grip on Iraqis military and politicians is stronger than ever. A victory in Syria would be an embarrassment for the Saudis who have funded and armed the opposition and a win at Aleppo would give the Iranians sectarian bragging rights at a time when tensions between Riyadh and Tehran are already running high thanks to the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
And so, with the stakes high, the Saudis sent warplanes to Turkey’s Incirlik air base and Turkey promised an imminent “escalation.” The problem, we said, is this: somehow, Turkey and Saudi Arabia need to figure out how to spin an attack on the YPG and an effort to rescue the opposition at Aleppo as an anti-ISIS operation even though ISIS doesn’t have a large presence in the area.
Well that problem hasn’t been solved, but Turkey doesn’t seem to care. Ankara began shelling YPG positions over the weekend at Menagh air base, which the Kurds seized from Turkey-backed rebels just days ago.
Turkey claims this is about self defense. Erdogan equates the YPG (which is supported overtly by the US) with the PKK, Ankara’s arch enemy that’s recognized by Washington as a “terrorist” group.
The YPG have consolidated gains in northern Syria and are essentially trying to bridge the territory they hold east of the Euphrates with their territory in the west. That, Turkey says, isn’t going to happen. “YPG elements were forced away from around Azaz. If they approach again they will see the harshest reaction,” Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday. “We will not allow Azaz to fall.”
Of course Azaz already “fell” – to Islamist rebels backed by the Turks who are aiming to usurp the government of a sovereign state.
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user92183/imageroot/2016/02/09/AzazMap_0.png
In any event, more than a dozen civilians were killed in Azaz on Monday when missiles hit a children’s hospital. “At least 14 civilians were killed when missiles hit a children’s hospital, a school and other locations in the rebel-held Syrian town of Azaz near the Turkish border,” Reuters reports. “At least five missiles hit the hospital in the town center and a nearby school, where refugees fleeing a major Syrian army offensive were sheltering [and] another refugee shelter south of the town was also hit by bombs dropped by jets believed to be Russian.”
Yes, the jets are “believed to be Russian,” although Davutoglu just finished explaining how the YPG will face “the harshest reaction” if it advances on the town.
We suppose it’s not at all possible that the Turkish army made a little targeting “mistake” with some mortars.
Also on Monday, another MSF affiliated hospital was destroyed in Idlib. “This appears to be a deliberate attack on a health structure,” Massimiliano Rebaudengo, the Doctors Without Borders head of mission in Syria said. “The destruction of the hospital leaves the local population of around 40,000 people without access to medical services in an active zone of conflict.”
“We have been moving scores of screaming children from the hospital,” one medic said.
According to Davutoglu, the school and the hospital were hit by “a Russian ballistic missile.” The PM also said Russia and the YPG have closed the “humanitarian border” north of Aleppo. In reality, Russia and Iran have closed Turkey’s supply line to the rebels. It has nothing to do with “humanitarian aid.” Moscow and Tehran have no interest in starving the people of Aleppo. They do, however, have an interest in starving the rebels of guns.
That’s what the weekend’s hostilities were all about. Turkey hasn’t figured out exactly how to intervene at Aleppo without getting into an open confrontation with Russia, but everyone knows Erdogan hates the YPG, so Ankara figured shelling the Syrian Kurds advancing on Azaz from the west would effectively kill two birds with one stone: it would help keep supply lines to the rebels open, and some Kurds would be killed in the process. And no one, Turkey figures, is going to get too bent out of shape about it because let’s face it, Turkey has been shelling the Kurds in Syria for months anyway.
Whoever was responsible for the multiple civilian casualties that unfolded across the country on Monday, it’s not going to deter the Russians from routing the opposition… er… “the terrorists.” “We are fighting with the terrorist groups (Islamic State), Nusra Front, and others linked to al Qaeda,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Gennady Gatilov said in an interview with Der Spiegel. “Strikes on terrorist groups will continue in any case, even if a cease-fire is agreed upon in Syria.”
“Moscow’s aim is to leave the international community with just two options in Syria: President Bashar al-Assad or Islamic State,” Davutoglu said on Monday.
Why, one might fairly ask, does the “international community” have a say in this at all? Had Syria been left to handle its own affairs five years ago, we wouldn’t be in this mess and the world wouldn’t be teetering on the edge of a global conflict. Well, at least not over Syria.
Russia rejects reports its missiles killed civilians
Turkish fighters take large part of town in Syria
Army makes fresh gains across Syria
S-300: Turkey & Erdogan’s Nightmare in Syria
Turkey says it’s ‘shocked’ by US position on Syrian Kurds
AA military operations and progress in Darayya
Pres. Assad: Fighting terrorism is priority for Syria
Syrian FM: Govt. committed to talks without preconditions
“Daesh militants are CIA, Mossad mercenaries”
Russia’s Plan to Blackmail OPEC at the Secret Qatar Meeting on Tuesday
Nothing will happen barring Saudi Arabia and Qatar meeting one condition:
Saudi Arabia and Qatar must cut all support for ISIS and anti-Assad rebels immediately. Then and only then will Russia agree to a reduction in publicly available output which impacts oil prices on a global scale.
The reason this is they key issue Russia is holding over the Bedouin Beggars of the Arabian Peninsula is that Iranian and Syrian forces, along with Iraqi militias and Russian air and special forces support are about to eradicate pro-Turkish and anti-Assad forces in the North, South near Damascus, and then continue to march towards the ISIS capital of Raqqa. With ISIS cut off from its Saudi/Qatari funding and Turkish resupply, Assad’s military can quickly finish the job of ejecting the majority of terrorist revolutionaries from his territory and eradicate any further threats.
The wildcard will be if Saudi Arabia and Qatar do not have enough influence to force Turkey to stand down as this annihilation occurs. If they can not, there will be no output cut by Russia or its allies in the emerging new non-aligned movement. While most U.S. analysts focus on foreign currency reserves and economic conditions in Saudi Arabia and Russia, the reality is that Putin is making a calculated move once and for all to reduce American influence in the region and stabilize Assad’s reign while humiliating Erdogan and Obama in one shot.
If the Saudis fail to all into line and agree with this, then in the end, Russia will redouble its output and commitment to eradicating any pro-Sunni radical groups inside of Syria up to and possibly including shooting down Saudi aircraft operating over Syria without prior authorization.
It’s the culminating moment of a game of chess that has been in motion for several months now and Putin is ready to declare “checkmate!”
Saudi Arabia, Russia Agree on Oil Output Freeze
Ex-Security Chief: Russia to Launch Airstrikes on Turkish, Saudi Troops in Syria
300 Terrorists Killed in Russian, Syrian Air Assault Near Border with Turkey
Aleppo: Kurdish Fighters Capture Vast Areas, Kill Senior Militant Commander in Tel Rifat
Terrorists Agree to Surrender Key City to Kurds in Lieu of Safe Passage
Russia Has Just Deployed Its Most Advanced Spyplane to Syria
Syrian Army Wins back Power Plant near Kuweires Airbase
Syrian Army Pushing ISIL Back West of Aleppo’s Internationally Known Kuweires Airbase
Source: http://blogdogcicle.blogspot.com/2016/02/isis-update-2162016syrian-army-is-now.html
