Syria Updates/Intel

[PAF]

Trump Is A Pied Piper For The New World Order Agenda


The con game is to get liberty advocates to invest themselves fully in Trump, to the point that we end up owning every mistake he makes, and every disaster that is pinned on him. There is a concerted propaganda campaign targeting the liberty movement which is telling us that Trump is playing “4D Chess;” that Trump is planning a “coup” against the banking elites, that Trump is planning to bring down the Fed as a means to save the U.S., and even that Trump is working with Jerome Powell to crash the globalist system as a means to “restore the Republic.”

While Trump throws a bone to conservatives at times, including promises of a border wall, or a pull-out in Syria, there is no evidence to support the fantasy that Trump is some kind of ingenious tactician battling the forces of evil using his wits while inside the system. But, there is considerable evidence as I have linked above supporting my position that Trump is controlled opposition working with the globalists to initiate a collapse that will be blamed on conservative ideals and limited government liberty activists. We shall see in due course. It is unfortunate though how many otherwise very intelligent people within the liberty movement have bought into Trump as a hero on a white horse.

The activists and alternative media are the real heroes. They are the people that pushed liberty philosophy into the mainstream. Trump merely rode the wave that they created. Even if he was a legitimate conservative and constitutionalist (which he is not), the movement doesn’t need his leadership. It never did. The globalists know this and hope to chain us to Trump as he sinks into historical oblivion, destroying us all in the process.

We were discussing this topic in our liberty group.

Promoting gun bans and due process later, “Stop & Frisk”, that pathetic Omnibus he promised not to sign but did, anti-Free Market “forced unionization” in the upcoming USMCA (precursor to North American Union), never mentioning a word about Common Core, NSA, Domestic TSA, or ending any of them, and this Eminent Domain across the entire state of Texas that is devastating communities, businesses/workers and Property Rights, affecting $1 Billion PER DAY between US/Mexico.

I know unemployment numbers are being flaunted at +/- 4% but anybody with a brain who looks at actual data knows that the true numbers are at least triple that.

Perhaps some jobs will be created building the prison wall, steel workers, laborers, etc. Perhaps more jobs will be created down the road for domestic TSA and other “security” apparatus. But to us that is no way to live or want to live, certainly not by expanding Fed ownership and employing more government workers.

Will he walk back pulling out of Syria after talking a good game? Will troops be transplanted to Central and South America to further the spread of this empirical cancer and the MIC “security” apparatus? He promised Biometrics for all people (U.N. stated goal) and it has already begun, instead of speaking directly to the American people about preserving our very Bill of Rights.

And the republicans love this guy. And the democrats hate this guy. Even though both “parties” feed off of each other behind closed doors sinking the people and this country (and other countries) further into slavery.

And not a word about Welfare. All I see out this guy is the same as his predecessors: more reliance on government and government “fixes”.

Whether Trump serves another term or not, the people have not woke enough to figure out that the other party will simply pick up where he left off. Just as he picked up from where Obama left off, and Bush before him. It is not the presidency, but rather the People.

[RonZeplin]

Syria - Turkey Fails In Idleb, Is Unwilling To Take The Northeast

The neoconservatives in the Trump administration, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, National Security Advisor John Bolton and the Syria envoy James Jeffery, are scrambling to save their plans for Syria that President Trump disposed of when he ordered a complete retreat.

Those plans were for a permanent U.S. occupation of northeast Syria, the reduction of Iranian influence within the government held parts of Syria and an eventual disposal of the Syrian government under President Assad through negotiations. These were unicorn aims that had no chance to ever be achieved.

Moreover Trump had never signed off on these ideas. Back in April he had announced that he wanted U.S. troops out of Syria. He gave his staff six month to achieve that. But instead of following those orders Pompeo and Bolton tried to implement their own plans:

Late last year, some of the president’s hawkish advisers drafted a memo committing the United States to a longer-term presence in Syria that included goals of an enduring defeat of the Islamic State, a political transition and the expulsion of Iran, officials said. The president has not signed the memo, which was presented to him weeks ago.

In fact, Trump had warned his aides for months that he wanted out of Syria in short order.
...
Bolton’s Iran plan never really took effect at the Pentagon, where officials were not officially tasked with any new mission in addition to the operation against the Islamic State. Military officials likewise viewed Iran’s expansion into Syria as problematic, but they were skeptical about the lack of a clear legal justification that would be required for offensive military action against Iranian-backed forces.

Trump recognized that those plans were nonsense and ordered to end them. In that process he came up with a likewise unicorn idea - to hand northeast Syria to Turkey to fight the already defeated Islamic State. Turkey does not want northeast Syria. It does not want to risk a bloody war against the Kurds that would be required to sustain such an occupation.


bigger

The only appropriate solution is to hand control of northeast Syria (yellow) back to the Syrian government (red). Damascus would disarm the Kurds or integrate them within its national army. They would be under control and no longer a threat to Turkey. Everyone could live with such an easy solution.

Everyone but the neocons.

Today National Security Advisor Bolton is on his way to Israel to cook up new plans:

A Trump administration official told reporters traveling with Bolton that Bolton intended to discuss the pace of the drawdown, as well as American troop levels in the region. Bolton was expected to explain that some U.S. troops based in Syria to fight IS will shift to Iraq with the same mission and that some American forces may remain at a key military outpost in al-Tanf, in southern Syria, to counter growing Iranian activity in the region. Bolton’s also was to convey the message that the United States will be “very supportive” of Israeli strikes against Iranian targets in Syria, ...

I bet that neither of those points was signed off by Trump. The publication of these ideas is another attempt by Bolton to push his personal policies to the front.
Erdogan, asked by Trump to take northeast Syria but unwilling to do so, raised demands that the U.S. is unlikely to fulfill:

Turkey is asking the U.S. to provide substantial military support, including airstrikes, transport and logistics, to allow Turkish forces to assume the main responsibility for fighting Islamic State militants in Syria, senior U.S. officials say. The Turkish requests are so extensive that, if fully met, the American military might be deepening its involvement in Syria instead of reducing it, the officials added.

Bolton will later fly to Ankara and discuss the Turkish plans:

Participants will include White House national security adviser John Bolton; Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs; and James Jeffrey, the State Department envoy for Syria. One U.S. official said the administration is unlikely to provide all of the military support the Turks are seeking, especially on air support.

Without U.S. air support Erdogan can not attack northeast Syria. The Turkish air force is weak. Many of its experienced pilots were fired for alleged support and involvement in the coup against Erdogan. The airforce is unable to provide the necessary 24/7 support its soldiers would need. There is also strife within the Turkish army command. If he would order an attack, Erdogan would only go for the Kurdish areas along the northern border, not for the Islamic State. That again is something the U.S. does not want at all:

Many experts and officials also fear the Turks may target Kurdish fighters who have long provided the U.S. with solid support in the campaign against Islamic State militants and endured considerable loss of life.

To try to mitigate these risks, Mr. Jeffrey, the State Department envoy, is seeking to forge an arrangement with the Turks that would allow them to enter northern Syria while avoiding largely Kurdish areas, say U.S. officials familiar with the plans.

Mr. Jeffrey and his State Department team have created a color-coded map of northeastern Syria in an attempt to negotiate a power-sharing plan that could avert a costly Turkish-Kurdish fight in the area. ... One former U.S. official described the map as “Sykes-Picot on acid,” ...

The idea is delusional. There are no borders between Kurds, Arabs and other ethnicities in northwest Syria. The populations is mixed. Only the ethnic percentages vary from town to town. Implementing the idea would lead to ethic cleansing and an everlasting war.

The Kurds are no longer willing to follow the U.S. lead.

Mr. Jeffrey has asked Gen. Mazloum Abdi, the Kurdish commander of Syrian fighters, to hold off on making any deals with President Bashar al-Assad’s government while the Trump administration tries to develop its strategy.

"F*ck you," said General Abdi, as the Kurds continue to negotiate:

[Swordsmyth]

The main U.S.-backed group in Syria says it has handed over IS fighters and civilians from Kazakhstan to their country.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said in a statement Monday that those handed over to authorities in their country are five fighters, 11 women and 30 children.
The SDF said they were repatriated on Saturday adding that it came after discussions with security authorities in Kazakhstan.
The SDF, that is a main force fighting extremists in Syria, has apprehended more than 700 non-Syrian IS fighters in addition to their families over the past years.
The group is now trying to remove extremists from the last area the control in eastern Syria near the border with Iraq.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/latest-is...153328429.html

[Swordsmyth]

Russian military police have started patrolling the surroundings of the northern Syrian Kurdish-held town of Manbij.
A representative for the military police told reporters Tuesday that Russia's mission is to ensure safety in the Manbij area, and monitor moves of militant groups.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/latest-trump-...085331052.html

[pcosmar]

Finally,,

Seeing movement.. withdrawal.

some anyway..

Confusion and conflict in orders being blamed,,,

but I think they have been made aware they are in the way,, and will be treated as such.

anyway,,, some withdrawal movement is happening.

[Swordsmyth]

On Friday Turkey's Anadolu news agency reported Turkey has deployed tanks on the border along Syria's Idlib province. Turkey's defense minister further announced preparations for an invasion of Syrian Kurdish enclaves east of the Euphrates "continues intensely".
"We have Manbij, and the east of Euphrates ahead. Necessary planning was made regarding this. Our preparation continues intensely," Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said while inspecting troops near the border with Syria, according to Anadolu.


Turkey has billed its plans as a "counter terror" op, with the defense minister noting dubiously, "We have no problems with our Kurdish brothers, Arab brothers in Syria, Turkmens and other ethnic and religious groups. Our only targets are terrorists Daesh and PKK/YPG."
Turkey has for months stated plans to eradicate the presence of the Kurdish YPG, which it considers a terror extension of the outlawed PKK, from near Turkey's borders.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...-syrian-border

[Swordsmyth]

Syrian state media are reporting that air defense units have responded to "hostile targets" near the capital of Damascus.
State TV said in its Friday night report that explosions were clearly heard in Damascus.

Israeli drones and warplanes were heard flying Friday afternoon over Lebanon.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/latest-russia...102938572.html

[Swordsmyth]

Turkish troops and tanks carried out military exercises on the border with Syria on Saturday, state-run media reported, while a monitoring group said a Turkish convoy had crossed the frontier into northern Syria.Turkey's military sent tanks and armored vehicles to the border in the second day of reinforcements near the province of Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in Syria.
On Friday, a Turkish security source said the Turkish army had been rotating forces in and out of the region, and declined to say whether the latest movement was in preparation for an operation inside Syria itself.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a U.K.-based monitoring group, said a Turkish convoy had entered Syria.
Islamist fighters have tightened their control over the Idlib region following more than a week of fighting with Turkey-backed Syrian rebels.
The rise of the jihadist Hayat Tahrir al Sham has raised doubt over the future of a deal agreed in September between Turkey - which has several military observation posts in Idlib - and President Bashar al-Assad's main ally Russia to avert a Syrian government army assault. The agreement requires banned Islamist groups to be expelled from a frontline buffer zone.
The escalation in Idlib comes as U.S. forces prepare to withdraw from a separate region of northern and eastern Syria.
Earlier on Saturday, the Turkish defense minister, chief of general staff and the intelligence agency head visited border military units and discussed "measures to establish peace and stability in the region," the ministry said in a statement.
"We are making every effort to preserve the ceasefire and stability in Idlib, in line with the Sochi agreement. Our close cooperation with Russia continues," Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said.
Akar's comments came a day after Russia said it remained committed to the agreement it had struck with Turkey to stabilize a de-escalation zone in Idlib, but said Moscow was worried by an increase in the number of ceasefire violations.


https://news.yahoo.com/turkey-sends-...143129750.html

[Swordsmyth]

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged on Sunday Israel's weekend attack on what he called an Iranian arms cache in Syria, and said it had also completed a hunt for cross-border tunnels dug by Tehran-allied Lebanese Hezbollah fighters.Long wary of publicity around its operations against Iran-linked targets on its northern front, Israel has lifted the veil in recent days -- a sign of confidence in a campaign waged amid occasional tensions with Syria's big-power backer, Russia.
Netanyahu may also be playing up his security credentials as he seeks re-election on April 9. That possibility appeared reinforced by figures he gave on Sunday that went beyond more measured information previously provided by other officials.
"We have been taking action with impressive success to arrest Iran's military entrenchment in Syria," Netanyahu told his cabinet in televised remarks. He said this entailed "hundreds" of attacks over the past several years of Syria's civil war, in which Iran and Hezbollah have backed Damascus against rebels and Islamist insurgents.
Last week, an observer in Netanyahu's security cabinet, Tzachi Hanegbi, told a local TV station there had been "more than 220" Israeli operations against Iranian targets in Syria.
Confirming a Friday night sortie in Syria, Netanyahu said Israel's air force had "struck Iran's warehouses, containing Iranian arms, in Damascus international airport".
Syrian state media said at the time of the attack that the damage was limited to a hit on a warehouse at Damascus airport.
Netanyahu also cited "the successful completion" of an Israeli search-and-dismantle mission against suspected Hezbollah attack tunnels from Lebanon that was launched in December.
The Israeli military said a sixth and final tunnel was found on Saturday, 55 meters (yards) deep and reaching "a few tens of meters" into Israel from 800 meters within Lebanon.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/israel-says-c...074151566.html

[Swordsmyth]

The Syrian government hopes dialogue with Syrian Kurdish groups will intensify, a minister said on Sunday, signaling support for talks the Kurds hope will lead to a political deal between two of the main players in the multi-sided war.The Kurds have sought Russian meditation for the talks with President Bashar al-Assad's government, part of their strategy to fill a vacuum that will be left when U.S. forces withdraw from the country, as instructed by President Donald Trump.
Their aim is to guard against any invasion by neighboring Turkey, which views the main Syrian Kurdish group - the YPG - as a national security threat, and to preserve autonomy in northern Syria.
"We hope for the intensification of the dialogue. Many of the Kurdish statements were positive regarding their concern for the unity of Syria," Assistant Syrian Foreign Minister Ayman Sousan told a small group of journalists in Damascus.
"We are confident that through dialogue we can deal with some of the demands ... and this dialogue guarantees that, as long as it based on a commitment to Syria's unity."

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/damascus-seek...140902983.html

[Swordsmyth]

For years Israel denied allegations that it had a role in funding and weaponizing the anti-Assad insurgency in Syria, and in recent years military officials responded "no comment" even when confronted with overwhelming evidence of Israeli weapons documented in al-Qaeda linked insurgents' hands, but this all changed in a new British Sunday Times interview with outgoing Israeli army commander Gadi Eisenkot, who has finally confirmed the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) supplied weapons to rebels across the border "for self-defense," and further perhaps more stunningly, has admitted to long waging an "invisible war in Syria" that involved "thousands of attacks".

The interview constitutes the first time that any current top Israeli military or government official has fully acknowledged sending anything beyond "humanitarian supplies," such as medical aid to Syrian militants seeking to topple the Assad government; and yet it still appears the country's military chief is slow playing the confirmation, only acknowledging the IDF provided "light weapons" — even after years of reporting has definitively uncovered an expansive Israeli program to arm dozens of insurgent groups and pay their salaries, including known affiliates of al-Qaeda in Syria.
This comes after the Syrian government has for years accused Israel of partnering with the west and gulf countries, such as the US, UK, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey of funding and weaponizing an al-Qaeda/ISIS insurgency as part of covert regime change operations aimed at Damascus and its allies Iran and Hezbollah. Since then, countries like Qatar have come forward to reveal just how vast their covert role in fueling the Syrian war really was, which we covered in our story, In Shocking, Viral Interview, Qatar Confesses Secrets Behind Syrian War.
The Sunday Times relates a key confession that comes out of Lt.-Gen Gadi Eisenkot's explosive interview as follows:

Eisenkot acknowledged for the first time, however, that Israel had supplied rebel groups in the border area with light weapons “for self-defence”.
Israel was a hidden player on a crowded Syrian battlefield.

Eisenkot positively boasted in the interview that “We operated in an area controlled by the Russians, sometimes attacking targets a kilometre or two from Russian positions,” in order to strike at Iranian assets in Syria.


The rare "confession" of sorts comes at a moment the White House says it's moving forward on President Trump's previously announced US troop pullout from Syria, something which has rattled Israel's leadership, which has argued that Iran will become entrenched near Israel's border as a result. Eisenkot's words appear a warning to Iran that Tel Aviv aims to maintain operational capability inside Syria.
On this point the IDF chief admitted to "thousands" of attacks inside Syria:

“We carried out thousands of attacks [in recent years] without taking responsibility and without asking for credit,” he told the Sunday Times.

Given that prior military officials have typically put this number at "hundreds", often from 200 to 400, this is an astounding admission that confirms Israel and Syria have been in a de facto state of open war since the first acknowledged Israeli airstrikes began in 2013.

More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...-invisible-war

[goldenequity]

https://twitter.com/ragipsoylu/statu...19589205831680




SANA is now reporting that 4 U.S. service members were killed in Manbij blast.





Fishy attack on US forces just as they are about to leave.
DJT reaction more likely to make him stay or pull out?


Ragıp Soylu‏.
This attack comes in the midst of US general Dunford’s meeting with Turkish general Guler in Brussels.
They were set to discuss the details of a safe zone in Northern Syria

[Snowball]

Fishy attack on US forces just as they are about to leave.

Of course it's fishy. What's always been more than fishy and never mentioned is the fact that all the purported "claims" of "ISIS" responsibility come directly and exclusively from SITE Intelligence Group, a Mossad operation headed at least publicly by Rita Katz. Somehow, someway, only this group can identify ISIS claims of responsibility. Of course, that is a joke. A joke and a lie, repeated without questions by all the media - who are owned by and directed by the same clan.

Now, Bibi and Bolton are "right". The Zionist Organzation of America gathering in November, when Bolton won Defender of Israel award, and Mark Levin (another plant) and Grennell were recognized, these are the geniuses and Trump is the stooge. Iran is next, and they will attack Americans in revenge here in the United States, that will bring martial law!

[RonZeplin]

US will Retain a Military Base in Syria despite Withdrawal

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivered contradictory messages in a speech in Cairo on Thursday, January 10. On the one hand, he said Washington will withdraw American troops from Syria in line with Donald Trump’s momentous announcement on December 19, and on the other, he emphasized the US will continue fighting the Islamic State and will also contain the influence of Iran in the Middle East region.

Obviously, both these divergent goals are impossible to achieve, unless Washington is planning to maintain some sort of long-term military presence in Syria. In an exclusive report [1] by the Middle East Eye’s Turkey correspondent, Ragip Soylu, January 10, he mentions that the US delegation presented a five-point document to the Turkish officials during National Security Advisor John Bolton’s recent visit to Turkey.

“Those in attendance with Bolton during the two-hour meeting at the presidential palace in Ankara included General Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and James Jeffrey, the US special envoy to the anti-Islamic State coalition,” according to the report.

A senior Trump administration official briefed on objectives outlined at the meeting, speaking to the reporter, said, "As the president has stated, the US will maintain whatever capability is necessary for operations needed to prevent the Islamic State’s resurgence."

And then the reporter makes a startling revelation, though hidden deep in the report and mentioned rather cursorily: “The US is not withdrawing from the base at al-Tanf at this time,” the official said. The revelation hardly comes as a surprise, though, as John Bolton alluded to maintaining long-term US military presence at the al-Tanf base during his visit to Jerusalem on January 6.

The al-Tanf military base is strategically located in southeastern Syria on the border between Syria, Iraq and Jordan, and it sits on a critically important Damascus-Baghdad highway, which serves as a lifeline for Damascus. Washington has illegally occupied 55-kilometer area around al-Tanf since 2016, and several hundred US Marines have trained Syrian militant groups, including Maghawir al-Thawra, there.

Thus, for all practical purposes, it appears the withdrawal of American troops from Syria will be limited to Manbij and Kobani in northern Syria and Qamishli and al-Hasakah in northeastern Syria in order to address the concerns of Washington’s NATO-ally Turkey pertaining to the Kurdish militias which Ankara regards as “terrorists,” and the fate of US forces operating alongside Kurds in Deir al-Zor in eastern Syria and al-Tanf military base in particular is still in doubt.

https://www.blacklistednews.com/arti...a-despite.html

[goldenequity]

H.K @Ibra_Joudeh · 57 min.
US threatens to sanction Lebanon if they participate in rebuilding Syria
http://dlvr.it/QwtDZV




Within Syria‏ @WithinSyriaBlog · 4 min
Breaking: the SANA is reporting that the SAA targeted a group of terrorists that tried to sneak out of the US-held area around alTanf



Assad warns against attempts to divide Church of Antioch in Lebanon and Syria
http://dlvr.it/QwtfT6


Update: Hezbollah claims Lebanese Army arrests US national under suspicion of illegal entry from #Israel
https://aml.ink/wsHhe

[RonZeplin]

Neocons & Dems Stance on Syria ‘Disgusting’

Jan. 18 - Will the neocons chalk up another victory after a suicide attack in Syria has left four Americans dead? Sen. Lindsey Graham blames Trump for the deaths for daring to talk about withdrawing troops. RPI's Daniel McAdams says if anyone is guilty it's Graham over Trump, as Trump would have had the troops home last year. Watch McAdams on RT:

[Swordsmyth]

Syria now has a good opportunity to reach a political solution to its devastating eight-year war as ceasefires have brought calm to many areas of the country, Syria's chief opposition negotiator said on Saturday."I think now that we have an opportunity, because nearly in Syria we have a ceasefire now, in the northeast of Syria and the north of Syria, and the efforts of fighting terrorism has achieved good results," Nasr Hariri told Reuters in an interview in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, where he is based.
Hariri, the opposition's chief negotiator in U.N. peace talks, met with the newly appointed United Nations Special Envoy to Syria Geir Pedersen on Friday.
"Now it is time to invest all of these developments: the ceasefire, fighting terrorism, the belief of the majority of the Syrian people that the only solution to the Syrian crisis is the political solution," Hariri added.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/syrian-opposi...132959347.html

[Swordsmyth]

A bomb blast hit Damascus on Sunday, in a rare attack in the Syrian capital that has been largely insulated from violence during nearly eight years of war.The explosion came as another bomb in the northern city of Afrin killed three people and wounded nine others, according to a war monitor, on the first anniversary of a Turkish offensive on the Kurdish-majority region.
Also on Sunday Israel said it intercepted a rocket fired from Syria after Damascus accused the Jewish state of carrying out air raids on the south of the country.
Syrian state news agency SANA said a "bomb blast" had hit southern Damascus "without leaving any victims".
"There is confirmation of reports that a terrorist has been arrested," it said.
- 'Huge explosion' -
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported, however, a "huge explosion" near a military intelligence office in southern Damascus that left a number of people dead and wounded.
"The explosion took place near a security branch in the south of the city," and was followed by shooting, said the monitor which relies on a network of sources inside the country.
"There are some people killed and injured but we could not verify the toll immediately," it added.
It was unclear if the blast was caused by a bomb that was planted or a suicide attack, according to the monitor.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.


More at: https://news.yahoo.com/bomb-blast-ro...111257488.html

[Swordsmyth]

Turkey is ready to take over security in Syria's Manbij, President Tayyip Erdogan told U.S. President Donald Trump in a telephone call on Sunday, the Turkish presidency said in a statement.Erdogan said an attack that left four Americans dead last week in Manbij was an act of provocation aimed at affecting Trump's decision last month to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria.


Erdogan and Trump agreed to accelerate and continue discussions between their chiefs of staff regarding a safe zone in the area, the statement said.
Last week, Trump suggested in a tweet creating a safe zone, without elaborating. The SDF said on Wednesday it was ready to help create the safe zone, as fears grow that the U.S. withdrawal will give Turkey the opportunity to mount a new assault.
Turkey wants the safe zone to be cleared of the Kurdish group.
"We said we won't let you be here," Prime Minister Fuat Oktay told broadcaster CNN Turk earlier on Sunday, addressing the PKK. "When we are talking about a safe zone, we talk about one in Turkey's control."

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/erdogan-turke...210046245.html

[RonZeplin]

World War 3 Alert: Iranian Forces Fire Rockets Into Israel, And The IDF Responds With “Waves Of Guided Missiles”



Israel and Iran are edging dangerously close to a state of all-out war. On Sunday night, Israeli forces rained missiles down on Iranian forces based in the Damascus area “for nearly an hour”. According to the IDF, this was a response to “dozens” of missiles that were fired by Iranian forces in Syria toward targets in Israel earlier that day.
The Israelis were able to intercept the Iranian missiles, but if any of them had gotten through they could have caused a tremendous amount of damage. Some of the missiles that Israel fired at the Iranians were reportedly intercepted, but quite a few of them did hit their intended targets. If the violence continues to escalate, we could potentially soon be talking about an all-out war between Israel and Iran in which both sides use their weapons of mass destruction.

The missile strikes against Iranian targets in Damascus made headlines all over the globe. According to Syrian state media, there were “consecutive waves of guided missiles”…

Syrian state media cited a Syrian military source as saying Israel launched an “intense attack through consecutive waves of guided missiles”, but that Syrian air defenses destroyed most of the “hostile targets”.

Witnesses in Damascus said loud explosions rang out in the night sky for nearly an hour.

The Syrians are boasting that they were able to destroy quite a few of the Israeli missiles, but independent observers confirm that quite a few Iranian targets were destroyed.

In the past, the Israelis have not always publicly acknowledged their attacks in Syria, but on Sunday night they released an immediate statement…

“We have started striking Iranian Quds targets in Syrian territory,” Israel’s military said in a statement.
“We warn the Syrian Armed Forces against attempting to harm Israeli forces or territory.”

You can see some footage of the missile strikes right here. Among the targets were “weapons warehouses at the Damascus International Airport”…

Targets striked by the IDF, which number at around 10 according to its statement, include weapons warehouses at the Damascus International Airport and in other locations, an Iranian intelligence site and an Iranian training camp in Syria’s south.

Now that the Iranians have been hit so hard, will they respond by striking back at Israel?

If both sides continue to escalate the violence, eventually a “point of no return” will be reached, and then all hell will break loose.
Prior to the IDF missile attacks on Iranian targets, rockets were fired toward the Golan Heights from inside Syria, and Israel blamed those attacks on the Iranians…

The Israeli military said earlier on Sunday that missiles fired toward the northern Golan Heights were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. It added in a statement on Monday that an Iranian force fired these missiles, but said it holds the Syrian regime responsible for any activity in its territory.

It seems extremely unlikely that this conflict will be resolved any time soon. The Iranians are certainly not going to leave Syria, and they are definitely going to continue to funnel arms and resources to Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon.

[goldenequity]

A bomb blast hit Damascus on Sunday, in a rare attack in the Syrian capital that has been largely insulated from violence during nearly eight years of war.The explosion came as another bomb in the northern city of Afrin killed three people and wounded nine others, according to a war monitor, on the first anniversary of a Turkish offensive on the Kurdish-majority region.
Also on Sunday Israel said it intercepted a rocket fired from Syria after Damascus accused the Jewish state of carrying out air raids on the south of the country.
Syrian state news agency SANA said a "bomb blast" had hit southern Damascus "without leaving any victims".
"There is confirmation of reports that a terrorist has been arrested," it said.
- 'Huge explosion' -
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor reported, however, a "huge explosion" near a military intelligence office in southern Damascus that left a number of people dead and wounded.
"The explosion took place near a security branch in the south of the city," and was followed by shooting, said the monitor which relies on a network of sources inside the country.
"There are some people killed and injured but we could not verify the toll immediately," it added.
It was unclear if the blast was caused by a bomb that was planted or a suicide attack, according to the monitor.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.


More at: https://news.yahoo.com/bomb-blast-ro...111257488.html

Within Syria
Two new Syrian officers died from wounds they sustained as a result of the recent Israeli attack,
Lt. Ahman Fllah and Lt. Osama al-Rif'ai. Total number is now four killed and more than six injured. Iranian forces didn't lose any personal.

https://twitter.com/WithinSyriaBlog/...73438157811712

[goldenequity]

https://twitter.com/Joyce_Karam/stat...70391151546369

[goldenequity]

Syria threatens to ‘strike Tel Aviv airport’ unless UNSC acts against Israel’s impunity
https://www.rt.com/news/449463-syria...srael-airport/

[Swordsmyth]

The Syrian government of President Bashar al Assad has revoked special visas used by EU officials to distribute aid to victims of the country's ongoing civil war, Reuters reported Jan. 22.

More at: https://worldview.stratfor.com/situa...s-eu-officials

[Swordsmyth]

Four months after Syria and Russia agreed to call off its joint attack on HTS/al-Qaeda held Idlib province, opting amidst US threats to cut a ceasefire deal mediated with Turkey, Moscow now says Ankara has failed to live up to its end of the bargain, which included agreeing to clear Idlib of terrorists and extremist groups. This means a joint Syrian Army-Russia assault on Idlib could again be on the horizon, which was a major source of tension and threats with the United States previously in September.

The collapse of the prior 'deescalation' agreement comes at a time when the White House has vowed to stick to the planned US pullout, however, this could be yet a another major development to complicate or delay any possible withdrawal timeline. FT described current Turkish-Russian talks in Moscow as follows:

Russia has accused Turkey of failing to live up to a promise to clear Syria’s Idlib of extremist militant groups and admitted that a landmark ceasefire agreement made last September had failed. Ahead of crunch talks between the leaders of the two countries in Moscow on Wednesday, Russia’s foreign ministry said the Islamist extremist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had “full control” of Syria’s last remaining major opposition stronghold. The damning assessment came four months after Moscow agreed to postpone a planned military assault on the city in exchange for a promise from Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to clear it of militants.

HTS is of course the rebranded coalition dominated by former Nusra Front militants, which is Syrian al-Qaeda. Russia has called the situation "rapidly deterioration" and this week pointed to growing numbers of ceasefire violations and incidents and threats against Russia's Hmeimim airbase in Syria. Russia's Foreign Ministry cited that "65 people have been killed and more than 200 injured in more than 1,000 recorded breaches of the agreement," according to FT. This despite Erdogan previously agreeing to keep militants away from a 15km to 20km deep buffer zone established between HTS and pro-Damascus forces.
Turkey for its part has predictably laid blame on Assad, saying Damascus had for years purposefully facilitated the resettling of al-Qaeda terrorists in the northwest Syrian province. Russian spokesperson Maria Zakharova described that the Idlib ceasefire zone had “essentially been taken under the full control of militants from the al-Nusra alliance, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, through the ousting of moderate armed opposition units.”



More at: https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-...rrorist-growth

[Swordsmyth]

The regions currently being administered by the Kurds in Syria include the Kurdish-majority Qamishli and al-Hasakah in northeastern Syria along the border with Iraq, and the Arab-majority towns of Manbij to the west of the Euphrates River in northern Syria and Kobani to the east of the Euphrates River along the Turkish border.
The oil- and natural gas-rich Deir al-Zor governorate in eastern Syria has been contested between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, and it also contains a few pockets of the remnants of the Islamic State militants alongside both eastern and western banks of the Euphrates River.
The Turkish “east of Euphrates” military doctrine basically means that the Turkish armed forces would not tolerate the presence of the Syrian PYD/YPG Kurds – which the Turks regard as “terrorists” allied to the PKK Kurdish separatist group in Turkey – in Manbij and Kobani, in line with the longstanding Turkish policy of denying the Kurds any territory in the traditionally Arab-majority areas of northern Syria along Turkey’s southern border.
After Donald Trump’s momentous announcement of withdrawal of American forces from Syria, the Syrian Kurds urged Damascus on December 28 to protect the town from the threat of impending Turkish military offensive, and reportedly Syrian troops and Russian military police have already been deployed to the west of Manbij.
Moreover, according to a report by RT: [1]

“A high-ranking Turkish delegation arrived in Moscow on December 29, only a day after international media broke news of Kurdish militias inviting Syrian forces to enter Manbij before the Turks do. Syria’s military proclaimed they ‘raised the flag’ over Manbij, but there have been no independent reports confirming the moving of troops into the city.”

The report notes:

“The Saturday Moscow meeting was key to preventing all actors of the Syrian war from locking horns over the Kurdish enclave. Obviously, Turkey will insist that it is their forces that should enter Manbij, Russia will of course insist the city should be handed over to Assad’s forces, Kirill Semenov, an Islamic studies expert with Russia’s Institute for Innovative Development, told RT.”

The report further adds:

“Realpolitik, of course, plays a role here as various locations across Syria might be used as a bargaining chip by all parties to the conflict. Semenov suggested the Turks may agree on Syrian forces taking some parts of Idlib province in exchange for Damascus’ consent for a Turkish offensive toward Manbij or Kobani.”

It becomes abundantly clear after reading the RT report that a land swap agreement between Ankara and Damascus under the auspices of Moscow is in the works to avoid standoff over Manbij.
The agreement would likely stipulate that Damascus would give Ankara free hand to mount offensives in the Kurdish-occupied Arab-majority towns Manbij and Kobani in northern Syria in return for Ankara withdrawing its militant proxies from Maarat al-Numan, Khan Sheikhoun and Jisr al-Shughour, all of which are strategically located in the south of Idlib governorate.
Just as Ankara cannot tolerate the presence of the Kurds in northern Syria along Turkey’s southern border in line with its “east of Euphrates” military doctrine, similarly even Ankara would acknowledge the fact that Damascus cannot possibly conceive the long-term presence of Ankara’s jihadist proxies in the aforementioned strategic locations in the south of Idlib governorate threatening the Alawite heartland of coastal Latakia.


If such a land swap agreement is concluded between Ankara and Damascus, it would be a win-win for all parties to the Syrian conflict, excluding the Kurds, of course. But the response of Damascus and Moscow to the concerns of the Kurds has been tepid of late.

More at: https://www.globalresearch.ca/is-a-l...russia/5666283

[Swordsmyth]

The Syrian government on Saturday condemned Turkey's military presence in northern Syria as a violation of a 1998 protocol between the two countries.Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has insisted the Adana Protocol gives his country the right to intervene militarily in the neighbouring country.
Turkey and its Syrian rebel proxies control part of northern Syria, and Ankara has repeatedly threatened another military operation against Kurdish fighters on its southern border.
On Saturday, the foreign ministry in Damascus accused Ankara of repeatedly breaching the Adana deal throughout Syria's eight-year war.
"Since 2011, the Turkish regime has violated and continues to violate this agreement," a ministry source said, quoted by state news agency SANA.
The source accused Turkey of "supporting terrorists", using the regime's usual term for both jihadists and rebels.
It said Ankara was breaching the deal through "occupying Syrian territory via terrorist organisations linked to it or directly via Turkish military forces".

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/damascus-cond...143617493.html

[Swordsmyth]

Syria state media said Sunday the country's air defense systems intercepted and destroyed three "hostile" targets over a Russian air base in the country's coastal region.There were no more details about the suspected attack or who was behind it, but it comes amid rising violations of a cease-fire in Syria's west negotiated by Turkey and Russia and in place since September.
On Sunday, Russia Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on state television that the agreement with Turkey is not fully implemented, leaving the situation there as a matter of concern "first of all, by the Syrian authorities and also Moscow." He didn't address the suspected drone attack.
The Britain-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said explosions heard in the region were from air defense systems intercepting suspected attacking drones.

More at: https://news.yahoo.com/syria-air-def...141117170.html

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Sunday that Iran’s policy in Syria is a threat to Israel and that Germany is working to ensure Iranian forces don’t get “too close to the Golan Heights.”
She made the comments in an interview with Kan 11 News.
“I believe that it is important and reasonable for Israel to represent its security interests, and the situation in Syria is naturally also very threatening for Israel,” Merkel said.
Merkel added that she had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the issue of Iranian forces near the Golan Heights as it clearly worries Israel.


More at: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/258226

[Swordsmyth]

Syria and Iran signed 11 agreements and memoranda of understanding late Monday, including a "long-term strategic economic cooperation" deal aimed at strengthening cooperation between Damascus and one of its key allies in the civil war that has torn the country apart.The agreements covered a range of fields including economy, culture, education, infrastructure, investment and housing, the official Sana news agency reported.
They were signed during a visit to Damascus by Iran's First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri.
Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis said it was "a message to the world on the reality of Syrian-Iranian cooperation", citing "legal and administrative facilities" to benefit Iranian companies wishing to invest in Syria and contribute "effectively to reconstruction".
The agreements included two memos of understanding between the railway authorities of the two countries as well as between their respective investment promotion authorities.
In relation to infrastructure, there was also rehabilitation of the ports of Tartus and Latakia as well as construction of a 540 megawatt energy plant, according to Khamis.
In addition there were "dozens of projects in the oil sector and agriculture", he added.

More at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/syria-ira...013209093.html