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And next, Syria?

frogwoman said:
So without saying where you are exactly, are you in the city, ie damascus itself? I read an article which i posted on the thread about how parts of regime held syria are still putting on rock concerts etc? On the news they often dont seem to differentiate between damascus itself and the surrounding bits...if you cant/dont want to answer, no worries btw
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No, problem I'm based in Damascus city itself but don't stay here all the time and do go elsewhere on occasions. I was in Lebanon recently and got chatting with a Lebanese guy who was heading over to Damascus for a concert. It can get a bit weird like that at times.
E2A e.g. where I am you can go out have a beer and a shoarma no problem (so long as there are no dodgy goings on going on, yet 3ish km away ISIS are busy doing their thing and the last I heard typhoid had broken out.
 
Fuchs66 said:
No, problem I'm based in Damascus city itself but don't stay here all the time and do go elsewhere on occasions. I was in Lebanon recently and got chatting with a Lebanese guy who was heading over to Damascus for a concert. It can get a bit weird like that at times.
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:eek:
Are the people you know thinking of getting out of syria?
 
Fuchs66 said:
. It can get a bit weird like that at times.
E2A e.g. where I am you can go out have a beer and a shoarma no problem (so long as there are no dodgy goings on going on, yet 3ish km away ISIS are busy doing their thing and the last I heard typhoid had broken out.
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Lol thats one time you really wouldnt want to get pissed and lost after a night on the tiles, or for that matter have google maps lie to you :eek:
 
Fuchs66 said:
Believe me there are closer places than that where I wouldn't like to wake up! :D
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:eek:
If they're 3km away that must get a bit nerve racking. Do you reckon they could get closer? Whats the story behind that road they think they might capture at some point?
 
Just take care mate.no worries about being vague, let me know if you want me to delete anything. We will all start to worry if you dont post for a while though ;)
 
More yank bollocking about, Bulgaria this time .

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/New...-Greece-to-deny-Russian-flights-to-Syria.html

It's noticeable though that Russian ships packed to the gills with new equipment are being seen much more regularly steaming up the Bosphorous . Almost daily . The decks are loaded with what appears to be vehicles covered in camo netting, which means the holds are packed full too . The " Syrian express " is what the Internet people are calling it . Some interesting pics here

Search Twitter - #SyrianExpress

For the past 4 years we've been fed a non stop western media diet that Iran and Russia are on the verge of throwing Assad to the wolves . I think we can safely conclude now that was a load of old bollocks . The Russians appear to be playing a definite hand here .
 
U.S. Moves to Block Russian Military Buildup in Syria

The United States on Tuesday moved to head off preparations for a suspected Russian military buildup in Syria as Bulgaria agreed to an appeal from the Obama administration to shut its airspace to Russian transport planes. The planes’ destination was the Syrian port city of Latakia.

The administration has also asked Greece to close its airspace to the Russian flights, Greek and American officials said, but Greece has not publicly responded to the request....
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Casually Red said:
More yank bollocking about, Bulgaria this time .

http://english.alarabiya.net/en/New...-Greece-to-deny-Russian-flights-to-Syria.html

It's noticeable though that Russian ships packed to the gills with new equipment are being seen much more regularly steaming up the Bosphorous . Almost daily . The decks are loaded with what appears to be vehicles covered in camo netting, which means the holds are packed full too . The " Syrian express " is what the Internet people are calling it . Some interesting pics here

Search Twitter - #SyrianExpress

For the past 4 years we've been fed a non stop western media diet that Iran and Russia are on the verge of throwing Assad to the wolves . I think we can safely conclude now that was a load of old bollocks . The Russians appear to be playing a definite hand here .
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Putin has specifically said that Russia is not interested in participating militarily in the Syrian conflict, at least not outside of an international effort.

Vladimir Putin: We are taking specific steps, and doing this publicly. If you want to know the details, I can explain once again. It is true that we want to create an international coalition to combat terrorism and extremism. With this aim in view, we are holding consultations with our American partners, I personally discussed this over the telephone with the President of the United Stated, Mr Obama, and I also discussed this with the President of Turkey, the leaders of Saudi Arabia, with the King of Jordan, the President of Egypt and other partners. Our military agencies are in close contact, only recently the heads of the general staffs of the countries neighbouring on these conflicts met in Moscow.

We continue our political efforts to create a certain coalition. If today it is impossible to organise joint work directly ‘on the battlefield’, so to speak, involving all the countries interested in combatting terrorism, we should at least achieve certain coordination between them. We are trying and making certain efforts in this direction. Our first steps show that overall this seems possible.

We know that there are different positions on the developments in Syria. Incidentally, people are not fleeing from the Bashar Assad regime – they are fleeing from the Islamic State, which has occupied vast territories in Syria and Iraq and is committing atrocities there. That is what people are running away from. However, we understand that political change is also required. We are also working with our partners in Syria.
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That the usual shifty-eyed elements in the western press have "psst- hey buddy, wanna buy a story?"-ied the idea that Russia is engaged in a military build-up in Syria should itself warrant a high degree of scepticism if you ask me. Take this piece of well-engineered flim-flam from notorious propaganda bullhorn The Guardian:

“The Secretary [Kerry] called Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov this morning to discuss Syria, including U.S. concerns about reports suggesting an imminent enhanced Russian military build-up there.

“The Secretary made clear that if such reports were accurate, these actions could further escalate the conflict, lead to greater loss of innocent life, increase refugee flows and risk confrontation with the anti-ISIL Coalition operating in Syria.

“The two agreed that discussions on the Syrian conflict would continue in New York later this month.”
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Possibly the idea is to discredit any Russian effort to promote an international effort against the Daesh. People may well be seeing equipment shipped through the Bos but I'd hesitate to draw conclusions at this point. In my own humble opinion it really doesn't make sense politically for Russia to do this sort of thing (intervene militarily in a civil war), if it did they're far more likely to have intervened overtly in the Ukrainian civil war by now where there'd have been far more support for it politically and capability wise (well, obvious bear-trap is obvious not withstanding). It would be as if the Russians had never visited a little place called Afghanistan (obvious bear-trap was obvious) before deciding to pack up/abandon the Soviet empire and go home.

eta: well, to be fair- the Guardian was quoting a statement made by the State Department.
 
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Russian troops join combat in Syria - sources

Russian forces have begun participating in military operations in Syria in support of government troops, three Lebanese sources familiar with the political and military situation there said on Wednesday.

The sources, speaking to Reuters on condition they not be identified, gave the most forthright account yet from the region of what U.S. officials say appears to be a new military buildup by Moscow, one of President Bashar al-Assad's main allies, though one of the sources said the numbers of Russians involved so far were small....
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I was just musing that it's hard to see how Cameron's drive for military intervention in Syria could make things worse :(

But then, further down the above:

A senior U.S. official said on Saturday Washington had detected "worrisome preparatory steps," including transport of prefabricated housing units for hundreds of people to a Syrian airfield, that could signal that Russia is readying deployment of heavy military assets there.

Exclusive: Russian troops join combat in Syria - sources
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Coupled with:

David Cameron has said “hard military force” will be needed to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power in Syria and to defeat Islamic State.

David Cameron says 'hard military force' needed to tackle Assad and Isis
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Direct military confrontation with Russia :eek:

On the bright side, no need to read those pension documents now.
 
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