And next, Syria?

[Casually Red]

Fake as shit. That's a MiG-21MF. The VVS isn't operating those in Syria.

 

[teqniq]

Yes, and the dudes name really is johhny al Knoxville. Honest. No need for you to scrape the barrel to " win " on the fucking Internet. None at all. You sad cunt

Actually it's not about 'winning on the internet' at all although you do seem to actually have a penchant for this yourself. It's about you scraping the barrel to find a way to rubbish the HRW report in pursuit of your support for Assad. You conflate 'opposition activists' with 'rebels' yet neither you nor I know if this is the case. All seems a bit desperate to me hence my derision. Especially as you yet again ignored links to previous posts of mine that you have perviously ignored. Ho-hum.

 

[teqniq]

No-one could possibly have predicted this would happen.

Russia 'directly targeting civilians' in possible Syria war crimes - Amnesty

Russian bombers have “directly attacked” and killed at least 200 civilians in Syria and its campaign of air strikes could amount to war crimes, campaigners say.

In a major new report on Russia’s intervention in Syria, Amnesty International accused Vladimir Putin’s government of knowingly targeting residential areas in “indiscriminate attacks”, before covering up the evidence and effectively lying to the international community.

The campaign group’s researchers analysed 25 suspected Russian air raids since the start of Moscow’s campaign in Syria, with targets including homes, medical facilities and a mosque.

The 28-page report highlighted the fact that Russia has flatly denied any civilian casualties or even damage to civilian property during its hundreds of air strikes on Syrian “terrorists”.

Amnesty said on the contrary that across the suspected Russian bombings it had analysed, 16 civilians had been killed for every rebel fighter successfully targeted.

 

[teqniq]

It has never been entirely about Western foreign policy though there has been plenty of interference on that front. It is also about gulf state Russian and Iranian interests. Last but not least it was the Syrian people themselves who tried for more democracy through peaceful protests.

 

[camouflage]

Full interview here in English with Assad from Czech television, discussing the Vienna conference, the Syrian stance towards various opposition groups , extremism vs secularism. Well worth a watch .



Eta

Full transcript of the interview here

President al-Assad to Czech TV: Defeating terrorism will remove obstacles in front of any political process – Syrian Arab News Agency

Thanks for posting this, very interesting interview. Main take away being Assads answer to why he thinks he's stayed in power all this time where others fell, "the support of the population, nothing else".

 

[rekil]

Two pieces on Rami Jarrah who reports from Aleppo.

We Spoke to One of the Few Journalists Covering the Syrian Civil War in Aleppo | VICE | United States

Meet the Man Showing the World What Airstrikes Are Doing to Syria

 

[binka]

It's a joke video, you pathetic twat. It's the Syrian airforce anyway..but a joke video.

Might i suggest you preface your posts in future with [JOKE] or [SERIOUS] because I find it incredibly difficult to tell the difference.

 

[sihhi]

The LRB has an article by Seymour Hersh which claims that there is an alliance between the Pentagon, Assad and Putin which aims to undermine Obama's policy in Syria.

That's a heavy claim. Sy Hersh has also claimed (every time on the basis of anonymous sources) that General McCrystal was an Opus Dei convert and alongside others propagated Opus Dei fundamentalist Christianity throughout the top end of the officer class of the US armed forces, that Pakistan had held Osama Bin Laden under effective house arrest since 2006; that America and Israel both funded and directly trained the Iranian wing of the PKK, PJAK; that Syrian opposition forces nerve gas bombed their own supporters in Ghouta.
The latest claim is that the US military - collectively the Joint Chiefs of Staff - operated against the CIA and the executive, and countermanded executive orders for assisting moderate Islamist opposition in Syria. Instead it aided Baathist Assad forces. It is adamant that the Baath party Syrian army forces and Russian forces are genuinely wholeheartedly fighting IS as priority number one, and not focusing on the opposition in strategic areas.

 

[J Ed]

Merry Christmas from Rojava

 

[LDC]

Merry Christmas from Rojava

Any background info to that photo please?

 

[J Ed]

Any background info to that photo please?

I took it from the SyrianCivilWar subreddit cos it looked nice and festive, the area is Christian and under the control of mostly PYD and a pocket of regime forces

 

[Casually Red]

Any background info to that photo please?

That's in the army controlled district

 

[elbows]

Btw , their senior leader Zahran Alloush went on the record as welcoming IS into Syria during one particularly memorable sectarian rant against Syrias minorities . The Daily Beast did a big interview with him last week as a puff piece about his current " moderation " . The military leader of the Army of Islam went so far as to tell the western audience that the Army of Islam ...wasn't Islamist .

Sounds like he is now dead.

Syrian rebel leaders 'die in air strike' - BBC News

The head and several leaders of a major Syrian rebel group, Jaysh al-Islam, have been killed in an air strike in a suburb of Damascus, reports say.

Founder Zahroun Alloush was among those killed when missiles hit during a meeting, rebels and activists said.

The Saudi-backed Islamist group is active mostly around the Syrian capital.

It recently joined an opposition summit in Riyadh which produced a framework for peace talks with the government.

 

[elbows]

And he wasn't just famous for bloody sectarian language, but also became internet famous in summer 2014 for having a Hello Kitty notebook at an 'expletive-laden anti-ISIS speech'.

 

[elbows]

Also:

Passage from Yarmouk

In other developments in Syria, a Hezbollah TV station said on Friday that in the refugee camp of Yarmouk, at least 2,000 ISIL fighters were expected to be evacuated under a deal.

The deal marks a success for the government of President Bashar al-Assad, increasing its chances of reasserting control over a strategic area adjoining the south of Damascus.

It also highlights the increasing efforts of the UN and foreign governments to bring about local ceasefires and safe-passage agreements as steps towards the wider goal of ending Syria's war, in which more than 250,000 people have been killed in nearly five years of fighting.

The besieged fighters in Yarmouk also include members of al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's offshoot in Syria.

Hezbollah's Manar TV said 18 buses had arrived to start taking them and 1,500 family members to areas under the control of ISIL and other armed opposition groups.

It was not clear whether the buses were provided by the UN or by the Syrian army.

The fighters' capitulation was forced by a government siege over several years that squeezed the flow of food and humanitarian aid, starving many people to death in what Amnesty International, the international rights group, has described as war crimes.

Russian raids kill prominent Syrian rebel commander

 

[Geri]

Syria: Impact Of Death Of Zahran Alloush – Analysis

 

[frogwoman]

Also:



Russian raids kill prominent Syrian rebel commander

Bit of an odd story that. So ISIS, al Nusra and various other factions are to be evacuated by the UN in order that Assad's government can retake control of the area?!

 

[Casually Red]

Bashar and the wife dropped into a Christian choir practice in a church barely 2 km from the front lines occupied by Zahran Alloushes outfit in Damascus a few days ago . They had a better christmas than Alloush, that's for sure . Who never managed to see the day out . Noticeable lack of overt security in that vid, which has long been Assads style in his public appearances .

 

[Casually Red]

 

[Casually Red]

Some nice festive scenes there from Damascus

 

[frogwoman]

Quwat al-Jalil: A Pro-Assad Palestinian Syrian Militia

The case of Quwat al-Jalil is another instance of the wider trend of militiafication of forces on the regime side, adding to the large mix of actors with a claim to influence on the Syrian landscape.

 

[teqniq]

Hezbollah Fighters Are Fed Up With Fighting Syria’s War

 

[frogwoman]

Death toll in Syria tops 55,000 in 2015 | News | DW.COM | 01.01.2016

 

[J Ed]

It's snowing in Syria

Has to make things even worse for a lot of people, especially displaced persons.

 

[frogwoman]

 

[Casually Red]

New years eve in Latakia . A tad mental.

 

[J Ed]

New years eve in Latakia . A tad mental.

Seems a bit fucking idiotic, I wonder how many PTSD episodes were triggered by that.

 

[Casually Red]

Seems a bit fucking idiotic, I wonder how many PTSD episodes were triggered by that.

You'll probably disapprove of their Easter celebrations too then.



Got to say I find that horrified " elf and safety " attitude amusingly very English. they probably smoke in pubs and all sorts.

 

[coley]

You'll probably disapprove of their Easter celebrations too then.



Got to say I find that horrified " elf and safety " attitude amusingly very English. they probably smoke in pubs and all sorts.

They need to find an e- cig alternative to their addiction to the AK47? Personally, I believe once they embrace democracy and have to pay 50p a round they will give peace a chance.

 

[binka]

Got to say I find that horrified " elf and safety " attitude amusingly very English. they probably smoke in pubs and all sorts.

Fucking hell you really are an insufferable cunt