And next, Syria?

[butchersapron]

I don't - and to be honest, i wouldn't feel right sharing the 2nd one.

edit: that said, if you google the chapter titles most of the have been published on-line (and usually linked to on this thread - some have been expanded though), For instance the key opening one is here - or a large part of it.

edit2: sorted

 

[LDC]

OK, thanks anyway, will buy them.

 

[teqniq]

Assad's forces have 'used sarin nerve gas' for the first time since Syria's notorious 2013 massacre

E2a I have asked on Twitter about this (as they are the only outlet running the story) from the people in Syria direct and they think that:

It's based on one completely anonymous official in Israel. Inadequate sourcing.

 

[teqniq]

‘Targeting everything that moves’: Regime drops dozens of barrel bombs on camp, destroying last hospital

 

[butchersapron]

What’s Left of the Syrian Arab Army? Not much

The SAA and NDF are nearly extinct.

The general impression is that the Syrian Arab Army remains the largest military force involved in the Syrian Civil War, and that — together with the so-called National Defense Forces — it remains the dominant military service under the control of government of Pres. Bashar Al Assad.

Media that are at least sympathetic to the Al-Assad regime remain insistent in presenting the image of the “SAA fighting on all front lines” — only sometimes supported by the NDF and, less often, by “allies.”

The devil is in the details, as some say. Indeed, a closer examination of facts on the ground reveals an entirely different picture. The SAA and NDF are nearly extinct.

...

Unsurprisingly, the regime was already critically short of troops by summer of 2012, when advisers from the Qods Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps concluded that units organized along religious and political lines had proven more effective in combat than the rest of the Syrian military had.

This process or reorganizing the Syrian military into a gaggle of sectarian militias was nearly complete by the time when Russians launched their military intervention in the country in the summer of 2015.

 

[teqniq]

 

[butchersapron]

Fantastic piece:

How the Syrian Revolution has transformed me

The Syrian revolution put me on trial for betraying my principles. But instead of condemning me, it taught me the lesson of my life: it was a lesson given with grace and dignity.

I owe an apology to a people who are blamed for a carnage committed against them, just as we have been, and who have been betrayed by an opposition pretending to represent them, just as we have been, too. I owe an apology to a people cynically called upon to bring an alternative to the Assad regime and Islamists while bombs and missiles fall on their heads. Those same people asking “Where is the alternative?” ignore that Syrians who were ready to offer a progressive vision have either been jailed, killed or displaced by the regime.

 

[J Ed]

Fantastic piece:

How the Syrian Revolution has transformed me

Yes I read that a few days ago, I thought the same, you rarely get self-examinations like that

 

[teqniq]

Monitor: 60,000 dead in Syria government jails

 

[Casually Red]

Assad's forces have 'used sarin nerve gas' for the first time since Syria's notorious 2013 massacre

E2a I have asked on Twitter about this (as they are the only outlet running the story) from the people in Syria direct and they think that:

I'm not sure whether your retracting your claim or boasting about your shit sources.

 

[teqniq]

I'm not sure whether your retracting your claim or boasting about your shit sources.

It's not my claim dickhead, and as I say the Torygraph were the only people running the story so I went and asked someone else who I felt might be more qualified to have an informed opinion on it. Their response speaks for itself.

 

[butchersapron]

SDF attack on north raqqa has now started.
Note: This is the area leading to raqqa city. Not the city itself.

 

[LDC]

Contrary to claims the YPJ and YPG are all volunteer units, there's this report relevant to the new operation pushing towards Raqqa Some Kurds dodge conscription, wary of rumored offensive for A-Raqqa: ‘A battle that is not ours to fight’

 

[butchersapron]

Syria direct have been pushing anti-kurd/anti-YPG/J stuff for a few years now, with the over arching message being kurds stay out and away of raqqa, this is sunni arab territory, not kurds. This time it seems they've managed to rustle up a veneer of concern for the kurds with the suggestion ISIS will now tagert them if they approach raqqa (i don't know exactly what they thought ISIS were doing to kurdish areas before this) so kurds stay away! I don't think they give a shit about possible YPG conscription - which i believe has always been admitted to a small scale for non-combat security roles.

 

[LDC]

Syria direct have been pushing anti-kurd/anti-YPG/J stuff for a few years now, with the over arching message being kurds stay out and away of raqqa, this is sunni arab territory, not kurds. This time it seems they've managed to rustle up a veneer of concern for the kurds with the suggestion ISIS will now tagert them if they approach raqqa (i don't know exactly what they thought ISIS were doing to kurdish areas before this) so kurds stay away! I don't think they give a shit about possible YPG conscription - which i believe has always been admitted to a small scale for non-combat security roles.

Thanks, I've not come across Syria Direct before and thought that there might be more than meets the eye.

 

[butchersapron]

Fantastic stuff from RT and the Russian military:

Russia killed 28,000 militants in Syria, third of all ISIS forces – Russian deputy security chief

Since Moscow started its air operation in Syria on September 30 last year, the Russian Air Force has eliminated over a third of Islamic State fighters in the country, the deputy head of Russia’s top security body revealed.

 

[Casually Red]

It's not my claim dickhead, and as I say the Torygraph were the only people running the story so I went and asked someone else who I felt might be more qualified to have an informed opinion on it. Their response speaks for itself.

Hmm..I wasn't actually accusing you of claiming to have been there and witnessed what you claim "might have happened ". Just you posting your usual shit sources that make such fantastical claims.

 

[teqniq]

Says the man who uses RT as an unbiased source and consistently dodges requested responses of the the regime's targeting of medical facilities and personnel, use of starvation as a weapon and torture in it's prisons. I am still waiting for responses but I suspect I will be waiting for a long time, you always evade inconvenient questions.

 

[Idris2002]

Fantastic piece:

How the Syrian Revolution has transformed me

You might like this one as well:

Reluctant critique of leading Australian academic on Syria

Not "fantastic" like your one, but an effective smackdown of an Australian Assadite Academic.

 

[butchersapron]

You might like this one as well:

Reluctant critique of leading Australian academic on Syria

Not "fantastic" like your one, but an effective smackdown of an Australian Assadite Academic.

That Tim Anderson has faked up pictures of Geri, added them to some pro-jihad poster type thing he made up (with other vocal anti-assad types) and spread it over the internet. He was also invited to speak at a syrian refugee conference in greece in the coming weeks arranged by STWC types (including that pampered clown tariq ali) that didn't feature a single refugee or syrian. His public loonery has since led to a disinvitation. Only because of bad publicity, not because of ideological rejection.

He's a proper loons loon.

 

[Idris2002]

Fucking hell.

 

[Libertad]

That Tim Anderson has faked up pictures of Geri, added them to some pro-jihad poster type thing he made up (with other vocal anti-assad types) and spread it over the internet. He was also invited to speak at a syrian refugee conference in greece in the coming weeks arranged by STWC types (including that pampered clown tariq ali) that didn't feature a single refugee or syrian. His public loonery has since led to a disinvitation. Only because of bad publicity, not because of ideological rejection.

He's a proper loons loon.

Jesus fuck.

 

[Geri]

It was a real picture, he stole it from my Facebook.

 

[teqniq]

I am really sorry to hear that.

 

[Geri]

I am really sorry to hear that.

Don't worry, it was quite funny. It had a quote from me which said "fuck off" underneath.

 

[redsquirrel]

It was a real picture, he stole it from my Facebook.

Christ what a revolting scumbag

 

[butchersapron]

Massive isis attacks on the non-beardie rebels north of Alepp in many key towns, if successful that would be a really heavy blow and probably lead to the rebels losing the azaz pocket and the route to supplies via Turkey. This is very serous.

 

[butchersapron]

Things getting really interesting today. Charles Lister is suggesting that the SDF (and i don't know if he means just the YPG/J component) have right now diverted from the North Raqqa offensive and are rushing to attack ISIS around Manbij. A large number of the ISIS forces that were there have today gone on a massive (already very dangerously successful) offensive against the FSA and other rebels in the azaz pocket - so SDF would effectively be attacking them in their back, threatening to take back kurdish manbij and releasing pressure on the FSA and forcing isis to fight immediately on two very close fronts, on their east and west. If this is the case, then the question needs asking, was the north raqqa offensive a massive feint to draw isis out of the manbij area when YPG were supposed to be busy down south or is this a pure opportunistic piece of battlefield quick thinking?

Another thing to keep an eye on, if true, is how many arab members of the SDF are left to continue or defend the raqqa offensive - there has been much debate about just how large a part of the SDF the non-YPG/J components are and what their aims may be and how they may clash with those of the YPG/J.

This could be a very important next week.

 

[teqniq]

 

[butchersapron]

Be aware, there has been lots of to-ing and fro-ing in these areas for a long time now - ISIS have thrown a lot more at this than normal today though and have gone a lot further than before - previously they had pushed to the border for a while but were repulsed with the help of cross border turkish artillery. That's not going to happen around Mare. SDF must be making plans in Afrin as well.