teqniq
DisMembered
...
What's obvious is not many people are attempting to leave while the UN thinks over 100K of the 250K civ pop want out of the closing trap. ...
Inerestingly
...
What's obvious is not many people are attempting to leave while the UN thinks over 100K of the 250K civ pop want out of the closing trap. ...
Corridors of humiliation. Well that's an accurate enough shaming. I see the rebels are warning civilians that fighting at the edges makes flight impossible. I'd not be sure after such a long lazy SAA siege if they've yet taken in what's coming as the pocket is reduced. If IS had held the population in Anbar's cities an awful lot more civ pop would be unavoidably dead. But IS never cared much for popular support.Inerestingly
And he says IS appear to be well dug in in al Bab so it might well be a tough fight like Manbij....
The Rebels of Euphrates Shield: Divided, Poorly Trained and Low on Men
Even a well trained force would have trouble taking al-Bab and the rebels are not well trained, even by Syrian standards. Good marksmanship is the exception rather than the rule. Key groups in Euphrates Shield, such as theAmerican armed and trained al-Moutasem Brigade, routinely fail to sink mortar base plates resulting in inaccurate and ineffective mortar fire. Many of the rebels have little combat experience, having been recruited from refugee populations in Turkey just prior to the start of the operation.
A lack of manpower is another a major issue for northern Aleppo rebels as shown by the aforementioned recruiting drive. Syrian government victories against rebels in Aleppo city has made it harder for Turkey to recruit from core rebel areas elsewhere in northern Syria. For rebels in that part of Syria, breaking the Syrian government siege of rebel-held eastern Aleppo is more of a priority fighting alongside Turkey in northern Aleppo. For instance, the U.S.-backed Free Syrian Army Mountain Hawks Brigade withdrew from Euphrates Shield in mid-September due to government advances around Aleppo City.
Internal divisions within northern Aleppo rebels also bodes badly for a Turkish-led offensive against al-Bab. Relations between Islamist rebels, like Ahrar al-Sham, and American backed FSA groups, such as the al-Moutasem Brigade, have been poor for some time. Al-Moutasem is strongly disliked by many Islamist rebels due to their close association with the United States. For instance, Islamist rebels briefly kidnapped an al-Moutasem commander in June 2016. In recent weeks, tensions between Ahrar al-Sham and American backed FSA Hamza Division have risen over Ahrar units refusing to allow the burial of a deceased Hamza Division commander in his hometown. Such tensions are not visible to outsiders but can seriously damage the coordination and trust between rebels that is needed for a successful offensive on al-Bab.
...
So a repeat of last time with Idlib's beards coming in from the SW. I doubt the al Bab part will materialise unless the TSK throws in a lot more resources. Might stretch R+6 resources preparing for it....
It is possible Turkey will play a direct role in the upcoming Aleppo battle, however. Turkish-backed opposition forces have shifted their focus west to confront the YPG north of Aleppo City after the YPG started advancing eastward in an apparent "race for al Bab," trying to take the town before Turkish-backed forces do. Turkish-backed opposition forces declared their intent to recapture from the Kurds the town of Tel Rifat, north of Aleppo City, on October 21. YPG forces seized Tel Rifat from the opposition with Russian air support in late 2015. Turkey conducted airstrikes against YPG positions in the area amidst local clashes between YPG-led forces and Turkish-backed on October 20, prompting the regime to threaten to shoot down Turkish planes over Syrian airspace. Turkey has since conducted extensive shelling of YPG positions and deployed additional tanks to the area. The YPG's positions north of Aleppo City buffer the regime's encirclement of opposition-held areas of the city. Turkish-backed opposition forces participating in Operation Euphrates Shield have stated their intent to attack the regime's encirclement of Aleppo from the northern countryside. These opposition forces could seek to transition Turkey's support against the YPG into an attack against pro-regime forces in support of an operation to break the siege.
A successful operation to break the siege of Aleppo could enable the United Nations to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to over 250,000 starving civilians. It would also have negative second order effects, however. It would further limit the already constrained policy options available to the next U.S. president by cementing the leadership of Jabhat Fatah al Sham and Ahrar al Sham over Syrian opposition groups that were previously reconcilable to US interests. Russia and the Syrian regime will use growing support for Jabhat Fatah al Sham and Ahrar al Sham to legitimize continued war crimes in opposition-held areas such as the intentional targeting of hospitals and use of improvised chemical weapons. Turkey's role in the upcoming battle will also signal the trajectory of Turkish-Russian relations in Syria, which are currently characterized by a primarily economic détente despite incompatible strategic goals in Syria and the region. Finally, an escalation between Turkish -backed opposition forces and the YPG north of Aleppo City risks fracturing the unity of effort the US is attempting to negotiate in order to make a Raqqa operation possible in the near term.
Not just IS talking End Times in Syria....
Mehdi Hadavandi, the commander of the Fatehin Basij Tehran unit as well as the unit’s Syria operations, said the IRGC has set up “special courses” for “resistance forces,” which include Iranian as well as proxies, for combat in Iraq and Syria. The commander told an audience last week that “the required forces are in Syria right now,” though registration is open should the situation demand more boots on the ground. He described the war in Syria as Kafai Jihad (meaning if the number of fighters are sufficient for jihad, the obligation to wage jihad is lifted for others).
“Resistance in Syria is different than all the fields until today,” Hadavandi said last week week. “Many of warriors and commanders who have served in areas such as the northwest and northeast of the country, Iraq, and Lebanon admit that Syria is different than all others. Training demands operations field, which has been created in Syria.”
“Because the Basiji fights in Syria the Basij of the Islamic world has taken shape. The blood of Iranians, Lebanese, Afghans, Pakistanis, etc., have been mixed in Syria,” Fatehin commander Hashemi said on Friday. “The enemies must know that the Fatehin is ready to Israel.”
“Armed struggle of the Islamic revolution beyond Iran’s borders is a very big and divine blessing that not everyone will have,” proclaimed IRGC chief commander Jafari on Friday. He vowed that all “shrine defenders would continue armed struggle until fulfillment of goals.” Jafari then boasted that “the blood of the martyrs and the preparedness of the forces” have strengthened the Islamic Republic’s hand, forcing “regional countries who claim to determine the destiny of Syria to negotiate with Iran.”
Jafari then claimed that “the Islamic Revolution and the Islamic resistance” have prevented “Israel’s territorial expansion.” He then proclaimed that all of the plans of Israel and the United States “have been defeated.”
“Today we are witnessing the formation of the army of the Master of Time [12th Shiite Imam Mahdi who will herald the apocalypse] in Syria,” proclaimed Hadavandi earlier this month at a ceremony for Ashura religious mourning ceremony in Tehran.
Points out Obama's drawdown in Afghanistan to under 10K is supported by 26K contractors, a third US citizens. Of course every army is mostly support people not combat soldiers. Supply trucks need driving, meals must be cooked, the head cleaned, Air Con kept running, base perimeters secured and I expect the odd Colonel's shoddy PowerPoint prettified....
Over the summer, a no-bid contract was reportedly awarded to Six3 Intelligence Solutions, a company based in McLean, Va., which in 2014 was acquired by major defense-industry player CACI International. The $10 million award, according to an otherwise pedestrian Pentagon notice, was for “intelligence analysis services” to be performed “in Germany, Italy, and Syria.” It was probably the first sliver of proof that U.S. contractors are actually operating there, despite persistent evasions by military officials.
“I don’t know if there are any contractors in Syria but I suspect there are a lot. We just can’t sustain military operations today without the private sector. We are strategically dependent on the private sector,” said author Sean McFate, also an Army special-forces veteran and assistant professor at the National Defense University.
When asked about the Six3 contract—what it’s for, how many contractors would be in Syria working under it—Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. David S. Hylton said the Syria part of the notice was “a mistake” and has been since amended.
“The Performance Work Statement (PWS) for the contract states that ‘support is required at multiple locations to include fixed sites in Central Europe (Germany and Italy), possible future fixed sites in Eastern Europe (e.g., Bulgaria, Romania, Poland), in deployed contingency operations areas to include the Balkans, and other contingency areas,’” said Hylton. The contract is on on behalf of U.S. Army Europe and “intended to provide … intelligence analysis, operations and planning, security support, and information systems operation, maintenance and sustainment.”
“The PWS does not contain the word Syria, nor does it make any reference that would directly lead to Syria, e.g., the Levant, counter-ISIL, Assad,” Hylton added.
McFate said he was told by other reporters about the “error” in the notice. “I’ve been watching these things for 20 years—I’ve never seen a ‘mistake’ like this.”
The Pentagon did provide quarterly numbers on the private forces currently in Afghanistan and Iraq, but when asked how many, if any, contractors are in Syria at this time, officials did not respond.
...
Very interesting piece by a Syrian activist, a nationalist hoping for a different outcome in Syria based on the will of the people....
The new majority in Syria does not refer to the Arab Sunni majority. It rather refers to a social majority that is cross-communitarian. Not only do Sunnis in Syria lack unity or political convergence, but the regional and class cleavages dividing them are equal to, if not exceeding, divisions between them and other groups. More importantly, the Sunni character would not avert minoritarian rule anymore than the Arab character has. While Arabs constitute a very large majority of Syrians, Arab nationalism has undeniably failed in preventing minoritarian rule or producing political majoritarianism.
Of course, it is most likely that a majority of this new Syrian majority would be Sunnis. However, the mere fact of them belonging to the Sunni sect does not inherently undermine the prospect of establishing a stable political majority, unless Syrian Sunnis were unified or behaved as a distinctive and homogeneous group. Such, in my opinion, is untenable, as evident by the course of five and a half years of the Syrian Revolution. If it ever were to actualize, homogeneity among Sunnis would require extensive coercion that targets Sunni environments before others, thus leading to a compounded minoritarian rule: a minority among Sunnis and a minority among Syrians.
Despite the fact that one could define Islamists by their will to sectarianize and unify the Sunnis, it is certain that if rule were to be consolidated in their hands, they would not be comfortable with two thirds of the population staying united and publicly active. They would focus on dividing them and bringing them back to passivity, namely imposing a “Sunni minoritarian rule” and renewing despotism on Islamist grounds. However, if Sunnis were to remain politically active, then some Islamists would seek partners and allies amongst other communities. The result of this is likely to be a political majority of the type that emerged in the early 1930s against the French, or against al-Shishakli in the wake of the 1954 Homs conference.
...
Things have not gone well for the KSA and Qatar in Syria....
Meanwhile, some of Saudi Arabia’s and Qatar’s key regional allies have also increased coordination with Russia, adding to the Gulf countries’ sense of isolation. Saudi Arabia had long worked with Jordan to coordinate support to the Syrian opposition, but in early 2016, Jordan established an operations center in Amman with Russia to direct operations in Syria.45 Meanwhile, Qatar’s main ally in the Syrian conflict, Turkey, has also signaled a possible shift in its Syria policy. In June 2016, Turkey normalized relations with both Israel and Russia, and then released ambiguous statements about the desire to return ties with Syria “to normal.”46 A sudden U-turn in Turkish policy is unlikely given the significant resources it has expended on supporting the Syrian opposition, but the current recalibration of Ankara’s foreign policy is likely to cause unease in Riyadh and Doha. Even fellow GCC countries such as Bahrain and the UAE have indicated that ensuring regional stability is a greater priority than regime change in Syria. Broadly, opposition to Assad’s regime among key regional players appears to be softening.
The prospect of a jihadi victory in Syria appears to have made Bashar al-Assad more secure. In part, turning the conflict into a battle between Assad and the jihadists seems to have been Assad’s strategy all along. But it also represents a setback for the strategy Saudi Arabia and Qatar embraced—that is, support for “effective” opposition fighters now and plans for sidelining the jihadists later. For the GCC as a whole, which was unified on the need to limit Iranian influence in the Levant, the current situation is far from favorable. Leaders certainly hope for a decisive change in U.S. policy with the coming of a new U.S. president in January 2017. Absent that, however, it seems unlikely that either Gulf approach will yield the desired results.
Well DC could ask London to bar Russian thick necked oligarchs from buying up half of SW1 with their loot....
“While the president has full sanction authority, there’s nobody left to sanction in Russia besides the janitor in the Kremlin,” said Michael Kofman, a global fellow at the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute in Washington. “In terms of expanding any kind of commercial or financial sanctions, we’re basically maxed out.”
Penalties against Russia already include hundreds of people, from senior allies of President Vladimir Putin to the Night Wolves, a motorcycle gang led by a former medical student accused of aiding Russian forces in Ukraine. The State Department had to issue an exemption from sanctions on Russia’s main weapons exporter, Rosoboronexport OJSC, because the restrictions made it impossible for Afghanistan’s security forces to get spare parts for their Russian Mi-17 helicopters.
...