Official Syrian Conflict Thread
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
The Atlantic
24 mins ·
"As the battle lines on the ground converge, it is no longer possible to ignore the fact that the fight against isis is also the fight for the future of Syria and the Middle East. Moreover, the war appears to be expanding."
Russia Is Abetting Mass Murder in Syria
By standing by and watching a slow-motion Rwanda unfold, the U.S. risks…
THEATLANTIC.COM
24 mins ·
"As the battle lines on the ground converge, it is no longer possible to ignore the fact that the fight against isis is also the fight for the future of Syria and the Middle East. Moreover, the war appears to be expanding."
Russia Is Abetting Mass Murder in Syria
By standing by and watching a slow-motion Rwanda unfold, the U.S. risks…
THEATLANTIC.COM
This resolution isn’t gonna hold, not for 30 days.
The Russians will bomb areas they deem to be “Al-Nusra” areas which they got the Security Council to leave international terror groups out in the resolution.
Groups like Jaysh Al-Islam which control more of Eastern Ghouta have said they’d abide by the resolution. Though UN monitoring groups have said some of militant groups not allowing civilians through the humanitarian corridors.
I was
when I saw that earlier.Erdogan is feeling himself a lot lately.
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
The Atlantic
49 mins ·
He is among the Assad regime figures that foreign-based Syrian lawyers and activists and their Western colleagues would seek to prosecute in a hypothetical war-crimes tribunal.
Russia's Favorite Syrian Warlord
Brigadier General Suheil al-Hassan has won over Putin and played a central role in the assault on eastern Ghouta.
THEATLANTIC.COM
49 mins ·
He is among the Assad regime figures that foreign-based Syrian lawyers and activists and their Western colleagues would seek to prosecute in a hypothetical war-crimes tribunal.
Russia's Favorite Syrian Warlord
Brigadier General Suheil al-Hassan has won over Putin and played a central role in the assault on eastern Ghouta.
THEATLANTIC.COM
ZoeGod
I’m from Brooklyn a place where stars are born.
Regime forces captured 20% of East Ghouta today. Made massive gains. They are going after the remaining rural countryside which is a source of food for the rebels. Then will split the East Ghouta pocket into the urban cities of Douma,Irbeen,Jobar and Ayn Terma.
Coming from the East is an interesting strategy rather than from Damascus. Jaysh Al-Islam is losing ground and is letting Faylaq Al-Rahman forces into its territory.
Idlib is a shyt show. Hayet Tahir Al-Sham (Al Qaeda) has counter offensive'd the Zinki/Ahrar Al-Sham alliance who were urged by Turkey to expel HTS from Idlib province. Now that's failed. Turkey fighting HTS will cause blowback within Turkey.
The Kurds are losing ground in Afrin to Turkey and its FSA foot soldiers.
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Al Jazeera English
2 hrs ·
"We want peace in the region... We want establishment of an environment of trust. That is what we are struggling for."
UN: 'Disturbing reports' of civilian deaths in Syria's Afrin
Turkey's military operation has displaced tens of thousands from…
ALJAZEERA.COM
2 hrs ·
"We want peace in the region... We want establishment of an environment of trust. That is what we are struggling for."
UN: 'Disturbing reports' of civilian deaths in Syria's Afrin
Turkey's military operation has displaced tens of thousands from…
ALJAZEERA.COM
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Al Jazeera English
4 hrs ·
Many so-called progressive voices continue to justify the carnage in Syria.
— #AJOpinion, by Loubna Mrie
The problem with leftist myths about Syria
Why are voices on the left still justifying the Syrian regime's indiscriminate…
ALJAZEERA.COM
4 hrs ·
Many so-called progressive voices continue to justify the carnage in Syria.
— #AJOpinion, by Loubna Mrie
The problem with leftist myths about Syria
Why are voices on the left still justifying the Syrian regime's indiscriminate…
ALJAZEERA.COM
thatrapsfan
Superstar
PKK is far more likely to launch terror attacks in Turkey than HTS is.
ADevilYouKhow
Rhyme Reason
BEIRUT/AMMAN (Reuters) - Syria’s army is poised to slice rebel-held eastern Ghouta in two as forces advancing from the east link up with troops at its western edge, a pro-Damascus commander said on Thursday, piling more pressure on the last major rebel enclave near the capital.
The government, backed in the war by Russia and Iran, is seeking to crush the enclave in a ferocious campaign that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says has killed 909 civilians in the last 18 days, including 91 on Wednesday.
Rebels, who accuse the government of “scorched earth” tactics, said they were deploying more guerrilla-style ambushes in lost territory, trying to stop further advances.
“We came because of the intensity of the bombing,” said Abu Mohammed, a 32-year-old farmer who left his cows, sheep and farm equipment to flee to Douma, further into the rebel enclave.
“It was a miracle that we made it here,” he said, speaking of the heavy air strikes. As for his former home town of Beit Sawa: “It was totally destroyed. Burnt,” he said.
Defeat in eastern Ghouta would mark the worst setback for rebels since the opposition was driven from eastern Aleppo in late 2016 after a similar campaign of siege, bombing and ground assaults.
The pro-Damascus commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, confirmed a report by the Observatory late on Wednesday that the enclave had effectively been sliced in two.
But Wael Alwan, the Istanbul-based spokesman for Failaq al-Rahman, one of the main rebel groups in eastern Ghouta, denied that the territory had been cut in half. “No” he said in a text message when asked if the report was correct.
CONVOY
In northern Syria, rebels began to bombard two government-held villages besieged by insurgent forces, killing two children, the Observatory reported.
An aid convoy that intended to go to Ghouta later on Thursday was postponed, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the United Nations said.
The United Nations says 400,000 people are trapped in the towns and villages of eastern Ghouta. They have been under government siege for years and were already running out of food and medicine before the assault.
“We are dying of hunger and our children are dying of hunger. Have pity on us,” said a woman reached in Douma by a voice messaging service, who identified herself as Um Mahmoud.
Russia, President Bashar al-Assad’s most powerful ally, has offered rebels safe passage out with their families and personal weapons. The proposal echoes previous agreements under which insurgents, in the face of military defeat, were permitted to withdraw to opposition-held areas along the Turkish border.
Syrian state news agency SANA reported that a second safe route out of eastern Ghouta, along with one near Douma, had been opened in the southern part of the enclave.
Russia’s defense ministry said on Wednesday some rebels wanted to accept the proposal to evacuate. So far rebels have dismissed it in public and vowed to fight on.
BATTLES RAGING
Syria’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Hussam Aala, told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday the assault targeted “terrorist organizations in accordance with international humanitarian law”.
Moscow and Damascus say the Ghouta campaign is necessary to halt deadly rebel shelling of the capital.
Rescue workers and opposition activists in eastern Ghouta meanwhile have accused the government of using chlorine gas during the campaign.
The government firmly denies this. Damascus and Moscow have accused rebels of planning to orchestrate poison gas attacks in order to accuse Damascus of using banned weapons.
A Syria-focused medical aid group said there reports from doctors of a chlorine attack on Wednesday evening. Local rescue workers said gas had affected 50 people. Social media activists shared videos and photos, which Reuters could not verify, of people with signs of breathing difficulties.
The opposition-run rescue service also said two of its rescuers were killed when their ambulance was hit last night adding its teams were hampered from reaching many victims under rubble with extensive destruction in many areas.