Syrian Civil War Developments

[Doktor]

That's not what the word successive means, I believe.

In any case, a nuclear dud is still a rather powerful bomb.

What if it explodes within 1 mile from your launching site?

[SteveDaPirate]

What if it explodes within 1 mile from your launching site?

The guys at USCYBERCOM get a catered lunch, an "attaboy" from a 4-star, and maybe a little certificate to put next to their computers.

[Doktor]

The guys at USCYBERCOM get a catered lunch, an "attaboy" from a 4-star, and maybe a little certificate to put next to their computers.

You forgot the shoulder tap with a smirk on the 4-star's face

[snapper]

So I am not sure if this is correct but have good reason to believe it is; seems the Muscovites. Iranians and Turks did a deal for "safe zones" in Syria and (I have been told) these areas will be "no fly zones" for Western aircraft. I welcome better information but if this is correct it the most holy screw up since Vietnam.

[astralis]

OTOH snapper, you should probably welcome greater Russian involvement in Syria: the more men and money Putin uses to prop up Assad, the less that will be arrayed against Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

i really wonder what the overall costs of Russia's Syrian adventure has been thus far. this seems to be more pride than anything else; I fail to see what Assad can give Putin that makes it worth the cost.

[snapper]

I would welcome liberty for the Syrian people and an end of the illegal Muscovite occupation of Ukraine; hell Assad and Putin in the Hague court!

For me Syria is tragic that so many ancient sites have been destroyed and if it were up to me alone I would send the troops in just to have preserved them; "do NOT touch!" with an armoured battalion. We have lost the Christian community for ever - they still speak the same language as Christ did. Xenobia was a great Lady and all the works of her people are perished forever... After losing friends in Ukraine that makes me saddest.

"Fallen our fair built temples lie.
Phoebus hath left his temple,
His laurel of prophecy -
The Spring that spoke
Yea even the spring that spoke runs dry"

We have lost lives and history which can never be remade until the earth is made anew. Yes I mourn.

[Doktor]

hell Assad and Putin in the Hague court! .

We've got an utopist here.

[Parihaka]

An interesting read on the intelligence surrounding the highly publicised 2013 & 2017 Syrian sarin attacks

Already by late May, the senior intelligence consultant told me, the CIA had briefed the Obama administration on al-Nusra and its work with sarin, and had sent alarming reports that another Sunni fundamentalist group active in Syria, al-Qaida in Iraq (AQI), also understood the science of producing sarin. At the time, al-Nusra was operating in areas close to Damascus, including Eastern Ghouta. An intelligence document issued in mid-summer dealt extensively with Ziyaad Tariq Ahmed, a chemical weapons expert formerly of the Iraqi military, who was said to have moved into Syria and to be operating in Eastern Ghouta. The consultant told me that Tariq had been identified ‘as an al-Nusra guy with a track record of making mustard gas in Iraq and someone who is implicated in making and using sarin’. He is regarded as a high-profile target by the American military.

On 20 June a four-page top secret cable summarising what had been learned about al-Nusra’s nerve gas capabilities was forwarded to David R. Shedd, deputy director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. ‘What Shedd was briefed on was extensive and comprehensive,’ the consultant said. ‘It was not a bunch of “we believes”.’ He told me that the cable made no assessment as to whether the rebels or the Syrian army had initiated the attacks in March and April, but it did confirm previous reports that al-Nusra had the ability to acquire and use sarin. A sample of the sarin that had been used was also recovered – with the help of an Israeli agent – but, according to the consultant, no further reporting about the sample showed up in cable traffic.

[JCT]

i really wonder what the overall costs of Russia's Syrian adventure has been thus far. this seems to be more pride than anything else; I fail to see what Assad can give Putin that makes it worth the cost.

IMHO, he's supporting Assad as Syria is one of the few Russian clients left in the Middle East. The Syrians provide a friendly port and as we've seen, they also provide access to airfields which can support land-based air cover for any naval activity in the Eastern Med. And then, like you mentioned, it's a pride thing. Anything to poke the West in the eye.

[kato]

Iran fired a couple Shahab-3 MRBMs into Syria today, hitting the IS HQ at Al-Mayadin (where they moved from Raqqa).

Officialy response for the attack on the Iranian parliament and the Khomeini shrine. Of course more a message towards Saudi Arabia - an explicit one, warning "Islamic State and its regional and international supporters that similar missile strikes would follow on their territory if another attack in Iran occurs". First combat use of ballistic missiles by Iran since the end of the Iran-Iraq war.

[zraver]

US shot down a Syrian jet today. First A2A combat for the US since 1999.

[citanon]

US shot down a Syrian jet today. First A2A combat for the US since 1999.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2017/06...er-forces.html

Splash one bandit!

The fight around Raqqa is heating up. Very dangerous situation.

[Guest]

There we go, an overexcited Mattis invading another nation's air space and shooting down their assets ... that in parallel with a disastrous diplomatic rift between GC and Qatar, 100% caused by the POTUS bowing down to the Wahhabist in Riyadh and kissing the hands that gives.

[S2]

Xerxes,

Try avoiding the mullah's dogma when commenting here. Mattis doesn't appear particularly "excitable". Perhaps the Iranian Air Force should defend Syrian airspace between those moments when the Persians aren't themselves shooting missiles into Syria?

[kato]

There we go, an overexcited Mattis invading another nation's air space and shooting down their assets ...

You realize that the USAF has been operating in Syrian Air Space since September 2014 ? So... Chuck Hagel?

Perhaps the Iranian Air Force should defend Syrian airspace between those moments when the Persians aren't themselves shooting missiles into Syria?

They're too busy bombing IS in Iraq since 2014 or so for that. Together with that ally who the Su-22 shot down belonged to.

In Syria they're just having their drones shot down by the USAF so far...