Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Syrian Civil War Developments

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • rj1
    replied
    Reuters reporting U.S. reported to be planning to withdraw all troops from Syria. Pentagon are beginning to draw up plans for a full withdrawal within 30, 60, or 90 days.

    The new Syrian President is discussing a Syrian-Turkish defense coordination strategy.

    Goodbye Kurds.

    Leave a comment:


  • JRT
    replied
    Originally posted by Ward_Carroll
    Wednesday, 22 January 2025
    New Syrian Government Officially Boots Russia Out of Tartus
    (05 min, 26 sec)

    Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham, still listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, ousted Assad in December, and now they have canceled Russia's 49-year operating lease at the port of Tartus, which leaves the Russian Navy without a Mediterranean port.

    In this episode, Mooch discusses the security implications in the region in light of this development.
    Originally posted by Maritime_Executive
    Tuesday, 21 January 2025
    Syria's New Government Cancels Russian Port Lease at Tartus

    On Monday, the new government of Syria canceled Russia's 49-year operating lease at the port of Tartus, bringing a multi-decade Russian naval presence in the Eastern Mediterranean to a close. A military cargo ship that had been loitering just off the coast has now berthed at the Russian naval pier, where military vehicles are staged for a likely evacuation.

    "According to the Director of Tartous Customs, the agreement signed with the Russian company to invest in Tartous Port has been canceled and all its revenues are now for the benefit of the Syrian state," reported local news agency Levant24.

    In early December, U.S.-designated terror group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, driving Assad's Russian military backers to retreat to their longtime bases at Tartus and Hmeimem.

    Under Assad, Russia had secured a 49-year renewal of its longtime lease on the port of Tartus, home of the only Russian naval base in the Mediterranean. When HTS forced Assad to flee the country in December, that long-term port agreement was thrown into doubt, since the Russian Air Force had bombarded HTS and its allies throughout the civil war.

    As an apparent precaution, the Russian Navy's Mediterranean Flotilla left Tartus en masse and took up station off the coast. The military cargo vessels Sparta and Sparta II joined the task force in early January, and held station in a racetrack pattern for weeks, prompting speculation about a possible evacuation.

    Amidst rumors of failed negotiations over a continuing Russian presence in Syria, Russian ground forces accumulated a stockpile of valuable equipment on the quayside at Tartus. Ukraine's military intelligence agency, HUR, claimed earlier this month that Syria's new rulers were not allowing Russian ships to enter Tartus to remove the giant accumulation of gear - which may include several top-end S-400 air defense systems.

    On Tuesday, after news broke of the cancelation of Russia's long-term port lease, Sparta II entered the inner harbor and berthed next to the equipment stockpile. Satellite imaging will soon confirm whether the vessel begins loading out the staged vehicles for shipment. The next destination, whether in Russia or in another part of the Mediterranean, remains to be seen.

    "There is no comparable alternative base for the [Russian Navy] in the region," UK military intelligence said in a statement Tuesday. "Its ability to logistically support both its military and its private military contractors in Africa, as well as limiting the reputational damage incurred through the fall of the Assad regime, will almost certainly be priorities for the Russian government."

    Another key change may be coming soon for Syria's ports. There are early signs that HTS is dismantling the drug-smuggling industry that sustained the al-Assad regime in the later years of the civil war. The manufacture and export of illicit stimulants generated billions in revenue for Assad's family and for the Syrian military. Under the leadership of Bashar's brother Maher al-Assad, Syria became the world's leading exporter of the amphetamine known as captagon; the small yellow pills became a familiar sight across the Mideast, and were favored by terrorist groups like Islamic State for the drug's tendency to enhance energy and courage in combat.

    Latakia was the captagon industry's primary port for importing the precursors needed for manufacturing the drug, according to security researchers. Most exports were smuggled across the Jordanian border, but substantial quantities were also hidden in ocean freight shipments dispatched via Tartus and Latakia.

    ---------------------
    © Copyright 2025 The Maritime Executive, LLC. All rights reserved.
    ...

    Leave a comment:


  • rj1
    replied
    Originally posted by Amled View Post

    Not quite!


    https://worldcrunch.com/world-affair...rkey-and-syria

    Then there’s also VOA!
    Well it seems the Kurds and the local outfit backed by the Turks are fighting, and Washington just wants to pretend this is not happening. They're aided in this by a mainstream media that are a fraction of the scope, size, and power they held even a decade ago.

    Leave a comment:


  • JRT
    replied
    Originally posted by Amled View Post
    Then there's also VOA!
    POTUS-47 inauguration is scheduled for midday 20 January 2025.

    It seems that Kari Lake may soon become Don Johnny Trump's Ministress of the VoA.

    Click image for larger version

Name:	images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQo6J9MXxpc0HpNailkd0PwsAVHRDqy1hQfjgZ3WHPCDA&s.jpg
Views:	45
Size:	13.3 KB
ID:	1609260

    Originally posted by NPR
    Thursday, 12 December 2024
    Trump says Kari Lake will lead Voice of America. He attacked it during his first term
    by Rachel Treisman, David Folkenflik

    Kari Lake, pictured at the Republican National Convention in July, is President-elect Donald Trump's pick to head the Voice of America.

    President-elect Donald Trump says Kari Lake, a local television news anchor-turned-MAGA politician, will lead the federally funded broadcaster Voice of America.

    If successful, the move would put a loyalist at the helm of a news outlet that Trump sought to bring to heel under his appointee during the final year of his first term. Trump officials sought to strip the network and its parent agency of their independence during his first term, including actions later found to be illegal and in one case, unconstitutional.

    But Trump doesn't have the authority to unilaterally install Lake; the hire is dependent on a bipartisan board beneath the chief executive of its parent agency.

    Democrat Ruben Gallego, seen here at a campaign rally for Vice President Kamala Harris on Oct. 31, defeated Kari Lake, a Republican, in the Arizona Senate race, according to a race call by the AP.

    Voice of America (VOA), which is funded by Congress, operates in nearly 50 languages and reaches an estimated 354 million people weekly across the globe. It is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, the government agency that oversees all non-military, U.S. international broadcasting.

    Trump said Wednesday on Truth Social that Lake will be appointed by and work closely with the incoming head of that agency, "who I will announce soon."

    A free press is central to VOA's mission: It aims to bring unfettered reporting to places that do not have it, and show political debate and dissent in the U.S. even when that reflects critically on the administration in power.

    Trump's White House took the unprecedented step in spring 2020 of openly attacking VOA in public statements over its perceived failures to explicitly blame the Chinese government for the pandemic.

    On Wednesday, Trump wrote that Lake and his as-yet-unnamed agency leader will "ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media."

    Lake, who ran unsuccessfully for an Arizona U.S. Senate seat this year and for governor in 2022, has made a political name for herself in part by denying election losses (both hers and Trump's in 2020) and railing against the mainstream media, of which she was once a part.

    She left her job at the Phoenix Fox affiliate in 2021 after over two decades and a series of controversies, including sharing COVID-19 misinformation during the pandemic.

    In her speech at the Republican National Convention this summer, Lake accused the "fake news" of spending "the last eight years lying about President Donald Trump and his amazing, patriotic supporters," and said they had "worn out your welcome."

    On Wednesday, Lake said she looks forward to starting at VOA, which she described as a "vital international media outlet dedicated to advancing the interests of the United States by engaging directly with people across the globe and promoting democracy and truth."

    "Under my leadership, the VOA will excel in its mission: chronicling America's achievements worldwide," Lake tweeted.

    That's not exactly the organization's stated mission, however. On its website, it says it is "committed to providing comprehensive coverage of the news and telling audiences the truth."

    What is Voice of America?
    VOA was founded in 1942 to counter Nazi propaganda in Germany.

    "We bring you Voices from America," said announcer William Harlan Hale in the first German-language program. "Today, and daily from now on, we shall speak to you about America and the war. The news may be good for us. The news may be bad. But we shall tell you the truth."

    By the end of World War II, it was broadcasting 3,200 programs in 40 languages every week, presenting America — and modeling a free press — to the world.

    VOA was able to continue and even expand its operations during the Cold War. And when the United States Information Agency was established in 1953, VOA became its largest element.

    Today, its over 2,000 employees produce radio, digital and television content, distributed by a network of satellite, cable, FM and MW and some 3,500 affiliate stations.

    VOA calls itself the largest U.S. international broadcaster; others include Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, and Radio Martí.

    Andrew Harnik/AP
    Is VOA editorially independent?
    From its beginning, government officials debated the balance VOA should strike between reporting the news and furthering U.S. foreign policy. Over the years, the broadcaster has taken several steps to safeguard its editorial independence, in practice and in policy.

    In the late 1950s, VOA employees drafted a formal statement of principles to protect the editorial integrity of their broadcasts, which became the official VOA Charter in 1960. President Gerald Ford signed it into law in 1976 .

    There are three main guidelines: VOA news will be "accurate, objective and comprehensive;" "represent America, not any single segment of American society" and cover not only U.S. policies but "responsible discussions and opinion" about them.

    Politics
    Looking At The Ideological Argument For 'Trumpism'
    Taking a step further, the 1994 U.S. International Broadcasting Act enshrined in U.S. code a "firewall" that prohibits any U.S. government official from interfering in the objective, independent reporting of news.

    "The firewall ensures that VOA can make the final decisions on what stories to cover, and how they are covered," the broadcaster says.

    That firewall came under threat during the first Trump administration, as NPR has reported.

    What happened to VOA during Trump's first term?
    Despite the VOA being owned by the federal government, the White House singled it out for attack during the first Trump administration, particularly during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020.

    The White House accused the broadcaster of amplifying Chinese government propaganda about the country's efforts to contain the virus, which it denied.

    It was in that context that the Republican-led Senate finally confirmed conservative filmmaker Michael Pack to lead the U.S. Agency for Global Media, two years after Trump first nominated him.

    Pack's arrival rattled VOA even before he got there: Two top officials resigned as soon as he was confirmed.

    Further fueling fears of political interference, Pack quickly stripped most of the agency's senior leadership of their authority and fired the chiefs of the government-sponsored broadcast networks for foreign audiences, including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia.

    "My job really is to drain the swamp, to root out corruption and to deal with these issues of bias, not to tell journalists what to report," Pack told the pro-Trump website The Federalist at the time.

    Throughout his seven-month tenure at VOA's parent agency, Pack faced multiple accusations of meddling in its process — from making personnel moves like reassigning VOA leaders and refusing to extend foreign employees' work visas, to editorial decisions like removing several controversial stories from its website after publication.

    Under Pack's leadership, the agency also investigated one of its own VOA White House reporters for perceived anti-Trump bias and rescinded the firewall meant to ensure editorial independence from partisan interference.

    A formal federal investigation also said Pack engaged in "waste or gross waste of government resources" in paying a private firm $1.6 million to investigate agency executives he considered insufficiently loyal (they were ultimately exonerated). Such work is ordinarily done by government attorneys.

    The Biden administration swiftly removed several Trump loyalists from the U.S. Agency for Global Media and VOA itself after taking office in 2021. A federal inquiry released in 2023 found that Pack repeatedly engaged in abuses of power and gross mismanagement — including, but not limited to, violating journalists' independence. A federal judge found that Pack had violated constitutional free speech protections of the network's journalists.

    Is Lake's leadership a sure thing?
    The chaos of the Pack era led to congressional reform — most notably, the creation of the International Broadcasting Advisory Board (IBAB).

    The IBAB is an independent federal entity made up of seven people: six experts in mass communications and international affairs, appointed by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and a seat for the secretary of state. No more than three of the president's appointees can be from the same political party.

    The Senate confirmed its six new members last December.

    The board's stated mission is to ensure the editorial independence and enhance the impact of the work carried out by the U.S Agency for Global Media. It also plays a role in the appointment and removal of heads of the agency's entities.

    The heads of VOA and others "may only be appointed or removed if such action has been approved by the Board," according to its bylaws.

    Notably, VOA welcomed a new director — former Freedom House president and longtime Washington Post reporter and editor Michael Abramowitz — in June.

    "As I have said many times, I welcome a smooth transition of power for both USAGM and VOA," Abramowitz wrote Thursday in an email to staff. "I intend to cooperate with the new administration and follow the process put in place by Congress for the appointment of the Director of VOA."

    It's not clear when or whether the board would meet to decide to replace Abramowitz. Trump has not yet said whom he intends to appoint to lead the parent U.S. Agency for Global Media, a position that requires Senate confirmation.

    The board has not yet responded to NPR's request for comment.
    ...

    Leave a comment:


  • Amled
    replied
    Originally posted by rj1 View Post
    The only English language journalism you can find about anything going on in northern Syria are from partisan Kurdish outlets.
    Not quite!
    How The Kurdish Question Has Come To A Make-Or-Break Moment


    https://worldcrunch.com/world-affair...rkey-and-syria

    Then there’s also VOA!

    Leave a comment:


  • rj1
    replied
    The only English language journalism you can find about anything going on in northern Syria are from partisan Kurdish outlets.

    Leave a comment:


  • Monash
    replied
    Originally posted by Amled View Post
    Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, aka. Abu Mohammad al-Julani the new Syrian strongman has demanded that all the insurgent groups in Syria; (groups that helped put him in power,) lay down their arms. Not an unreasonable request on the face of it, but not when his future aims remains unclear!


    https://www.france24.com/en/video/20...ol-all-weapons

    This especially when it comes to the Kurds of Syria! Who have come under repeated attacks against their settlements and towns.
    But here the aforementioned strongman has found a willing ally! Erdogan of Turkey, who has no great affection for the Kurdish people. Certainly not in Turkey, and now apparently also in Syria!



    https://www.reuters.com/world/middle...ys-2024-12-25/

    Then again if unarmed they'll be much easier to attack or persecute!

    Good luck getting them to obey, especially the Kurds! What do they gain by doing so if they don't have a seat at the table in return. Answer? Nothing! The Khurds especially may as well keep their weapons since Erdogan will be going after them regardless of whether they disarm or not.

    Leave a comment:


  • Amled
    replied
    Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa, aka. Abu Mohammad al-Julani the new Syrian strongman has demanded that all the insurgent groups in Syria; (groups that helped put him in power,) lay down their arms. Not an unreasonable request on the face of it, but not when his future aims remains unclear!

    Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa says state to control all weapons
    https://www.france24.com/en/video/20...ol-all-weapons

    This especially when it comes to the Kurds of Syria! Who have come under repeated attacks against their settlements and towns.
    But here the aforementioned strongman has found a willing ally! Erdogan of Turkey, who has no great affection for the Kurdish people. Certainly not in Turkey, and now apparently also in Syria!


    Kurdish militia in Syria will be buried if they do not lay down arms; Turkey's Erdogan says
    https://www.reuters.com/world/middle...ys-2024-12-25/

    Then again if unarmed they'll be much easier to attack or persecute!


    Leave a comment:


  • Ironduke
    replied
    https://www.understandingwar.org/bac...cember-23-2024
    Russian forces have reportedly withdrawn completely from most of their positions in Syria, including their base at Qamishli in northern Syria. Ukraine's Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) stated on December 23 that Russian elements completed their withdrawal from all positions in Syria’s interior and are now only present at Hmeimim airbase and the port of Tartus.[14] CTP-ISW cannot independently confirm the GUR report, though it is consistent with the pace of Russian military evacuations from Syria since the fall of Assad. CTP-ISW last observed Russian forces present at the Qamishli base, Hasakah Province, on December 18, suggesting that Russian elements fully evacuated the base in the days since.[15] Russia still maintains a presence in coastal Syria at Hmeimim airbase and the port of Tartus, but visual evidence and Syrian reporting continue to indicate that Russian forces are preparing to either significantly draw down or withdraw fully from coastal Syria.[16] The GUR stated on December 23 that a Russian cargo ship that broke down off the coast of Portugal was traveling to Syria to evacuate Russian equipment and weapons from Tartus.[17]
    Click image for larger version  Name:	Gfh6pLpXcAAZwBA.jpg Views:	0 Size:	294.2 KB ID:	1609185

    Leave a comment:


  • Bigfella
    replied
    Originally posted by Officer of Engineers View Post
    You need dominance in 2 of 3 groups: army, money, and the people. The HST has none of the three.
    No one does, for now. They seem the most likely to get the military, which might help them get the money.....or not.

    I suspect the only thing keeping this from being Libya redux...for now....is that the Iranians don't have direct access to the Alawites & the Russians don't have the resources.

    Additionally the SNA doesn't seem to be big enough....for now....to challenge HTS. But they do have the direct support of the Turks, so that could change.

    And who knows what resources the Kurds can or cannot cobble together in order ot hold their positions east of the Eurphrates.

    Talk about a clusterfuck.

    Leave a comment:


  • Monash
    replied
    Originally posted by Officer of Engineers View Post
    The HST currently enjoy military plurality but certainly, it is not militarily superior to the other groups combined.
    Which comes back to the money and numbers part. As I've commented previously HST has an important choice to make and not much time left to make it. They can either decide to have the other militia groups that aided them in ousting Assad inside the tent pissing out or not. If they choose 'not' ......
    Last edited by Monash; 20 Dec 24,, 05:07.

    Leave a comment:


  • Officer of Engineers
    replied
    Originally posted by Monash View Post
    They do have Erdogan's and therefore Turkish Government's support so at the least the 'arms' section is ticked off.
    The HST currently enjoy military plurality but certainly, it is not militarily superior to the other groups combined.

    Leave a comment:


  • Monash
    replied
    Originally posted by Officer of Engineers View Post
    You need dominance in 2 of 3 groups: army, money, and the people. The HST has none of the three.
    They do have Erdogan's and therefore Turkish Government's support so at the least the 'arms' section is ticked off.

    Leave a comment:


  • Officer of Engineers
    replied
    Originally posted by Bigfella View Post

    The problem is that there is no magic formula for creating a stable government in this situation.
    You need dominance in 2 of 3 groups: army, money, and the people. The HST has none of the three.

    Leave a comment:


  • Bigfella
    replied
    Originally posted by Monash View Post

    Their problem is going to be that if they don't give the other groups a seat at the table in a few months time HTS will be where Assad was. A central government at war with several different militia groups with everyone controlling a patch work of territory. (And the wheels on the bus ....)
    The problem is that there is no magic formula for creating a stable government in this situation. Too harsh - face armed opposition which might overthrow you. Too soft - face armed opposition that might overthrow you.

    They will try to consolidate power over as much territory as quickly as they can and hope that can buy enough time to construct a viable state. A lot of that will depend on outside support, who gets it, who doesn't & how much. The internal cohesion of these groups is also a big factor - wil lthe victors fall out over the spoils.

    Lots more questions than answers for now.

    Leave a comment:

Working...
X