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Syrian army says destroyed most of Israeli rockets

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The Syrian army command says its air defense systems have managed to intercept and destroy the biggest part of a “successive wave” of Israeli rockets fired at military bases in the Arab country.

The army spokesman said in a statement on state television on Thursday that the recent Israeli strikes had demolished a radar station and a weapons depot, without elaborating on the location of the targets.

The Israeli attacks on Syria also killed three people and wounded several others, according to the statement.

It further reaffirmed “the alertness of the army and readiness to defend the sovereignty of the homeland against any aggression,” stressing that attempts to support terrorism would prove futile.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry said that Israel had used 28 planes in its Syria strikes and fired 70 missiles, adding that Damascus had shot down over half of the missiles.

In the early hours of Thursday, Israel attacked dozens of targets inside Syria in what was said to be the most extensive strike in the Arab country in decades.

The Tel Aviv regime claimed that its assault was a response to a barrage of 20 rockets that were fired from Syria at Israeli military outposts in the occupied Golan Heights. It also blamed the rocket fire on Iran.

Syrians unmoved by Israeli strikes

A video released by Reuters later on Thursday showed Syrian people shopping in a Damascus neighborhood says that they were not afraid after the heaviest Israeli strikes on the country since the foreign-backed militancy started.

One Damascus resident said they had stood on a roof to watch Syrian air defenses shoot down Israeli missiles and celebrate “our army’s achievements,” while a retired army officer was quoted by Reuters as saying that Syria should always respond when attacked “no matter what it costs.”

Russia alarmed by Syria escalation

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Thursday that Moscow was “concerned” about the recent escalation in Syria in the wake of the Israeli strikes.

“We have established contacts with all parties and we call for restraint from all parties,” he said. “The current … exchange of rocket fire is dangerous, as it distracts from the fight against Daesh terrorists, hampers the political settlement of the situation in Syria.”

Over the past few years, Israel has frequently attacked military targets in Syria in what is considered as an attempt to prop up terrorist groups that have been suffering heavy defeats against Syrian government forces.

Israel has been providing weapons to anti-Damascus militants as well as medical treatment to the Takfiri elements wounded in Syria.

On the contrary, Iran has been offering advisory military assistance to the Syrian government fighting an all-out foreign-sponsored militancy.

Syria rebels lay down arms under Homs withdrawal deal

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Syrian rebels lay down arms

Syrian rebels lay down arms

Opposition fighters have surrendered government institutions and a strategic highway. The Syrian regime’s latest offensives in Homs and Eastern Ghouta have dealt a fatal blow to the country’s rebel movement.

Rebels in three Syrians towns in the central province of Homs on Friday surrendered arms to regime forces as part of a withdrawal deal with Damascus.

The rebel-held towns of Talbisseh, Rastan and al-Houla have been evacuated under the agreement. Opposition fighters who wish to leave will be able to join civilians being transported to Jarablus, an opposition enclave in the Aleppo province, according to the Syrian government.

However, some rebels have refused to be party to the withdrawal deal. Instead, they shelled government positions on Thursday.

Under the deal, government institutions will be returned to Syrian authorities along with a strategic highway that connects the cities of Homs and Hama.

Consolidating territory

Over the past year, regime forces have made territorial gains with the help of Russia’s military. Damascus has negotiated similar withdrawal deals following bloody campaigns that have cost hundreds of civilian and rebel lives.

Last week, Damascus negotiated a deal that saw rebel groups withdraw from Eastern Ghouta near the capital, considered one of the last opposition strongholds. Similar deals are underway in besieged Damascus suburbs, including the Beit Sahm, Babil and Yalda districts.

As the Syrian conflict winds down, Damascus is attempting to consolidate territory across the country in a bid to secure its interests in future peace talks. The government’s latest offensives in Homs and Eastern Ghouta have dealt a fatal blow to the opposition movement.

More than 350,000 people have been killed and more than half Syria’s population displaced since 2011, when government forces launched a brutal campaign against protesters calling for President Bashar Assad to step down.

Since then, the conflict has transformed into a multi-front war drawing in global super powers, regional players and non-state actors.

ls/msh (Reuters, AFP)

Opinion: Syrian airstrikes send a clear message

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The good news is that World War III has not started. But the bad news is that nothing in Syria will be improved by Western powers’ airstrikes, writes Christian F. Trippe.

We won’t know for some time how close the world has come to the brink of war between the two nuclear superpowers, the US and Russia, in mid-April 2018. For now, it seems clear that the US, the UK and France have held back and that their attacks have been limited to targets in Syria related to the production and storage of chemical warfare agents.  While it is difficult to get a clear picture of anything that is going on in Syria and caution is necessary in dealing with any reports, it seems, according to available information, that there have been practically no civilian casualties.

Military rationality?

In recent days parallels have been drawn increasingly to the Cuban missile crisis, the confrontation between the Soviet Union and the USA in 1962. Looking at the public statements being made, it seems the world has certainly reached such a point again — at least going by Donald Trump’s crazy tweets and the grandiose threats that have been made by Russian officials. But back then, it was a matter of maintaining the primacy of politics over the military generals and a Kubrickesque “Dr Strangelove” mentality on both sides. This was successful 56 years ago and the crisis remained a political one.

Now, however, in the last few days before the airstrikes on Syria, warnings were heard on both sides of the Atlantic that sometimes sounded like anxious prayers: Hopefully the rationality of the military will prevail this time. The rationality and expertise of military generals versus the ignorance and ruthlessness of politicians — you need to have a special kind of political humor to find this funny.

Careful choice of targets

Just to recap: There are currently several thousand Russian soldiers in Syria, who are fighting on the side of Assad’s troops. Two months ago, Russian mercenaries were killed following attacks by the US Air Force in northern Syria. This did not lead to a crisis. The US-led coalition against the “Islamic state” has been operating in northern Syria. This time, the air raids’ targets were selected to avoid hitting any Russian soldiers.

The dialogue between the US and Russian military leaderships seems to be stable. Experts have reported for some time that the professional and reasonably trusting exchange between high-ranking people in uniform on both sides has hardly suffered — despite the new East-West confrontation.

Syria is perhaps the most complex theater of war in history. Again and again, troops whose countries are either nominally still allied or politically deeply hostile have come into confrontation on Syrian soil. Russia’s intervention on Assad’s side and Syria’s alliance with Iran have decided the ultimate outcome of the Syrian civil war. The so-called retaliatory strikes by the three Western powers will do nothing to change this. However, this does not mean that they are pointless.

Syrian army to help Kurdish forces repel Turkish Invasion in Afrin: reports

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Syrian army to help Kurdish forces

Syrian army to help Kurdish forces

The Damascus government and Kurdish forces have reportedly agreed to join forces in Afrin to counter an ongoing Turkish offensive. Syrian state media report that the deployment of pro-regime troops is imminent.

Damascus will deploy its militia fighters to Afrin “within the next few hours” to reinforce Kurds against the Turkish offensive, Syrian state agency SANA reported on Monday morning.

The move aims to “support the steadfastness of its people in confronting the aggression which Turkish regime forces have launched on the region,” SANA said, citing its correspondent in Aleppo. Syrian state television also announced that the deployment was imminent, without providing details.

Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reacted by saying any Syrian fighters deployed to “cleanse” the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its Syrian offshoot the Democratic Union Party (PYD) would have “no problems,” but if they enter to defend the Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units (YPG), which Turkey considers a terrorist organization linked to the PKK, then “nothing and nobody can stop us or Turkish soldiers.

Last month, Ankara launched an operation against the YPG which controls Afrin.

Monday’s developments come a day after a senior Kurdish official told Reuters that the Kurds had reached a deal with Damascus.

The agreement, supposedly brokered by Russia, further complicates the conflict in Northern Syria as rivalries and alliances among Kurdish forces, the Syrian government, rebel factions, Turkey, the United States and Russia become more entangled.

What the Kurds said

  • The agreement allows paramilitaries allied with the Syrian government to enter Afrin to support the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in fending off Turkish forces, the DPA news agency reported, citing an anonymous source.
  • Badran Jia Kurd, an adviser to the Kurdish-led administration in northern Syria, told Reuters that Syrian army troops would deploy along some border positions in the Afrin region.
  • Jia Kurd said the agreement with Damascus on Afrin was strictly military with no wider political arrangements, but added: “We can cooperate with any side that lends us a helping hand in light of barbaric crimes and the international silence.”
  • Jia Kurd said there is opposition to the deal that could prevent it from being implemented.

What does this mean? The Damascus government and Kurdish forces each hold more territory than any other side in the Syrian civil war. Their cooperation could be pivotal as to how the conflict unfolds.

Who are they repelling? Ankara launched an air and ground offensive on the Afrin region in January against the YPG militia. It views the YPG as terrorists with links to an armed insurrection in Turkey. For the Turkish government, attacking Afrin is about assuring geopolitical interests and domestic security.

Are Kurdish goals compatible with Syria’s? President Bashar al-Assad’s government and the YPG have mostly avoided direct conflict. However, they have occasionally clashed and have very different visions for Syria’s future. Both believe in a possibility for a long-term agreement, but Assad has said he wants to take back the whole country.

How powerful are the Kurds? Since the onset of Syria’s conflict in 2011, the YPG and its allies have established three autonomous cantons in the north, including Afrin near the Turkish border. Their sphere of influence has expanded as they seized territory from the “Islamic State” group with the help of the US. However, Washington opposes the Kurds’ political ambitions, as does the Syrian government.

What happens next? Jia Kurd has said forces are to arrive in two days, but the deal has not been confirmed.

Syrians start from scratch in Raqqa

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Large parts of Raqqa are in utter ruin as a result of the battle between “Islamic State” forces and coalition troops. The area was liberated in October 2017, but only now are residents cautiously returning to the city.

 

Plane returning to Syria from Russia undergoes missile attack, Armenian MP on board

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The airplane returning from Sochi, Russia, on Friday was under a missile attack at the Syrian capital city Damascus airport by the militants of terrorist groups, said Jirair Reisian, an Armenian member of the Syrian parliament, speaking to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

He noted that the passengers on board this plane were returning from the Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi.

“The missile which the terrorists launched fell a few meters away from the aircraft,” said Reisian. “After that, two other missiles were launched in their direction.

“The objective of the terrorists was to disrupt the Sochi initiative; but they did not succeed.”

The Syrian Armenian MP added that, fortunately, there were no casualties, and the plane was not damaged.

Did #Turkey just annex #Syrian territories? Yes according Turkey’s Interior Minister

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Yes according to ‘s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu says he has his own district governors, police chiefs & gendarmerie commanders appointed to Azaz, Jarablus & Mare.

Turkish Minister Numan Kurtulmuş likens #Afrin offensive to the nation’s War of Independence and 1915 Gallipoli Campaign, says “Turkey will thwart imperial powers’s game today in the region.

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu says asks the US to fully disarm Kurdish fighters, withdraw troops from Manbij area to restore lost confidence between and the US

deploys more firepower and troops on border as offensive enters into second week. Crowd cheering the convoy as they pass through the town go Gölbasi in Adiyaman province.

American pastor Andrew Brunson has been jailed well over a year now, on trumped up charges, denied access to any evidence, if any, just like some 60,000 victims who were summarily and arbitrarily imprisoned in in a year or so.

Turkey-led forces reportedly recruit children in north Syria

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Opposition sources report that Turkish-led militant groups in northern Syria have recruited many non-adult males to fight Ankara’s battles, Al-Masdar News.

According to opposition sources, the Turkey-backed Syrian rebel coalition known as ‘Euphrates Shield’ has tens of child soldiers, most around 15-16 years old, within its ranks.

Some pictures were released by opposition sources to provide visual evidence of the claims being made.

The Euphrates Shield operations room was formed up from various rebel groups linked to the Free Syrian Army and Ahrar al-Sham (Syrian Muslim Brotherhood franchise) as part of a Turkish Army-led military incursion into northern Syria aimed at expelling ISIS from a key section of Turkish border.

Since the operation against the Islamic State group was terminated after the battle of Al-Bab , Euphrates Shield forces have so far relegated themselves to conducing occasional raids against positions of the Syrian Arab Army to their south and those of US-backed militias to their east and west.

Related links:

Al-Masdar News. Pictures: Turkey-led forces send children to war in north Syria

Watch how Turkey “Distract Deceive Destroy” Syrian Child slaves’ making uniforms for IsIs “VIDEO”

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So young: About ten children are employed making uniforms being smuggled into Syria to sell to Isisi fighters. They should be in school but their parents send them to work

By Isabel Hunter and Salem Rizk In Antakya For Mailonline and Photographs By Jodi Hilton On The Turkish-syrian Border

‘Child slaves’ making uniforms for Isis: Inside the Turkish sweatshop where children as young as nine work 12 hours a day stitching combat gear used in battle by Islamic State.

Drawing slowly on his cheap cigarettes, 35-year-old Abu Zakour is hardened as he describes how he employs children as young as nine to stitch the uniforms that end up on the backs of frontline ISIS fighters.

The Syrian boys – and a couple of girls hidden upstairs – are paid a minimum of 40 Turkish lira (£10) a day to stitch, cut and measure out the camouflage material and help their older colleagues piece together the uniforms that get smuggled across the border to rebel groups.

‘My kids are in a school run by an NGO,’ he said, speaking exclusively to MailOnline from his office in the Turkish border town of Antakya. ‘These children could go too but their parents want them to earn money, so what can I do?’

Child labour: A young boy at work making uniforms in Turkey that apparently find their way to Isis soldiers. ‘The only reason that these children work with me is for the money – If there were no war in Syria, these children would be in school—and school would be a much better option for them,’ factory owner Abu Zakour told MailOnline

Turkish border: Syrian government forces and Russian airstrikes close in on the last remaining rebel stronghold

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The Syrian government and its allied forces are closing in on the largest remaining rebel-held territory in the country, forcing thousands of civilians to flee towards the border with Turkey in wintry conditions, the Daily Mail reports.

The siege on Idlib, a large province in northwestern Syria which is dominated by al-Qaeda-linked militants and a hub for civilians, was expected following the defeat of ISIS late last year.

Opposition forces claim more than 5,000 families have fled the region in the past two weeks, with reports of ‘carpet bombing’ by the Russians on towns and villages in the region.

Russia’s foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said the primary military operations against ISIS had ended and that the focus would shift to other Islamic militant groups.

There are fears that a government offensive could spark large-scale destruction and displacement, with the province bordering Turkey already home to an estimated two million Syrians, including tens of thousands of people who had fled fighting elsewhere in the country.

Turkey, who support the rebels, has deployed military observers to the region as part of de-escalation deal with Iran and Russia, yet this has not stopped the fighting on the ground or Russian airstrikes against insurgents.

Troops, with the help of Russian airstrikes, have recaptured more than 80 towns and villages in the north of Syria and breached Idlib itself for the first time since mid-2015.