***The Official Syria/Iraq war thread***

[Spartan5364]

First Christmas mass in a rebuild church of St. Mary in Homs, Syria. SAA is now under full control of Homs. When the city was controlled by FSA, the church was burned down.

http://twitter.com/syrmukhabarat/sta...934016/photo/1



before the SAA liberated the city:

[Spartan5364]

The Oil Crash Is Making It Hard For Iran To Prop Up Assad

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-exc...e-drop-2014-12

Oh and the low oil price is killing Putler's NovoNazi Russia.

In order to save himself and suck up to the Saudis, Putler may stab Assad in the back and throw him under the bus. lolz

Putler's scheming in Syria is backfiring big time, causing Saudis and Gulf States to retaliate by lowering oil price to destroy Putler's novonazi economy.


Who would have thought? lolz Karma is such a bissh.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...606252,00.html

dated Dec 22 2014

The Al-Akhbar newspaper, which is associated with Hezbollah, reported Monday that Russian weapons, and weapons from other sources, were delivered to the Syrian police and are likely to impact the course of the civil war in Syria. According to the report the weapons "were
not revealed in order to prevent Israel or other sources from discovering them."


The report also claimed that Russia and Iran had opened a new credit line to Syria worth 6.4 billion dollars. Tehran has opened a credit line of 4.5 billion dollars and Russia opened a credit line of a billion dollars, in addition to 500 million intended for food and 400 million intended for flour

[Spartan5364]

YPG engaging ISIS in Sinjar

[ZenBowman]

Good analysis of Syria's grim future. IMO, the country is destroyed, and a split up is the best option, but also unlikely. The most likely thing is that Syria, once a modern, thriving, nation, becomes a new Afghanistan.

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debat...-another-year/

In early 2015, the civil war in Syria will turn four years old. If current trends hold, the terrible conflict — which has killed hundreds of thousands of people and displaced millions — will almost certainly continue to rage through the end of the year. That’s my prediction.

This is largely because the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with Tehran’s help, has transformed its professional army into a militia-style amateur force that’s cheap and easy to train. Its ranks are filled by eager young men, who are numerous in pro-Assad Syria.

However, the same militia force that allows the regime to keep fighting also lacks the mass, mobility and firepower to mount a decisive offensive against the rebels. One that would stand a chance of recapturing northern and eastern Syria from secular rebels and Islamic State militants and end the war on Damascus’ terms.

Combined with the rebels and militants’ own similar limitations, it’s a recipe for a stalemate. And another year of grinding warfare.

...

By 2014, the old Syrian army was a spent force. In May, a rebel sniper killed Iranian General Abdullah Eskandari in battle near Damascus. Opposition fighters seized Eskandari’s notebook and published its contents online, including a frank description of the Syrian army’s “dissipation and disintegration” in Hama province in west-central Syria. It’s safe to assume the army was in a similarly poor state in other provinces.

But that didn’t matter. Because by then the Iranians had essentially replaced the Syrian army with a militia called the National Defense Force, which draws many of its volunteers from the Alawite religious group — the regime’s main supporters — and also requires minimal training and support to function. What the volunteers lack in expertise and experience, they make up in patriotic fervor.

...

“The Syrian army couldn’t handle this three-year crisis because any army would be fatigued [after that long],” said Entezari, paralyzed after being badly wounded while fighting in Syria. “Iran came and said why don’t you form popular support for yourself and ask your people for help.”

Tehran’s agents helped build support for the volunteer National Defense Force. “Our boys went to one of the biggest Alawite regions,” Entezari recalled. “They told the head of one of the major tribes to call upon his youth to take up arms and help the regime.”

...


More than 24,000 National Defense Force volunteers have died in combat, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. But there are three million Alawites in Syria, more than enough to sustain the National Defense Force for years to come, barring an unlikely collapse in Alawite support for the regime.

That means Damascus can keep fighting through 2015. But it can’t win — and neither can the rebels or the militants. The rebels still struggle to obtain heavy weaponry for their two-front war. For their part, Islamic State militants have picked simultaneous fights with the Syrian regime, the Free Syrian Army, Iran, Iraq and a growing U.S.-led coalition.

I predict that a year from now not much will have changed in Syria. Except for increases in the death toll and the roster of the displaced.

[Tekkendo]

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...606252,00.html

dated Dec 22 2014

"......The Al-Akhbar newspaper, which is associated with Hezbollah, reported Monday..."




Why not just quote Assad ? lol

[Spartan5364]

After a grueling 2.5 years of combat, Assads SAA and militias closing in on rebel and ISIS help Aleppo.

The last road into rebel-held east Aleppo carves though a mile-wide paddock between an abandoned village and a looming ridgeline. Behind each of them Syrian troops advance slowly, hidden from view.

Trucks, cars and motorbikes bump through the green field, gouging deep muddy holes that are starting to resemble trenches, before joining a gravel path along a sand berm that shelters the final passage into what is left of the city.

After two-and-a-half years of war, the Aleppo at the end of the makeshift road is a wasteland where only gunmen, soldiers and a few desperate civilians now tread. Those who dare do so tentatively, knowing that the defining fight for one of the cradles of civilisation is now imminent.

Whoever wins the coming battle for northern Syria will go a long way towards victory in the war that has levelled much of the country and set the neighbourhood ablaze, threatening borders drawn a century ago and shattering several millennia of co-existence from the Mediterranean coast to Iraq’s Ninevah plains.

At the foot of the ridge just over a mile from where Syrian forces and militias have now massed, dogs chew through piled rubbish. A short distance away, rebel fighters have also dug in, using nearby towns and villages as vital supply lines while the city itself is slowly being strangled.

(...)

long article
http://www.theguardian.com/world/201...tle-for-aleppo

[NoMilkForYou]

Coalition fighter jet (Jordanian) shot down in Raqqa, pilot taken hostage by IS. :/

[Spartan5364]

Coalition fighter jet (Jordanian) shot down in Raqqa, pilot taken hostage by IS. :/

poor guy
ISIS posted some photos of him, figured I wasn't going to repost them


official beebeesea link now up
http://www.***.com/news/world-middle-east-30596474

The Jordanian military has confirmed that one of its planes has crashed over northern Syria and that its pilot has been captured by Islamic State (IS).

The jihadist group earlier said it had shot down the jet with a heat-seeking missile near the city of Raqqa.

It published photographs showing the pilot, whom it identified as Flight Lieutenant Moaz Youssef al-Kasasbeh.

This is the first US-led coalition aircraft to be lost on IS territory since air strikes began in September.

Jordan is one of four Arab countries whose aircraft have been flying sorties over Syria.
'Heat-seeking missile'

On Wednesday morning, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said it had received reports from its network of activists that IS members had taken "an Arab pilot prisoner after shooting his plane down with an anti-aircraft missile near the city of Raqqa".

The pro-IS Raqqa Media Center also posted a photo on its ******** page showing armed men taking the pilot out of what appeared to be a lake or river.

The man appeared able to stand but was bleeding from the mouth. He was wearing only a white T-shirt and was soaking wet.

A caption identified him as Lt Kasasbeh and later a photo appearing to show his military ID card was published.

Lt Kasasbeh's father, Youssef al-Kasasbeh, confirmed his son's plane had crashed in Syria in an interview with the Jordanian newspaper, Saraya.

Analysis: Jonathan Marcus, *** defence correspondent

We do not know yet if the Jordanian aircraft suffered an engine failure or other technical problem, or if it was actually downed by IS air defences.

IS has been assumed to have a limited air defence capability - based not least on the sorts of shoulder-fired missiles that are rife in the region.

IS fighters have downed Iraqi and Syrian government aircraft and helicopters in the past. We also know that IS has overrun a number of Syrian air defence bases.

It is not clear if IS has personnel capable of operating any of these more sophisticated Soviet or Russian-supplied systems.

The US-led coalition permanently monitors the nature of the air defence threat and if the Jordanian aircraft was shot down then any potential lessons will be fed into the ongoing air campaign.
line

Youssef al-Kasasbeh said he found out the news after the head of the RJAF informed another of his sons.

Lt Kasasbeh has been a pilot in the RJAF for six years and had only visited their home last Sunday, he said.

He appealed to IS leaders: "May Allah plant mercy in your hearts and may you release my son."

The air forces of Jordan, the US, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain have carried out hundreds of air strikes on IS in Syria in the past three months

Many of the targets have been in and around Raqqa, which is the de facto capital of the "caliphate" whose creation IS proclaimed in June.

Syrian government warplanes also regularly bomb Raqqa and the surrounding province. On Tuesday, an air strike killed more than 20 people, according to the Syrian Observatory.

Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, the Netherlands and UK have joined the US in conducting air strikes on IS in neighbouring Iraq.

The ***'s Jim Muir in Beirut says the latest news will raise concern among the coalition nations about the level of armament available to the militants and the defensive measures deployed by coalition jets.

It may further diminish the appetite of Arab nations to take part in such operation, our correspondent adds.

[Spartan5364]

Marry Christmas from the NDF, Assads volunteer army!
saving Syrian Christians since jihadis started wreaking havoc

[Spartan5364]

if you're bored during your christmas break and want to watch a great Beebeesea documentary on syria check this one out
"The children of Syria". Very touching

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x22...014_shortfilms

[Spartan5364]

so this is what it's like to be bombed by the SAA

[Tekkendo]

Assad only seems to be capable of murdering civilians. He keeps losing airbases to the islamists


Syria Daily, August 8: Assad Forces Lose Major Base and Face Attack on Damascus Airport

http://eaworldview.com/2014/08/syria...ascus-airport/



and then just this month, he lost two major airbases... FTW

Syria regime loses second key base in a day: monitor

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/syr...&NewsCatID=352

[Spartan5364]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middle...195774477.html

isis killed 120 of it's own foreign fighters trying to return back home, in the past 6 months

[Spartan5364]

YPG fighting



also interview with the captured jordanian pilot has been released by ISIL. Don't really feel like posting it, nothing of value in it really except for the pathetic description of him as a crusader pilot

[NoMilkForYou]

so this is what it's like to be bombed by the SAA

They can't even take down a 60 year old Mig-21

[Spartan5364]

Iraqi army and volunteer militias capture Dhuluiya town from ISIL
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/12...dhuluiya-town/

Units of the Iraqi military, backed by volunteer forces, have managed to fully liberate the town of Dhuluiya in Salahuddin Province from the Takfiri ISIL militants.

Karim al-Nuri, a top commander of Badr volunteer fighters, said on Tuesday that the Iraqi forces succeeded in taking full control of the Tigris River town, 70 km north of the capital, Baghdad, from the Takfiri militants.

Assaults to retake the town, which were launched on Sunday and continued into Monday, broke the ISIL terrorists’ siege of Dhuluiya.

Nuri further added that the mass escape of the ISIL Takfiris also ended the isolation of the Sunni al-Jubouri tribesmen.

Following the liberation of Dhuluiya, Iraqi security forces inspected homes for ISIL militants potentially hiding there, he added.

On Monday, Iraqi forces retook the village of Hayy al-Amin in Salahuddin Province from ISIL. Iraqi fighter jets also conducted several sorties and pounded ISIL positions in the village.

Iraqi forces, supported by tribal militiamen, advanced into Dhuluiya on Sunday and pushed back the Takfiri ISIL militants from parts of the town. The troops entered Dhuluiya from the north and captured the military airport, raising the Iraqi flag over the main terminal.

Dhuluiya had initially been liberated in October by Iraqi armed forces. However, it was retaken by the ISIL weeks later despite fierce resistance from local tribes.

The Takfiri militants that control large swathes of land in Iraq and Syria, have been carrying out horrific acts of violence, including public decapitations and crucifixions, against all Iraqi communities such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, and Christians.

can't find a source but *** on air said 300 ISIL militants were killed. I believe they were citing ISF sources

[Spartan5364]

ISF or Iraqi flags flying at the entrance to Tikrit, up until now an ISIL stronghold

http://twitter.com/EjmAlrai/status/549843740639371264

[BlackHeart.au]

ISF or Iraqi flags flying at the entrance to Tikrit, up until now an ISIL stronghold

http://twitter.com/EjmAlrai/status/549843740639371264

I like your Updates mate. Seems like good news. However why do I get the feeling they'll lose this again?

[Spartan5364]

President Bashar Al Assad visits his troops fighting near damascus.
No translation but just an interesting morale boosting attempt I suppose






ISIL asking on twitter how to kill capture jordanian pilot

http://www.asiabulletin.com/index.php/sid/228971463

DAMASCUS/LONDON - Islamic State militants in Syria have invited suggestions on Twitter on the best way to kill a Jordanian pilot captured last week with their gruesome Arabic hashtag "Suggest a Way to Kill the Jordanian Pilot Pig" being retweeted over a thousand times.

The pilot, Mu'ath Safi Yousef al-Kaseasbeh, 26, a first lieutenant in Jordan's air force, was captured after his F-16 jet crash-landed near the Syrian city of Raqqa, which is held by ISIS (also known as ISIL).

Jordan has threatened the IS with "grave consequences" if the pilot is harmed, while the Islamists have demanded that Jordan quit the US-led coalition and release several prisoners in exchange for his release.

Several ISIS-affiliated Twitter accounts have asked the organization's followers to suggest ways of killing Kaseasbeh.

Kasaesbeh, also known as Moaz, was captured by IS fighters on Christmas Eve.

The IS published an interview with the pilot in Dabiq, its monthly English-language magazine, last week. The piece ends with the question "Do you know what the Islamic State will do with you?" To which Al-Kasasbeh replies: "Yes They will kill me".

According to Vocative, some of the ideas shared by ISIS followers to kill Moaz include beheading him, burning him alive and running him over with a bulldozer.

Many of the Twitter posts contained graphic embedded images, including photographs of beheadings and of wounded children. One showed a steamroller captioned with a message that translates into "Goodbye Moaz", while another featured a stock picture saying "Nothing better than the axe".

Another hashtag that translates as "We all want to slaughter Moaz" has been tweeted thousands of times too. That hashtag featured doctored images of the pilot with IS soldiers, including one of the man being held by "Jihadi John", the IS member that the group claims was behind the killing of many of the British and US men shown in videos released this year.

But people have also taken to Twitter to post on a hashtag that translates as "We are all Moaz", praising the pilot and offering messages of support for his family.

One participant, claiming to be the mother of a Syrian man killed by a coalition air strike, suggested that Kaseasbeh should be "impaled and hung on a pole so that he dies slowly. And it would be mercy to kill him by gun or a knife".

Moaz's plane was the first US-led coalition aircraft to be lost on IS territory since air strikes began in September.

The jihadist group claimed it had shot down the jet with a heat-seeking missile near the city of Raqqa.

But the Jordanian government and U.S. Central Command described the incident as an aircraft crash and adamantly stated that it was not shot down by ISIS.

"I checked the system display and it indicated that the engine was damaged and burning," the pilot is quoted as saying. "The plane began to deviate from its normal flight path, so I ejected. I landed in the Furat River by parachute and the seat caught on some ground, keeping me fixed, until I was captured by soldiers of the Islamic State."

In Kobani, the kurdish YPG now apparently controls 70% of the city which is an improvment.
Video of YPG showing off areas captured from ISIL

[LukeLissen]

Syria ... Some people are just dangerously dumb ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFNHHw5JRDk



'Yeah lets walk around and show kids this cluster bomblet I found.'

Holding it by the ribbon can arm it if it was not already armed. Simply dropping it could then make it go off. It would kill the man and half the kids there.

[LukeLissen]

A lot of coalition activity in and around Raqqa, Syria the past 24 hours using various aircraft including helicopters.



الرقة تذبح بصمت @Raqqa_Sl 16 hours ago
#Breaking: 1- #Coalition Airborne landing in #Raqqa: the operation was aimed at freeing the hostages in #IS hands however the attack failed





ISIS stronghold of Raqqa pounded by Coalition airstrikes: reports
http://nbcnews.to/1vPRD7q


The OSINT @theosint 2 hours ago
Raqqa: US Special Forces Carried Out Failed Rescue Missions to Save Jordanian Pilot
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/raqqa-us-sp...-photos-619099 …


2 failed landing attempts by Coalition warplanes in Raqaa
http://www.raqqa-sl.com/en/?p=60




it was being live tweeted here starting about 21 hours ago
http://twitter.com/Raqqa_Sl

[LukeLissen]

Wat



Iraqi media says ISIS militants have contracted Ebola
http://mashable.com/2014/12/31/isis-...c-state-ebola/


Skeptical.

[Spartan5364]

more heavy fighting from kobani

[BlackHeart.au]

A lot of coalition activity in and around Raqqa, Syria the past 24 hours using various aircraft including helicopters.



الرقة تذبح بصمت @Raqqa_Sl 16 hours ago
#Breaking: 1- #Coalition Airborne landing in #Raqqa: the operation was aimed at freeing the hostages in #IS hands however the attack failed





ISIS stronghold of Raqqa pounded by Coalition airstrikes: reports
http://nbcnews.to/1vPRD7q


The OSINT @theosint 2 hours ago
Raqqa: US Special Forces Carried Out Failed Rescue Missions to Save Jordanian Pilot
http://www.ibtimes.co.in/raqqa-us-sp...-photos-619099 …


2 failed landing attempts by Coalition warplanes in Raqaa
http://www.raqqa-sl.com/en/?p=60




it was being live tweeted here starting about 21 hours ago
http://twitter.com/Raqqa_Sl

What type on US forces would be conducting these SF missions. Delta,Seal Team 6 or some other unit?

[Spartan5364]

^not alot of info yet on the possibly failed rescue operation
just reports of increased drone activity over Raqqa, heavy bombardment and some people claiming helicopters flying in low to deploy troops but had to abort



strike compilation, 150 in 300 seconds

[Spartan5364]

ISIL fighters back in Australia, not facing any charges
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/258...fighters-home/

A number of Australians who fought with Islamic State extremists in Syria have been allowed to return home without prosecution because of a legal loophole.

The men were allowed back onto Australian soil and into the community because they fought in so-called ‘no go zones’ before travel was banned.

The Senate passed the controversial foreign fighters bill in October, designed to stop Australians taking part in overseas conflicts.


It is believed more than 20 of these fighters have returned to Australia and cannot be jailed because the laws are not retrospective.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has acknowledged the loophole, but told Sunrise this morning the she hoped the new laws will be enough to keep the community safe.

“New situations occur all the time,” she said.

“I hadn’t expected there would be young Australians who would leave the country, radicalise so quickly… that they’re not on any surveillance list or watch list, that they are not people of interest to our security or intelligence agencies.

“That’s why we changed the law… there were situations that the law didn’t cover and that’s why we acted as quickly as we could.”


Ms Bishop said national security agencies are closely monitoring the returned fighters.

“This is where it gets a little difficult, but most certainly anyone returning from Syria and Iraq who have been fighting with or supporting or promoting ISIL will be a person if interest for our security law enforcement agencies,” she said.

[Spartan5364]

ISIL losing grip on Kobani

alot of yellow advances in recent days

[Boxman]

ISIL fighters back in Australia, not facing any charges
http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/258...fighters-home/

Next major Australian terrorist attack in the making...

[Boxman]

First Christmas mass in a rebuild church of St. Mary in Homs, Syria. SAA is now under full control of Homs. When the city was controlled by FSA, the church was burned down.

But but but the FSA is moderate! It's only those evil ISIS guys that materialized out of thin air, that we need to worry about.

LukeLissen, Tekkendo and the warmongers in Washington want us handing out advanced weaponry to the very same guys that destroyed churches and massacred christians in Homs. Note again these weren't Al Queda or ISIS, they were the so-called "Free Syrian Army" that did all this. And our govt is handing them SAM's, anti-tank missiles and all sorts of toys that will absolutely 100% end up getting used for terrorist attacks on innocent people.

[LukeLissen]

But but but the FSA is moderate! It's only those evil ISIS guys that materialized out of thin air, that we need to worry about.

LukeLissen, Tekkendo and the warmongers in Washington want us handing out advanced weaponry to the very same guys that destroyed churches and massacred christians in Homs. Note again these weren't Al Queda or ISIS, they were the so-called "Free Syrian Army" that did all this. And our govt is handing them SAM's, anti-tank missiles and all sorts of toys that will absolutely 100% end up getting used for terrorist attacks on innocent people.

Actually it was caught in between fighting between the FSA and SAA and hit by artillery shells by the SAA.

BTW, the vast majority of atrocities in Syria have been committed by Assad's forces and the international org's all agree on this issue, although ISIS will possibly catch up with them if not taken down. The articles and facts surrounding this have been posted many times here.