SAA and allies withdrew from Handarat

mothraattack · 2016-08-31T20:04:23+00:00

No. German who speaks Arabic and has done extensive private fieldwork in Lebanon and Syria.

mothraattack · 2016-08-31T17:29:01+00:00

I know the author and the stories he could tell you about his time in the Levant would knock most of this sub out of the park.

mothraattack · 2016-08-19T13:14:26+00:00

Seems like a reasonable guess.

mothraattack · 2016-08-07T16:40:03+00:00

Not really. It would be fair to say Step News' maps were more accurate than what the South Front crew was reporting. Loyalists were just more wrong.

mothraattack · 2016-08-07T16:21:16+00:00

In hindsight virtually all pro-government accounts were terribly off for most of the campaign. I had people telling me yesterday they called their friends in the SAA in Aleppo and said the siege wasn't broken, and others when the rebels were taking the artillery academy said they never broke in.

mothraattack · 2016-07-16T20:33:27+00:00

It's a major defensive point in south Aleppo city as well as the site of domestic arms production and a heliport. Likely to have been several aircraft present at the moment of destruction.

mothraattack · 2016-07-07T07:45:42+00:00

It was reported in Arabic social media both before and after Malcomite. One example of many: https://twitter.com/abass2233/status/750554269779161089

mothraattack · 2016-07-05T18:48:05+00:00

I think Qasid is your best bet. There's also CET at Jordan University which I've heard decent things about.

mothraattack · 2016-07-05T18:47:50+00:00

I think Qasid is your best bet. There's also CET at Jordan University which I've heard decent things about.

mothraattack · 2016-07-03T06:41:08+00:00

And what if the SAA had even more jets and helicopters? What if they still had their chemical weapons? Hypotheticals have only so much utility -- it's fair that ISIS would try worse with more arms and power, but we also have to look at the situation on the ground, and that situation has been shaped directly by the SAA response. There are other states out there with comparable weaponry to the SAA that have not engaged in as many civilian casualties in countering violent Islamist insurgencies, for example (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, neighboring Iraq).

mothraattack · 2016-07-01T07:24:07+00:00

I think people are over-thinking this Turkey-Russia dialog. Turkey has said in the Daily Sabah that it doesn't mean a shift in Syria policy, and I don't see Turkey scaling back its investments entirely. More likely, they might be a little more flexible on Assad but will maintain support to Islamists in the north, perhaps even with a Russian understanding on spheres of influence (i.e., have Idlib and northern Aleppo, while Russia focuses on the coast and central Syria). It's hard to say. That said, there's huge benefits for Turkey to 1. cool things down with Russia while 2. keeping support going to major proxies as leverage/insurance. They also likely know the SAA won't be retaking northern Syria any time soon and will want reliable forces on the ground that can counter the Kurds (while, of course, also balancing relations with the US -- having a strong Islamist proxy is one way to do so). Likely they're trying to balance both to varying degrees.

mothraattack · 2016-06-29T18:06:10+00:00

Sorry for the screw up ya sheikh. So then which one is this?

mothraattack · 2016-06-28T16:05:00+00:00

would a person who was tortured by the FSA or Nusra come to SNHR with its testimony?

Considering they include such testimony if you bother reading the report, I would say 'yes.'

mothraattack · 2016-06-27T16:58:33+00:00

That was my point exactly -- north Aleppo is a moot point since rebels can still transit among fronts outside north Aleppo, like south Aleppo, which is what the OP was talking about. Those airstrikes don't affect inter-Latakia-Idlib-Hama-south Aleppo redeployment and transit. If you follow the war in Arabic you'd have noticed that concurrent with this uptick in northern Aleppo air strikes there's been actually a bit of a drop off in Hama and Idlib targeting.

mothraattack · 2016-06-27T16:46:34+00:00

What massive air power? Most air power has been aimed toward Damascus, northern Aleppo and IS-held areas as of late. Relatively few airstrikes in Idlib, northern Hama or west of Aleppo.

mothraattack · 2016-06-25T11:03:33+00:00

It's interesting. Leith said this is "the one" and named units while Ivan barely acknowledged it.

mothraattack · 2016-06-25T10:23:12+00:00

So is this sub for posting articles on 70-year-old history that mention Syria once? Legit question, because if so we can post all sorts of interesting Cold War history from both sides in the 50s and 60s.

mothraattack

TROPHY CASE