Both government and opposition-held towns in Syria over the border from Turkey have fallen under Ankara’s shelling that began last week, according the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Turkey’s artillery has fired more than 100 shells at bordering areas in the northwest province of Aleppo, targeting both Syrian government forces and the opposition, MoD spokesman Igor Konashenkov told reporters on Tuesday.
“Since the end of the last week Turkey has been launching massive artillery strikes on the Syrian government and the Syrian opposition at the border areas. Impartial monitoring bodies have detected more than a hundred rounds of fire that targeted border towns in the province of Aleppo,” Konashenkov said.
Last week Turkey started pounding Syrian Kurdish forces with fire in northern Syria in an apparent attempt to stop them from taking over the city of Azaz, Aleppo.
On Monday, at least 14 people were killed after missiles hit a children’s hospital, a school and other buildings, witnesses told Reuters. Ankara was quick to blame Russia for the strikes in Azaz.
Monday’s attacks have been condemned by the international community, with the UN calling on war parties to reduce hostility ahead of the planned ceasefire in Syria.
On a separate occasion, members of the United Nations Security Council expressed their concern with the aggressive actions carried out by Ankara in Syria and will urge it to follow international law.
“The UN Security Council members are concerned with the Turkish attacks on a number of Syrian regions,” UNSC President Rafael Ramirez said, according to TASS news agency, after a meeting held upon Russia’s request, adding that the members “have agreed to ask Turkey to obey international law.”
Russia’s ministry of defense statement came as a response to Turkish officials who accused Moscow of conducting a deadly attack on Syrian civilians. On Monday, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu claimed a Russian warship in the Caspian Sea launched a ballistic missile that hit a hospital in the Idlib province. Following the hospital, reports of five medical facilitates and several schools being attacked in the city of Azaz also emerged.
Russia shrugged off the fresh claims on Tuesday saying there are no warships in the Caspian fleet “capable of launching ballistic missiles.”
The allegations, described as “empty” and “unfounded” were overturned by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as well.
Nasrallah threatens to bomb chemical facility, kill thousands of Israelis Head of Lebanese terror group says strike on Haifa amonia storage facility would have impact similar to nuclear attack
Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah speaks during a rare public appearance, in the suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon in November 2013. (file photo credit: AP/Bilal Hussein)
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday insisted that although his group isn’t currently seeking war with Israel, it could defeat the Jewish state in a future conflict by targeting Haifa’s ammonia storage tanks, resulting in massive fatalities.
Dismissing recent reports of a possible outbreak of hostilities with Israel, Nasrallah said deterrence established by the terror organization in the first and second Lebanon wars was keeping Israeli aggression at bay.
“Israel’s psychological warfare is of no use against us,” he told the Lebanese Naharnet news site.
As an example, Nasrallah said Israel “feared” the group’s cache of rockets capable of striking the ammonia facilities in Haifa, an attack that he said would result in casualties equivalent to those that would be caused by a nuclear attack.
He quoted an unnamed Israeli official to the effect that a strike on the northern city’s ammonia storage tanks would cause tens of thousands of fatalities.
“This would be exactly as a nuclear bomb, and we can say that Lebanon today has a nuclear bomb, seeing as any rocket that might hit these tanks is capable of creating a nuclear bomb effect,” he said, adding that Hezbollah, which has reportedly lost many of its men in the Syrian civil war, was continuing to boost its capabilities.
Hours after Nasrallah issued the explicit threat to strike Haifa, Environmental Protection Minister Avi Gabbai said he had ordered that the ammonia storage facility be moved to the Negev desert.
During his speech, the Hezbollah chief also accused Israel of behind-the-scenes intervention in Syria, warning Saudi Arabia not to ally itself with Jerusalem over the conflict and slamming other Sunni states for moving closer to Israel.
“Do you accept a friend occupying Sunni land in Palestine? Can you become friends with an entity that has committed the most horrible massacres against the Sunni community?” he said.
“You are free to consider Iran an enemy, but how can you consider Israel a friend and ally? This issue must be confronted in a serious manner.
“It is beneficial to monitor the Israeli media to realize that the Israeli rhetoric has become identical to the rhetoric reflected in some Arab media, especially in the Gulf and Saudi Arabia,” Nasrallah charged.
His comments came on the heels of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call to Arab states with which Israel has covert ties to publicly acknowledge those relationships.
Addressing the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Sunday, the prime minister maintained that most moderate Arab countries see Israel as their ally, not their enemy, as they share a common struggle against Iran and the Islamic State.
Israel has long said there are secret back-channel talks between Jerusalem and Sunni states, however, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries maintain they will only normalize ties with the Jewish state once a peace deal is reached with the Palestinians via a two-state solution.
The Palestinian Authority’s envoy to the United Nations Human Rights Council, Ibrahim Khreisheh, suggested that all Jews living in Israel should return to their countries of origin, according to a video translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute.
During an interview with Palestinian Authority TV on Feb. 4, Khreisheh argued that Jews are not native to Israel and colonized Palestine to create the current Jewish state, implying that the Jewish people have no historical connection to the land.
“Our problem is that the Jews came to Palestine from outside the region, colonized it, and established their own state,” Khreisheh said.
He cited the Jewish exodus from Egypt in ancient times as a past example of Jews conquering Palestinians and taking over the land of Palestine, what he terms the “Promised Land,” and argues this practice is being continued today with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
“The historical stories about their exodus, and about how they left Egypt for Palestine, which they call the ‘Promised Land’ … this Promised Land within Israel is not large enough for them, and they have begun to take over our lands in the West Bank, with their settlements.”
Khreisheh then referenced Russian president Vladimir Putin’s statement from last month in which he said Jews who left the Soviet Union to flee persecution are welcome to return to Russia to escape growing anti-Semitism in Europe and the Middle East.
Putin made his comment at an event with Moshe Vyacheslav Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress.
“I believe that President Putin’s message is very important,” Khreisheh said, before adding that other European and Arab countries should take back Jews so Palestinians can control all of Israel.
“It may be useful to consider asking other countries—Arab countries, European countries, and other foreign countries – to allow the Jews to return to their former lands and homes.”
“Then we, the Palestinians, will return to be the way we were … We never had people from Poland the Ukraine, Switzerland, France, or England,” Khreisheh said.
Syrian army units and paramilitary forces are reportedly moving into Raqqa province, seizing strategically important areas along the Salamiyah-Raqqa road which leads directly into the Islamic State stronghold.
On Sunday, Syrian government forces and Palestinian armed militia captured the strategically important Tal Masbah hilltop, the last entrenched Islamic State (IS, previously ISIS/ISIL) position.
The fortified position guarded approaches to the Salamiyah-Raqqa highway, leading to the terror group’s stronghold in the city of Raqqa, Al-Masdar news outlet reported, citing a military source.
Later that day, the Syrian government army launched a massive assault on the village of Zakiyah and seized an important crossroads near the village, cutting IS’s major supply route from Raqqa to nearby Hama province.
The Syrian government army’s 555th Brigade, 4th Mechanized Division, “Desert Hawks” brigade and Golani regiment, as well as the pro-government Palestinian Liwaa Al-Quds militia (Jerusalem brigade) took part in both ground offensives.
A source in the 555th brigade told Al-Masdar that IS militants entrenched at Tal Masbah hilltop were forced to flee northeast towards the desert on the Raqqa-Hama border, where an intense battle between the terror group and government forces is taking place.
The Syrian government army is also set to retake the key Tabaqah military airbase in southwest Raqqa province, which was captured by IS in August 2014.
“This is an indication of the direction of coming operations toward Raqqa,” a military source briefed on the battle told Reuters. “In general, the Raqqa front is open … starting in the direction of the Tabqa area.”
The advance into IS-held Raqqa province would allow Damascus to regain control over a region where Syrian government forces have had no presence since 2014. It would also complicate any move by Saudi Arabia to deploy forces to the area.
Previous media reports indicate that Saudi Arabia is considering a full-scale ground invasion into war-torn Syria, where they are backing anti-government rebels battling Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Riyadh has also been threatening that Assad will be toppled if he does not leave during a period of political transition. “Bashar al-Assad will leave – have no doubt about it. He will either leave by a political process or he will be removed by force,” Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told CNN.
The possible Saudi intervention as well as recent Turkish artillery shelling of Kurdish and Syrian army positions came amid a successful anti-IS offensive by government forces in Aleppo, another important region.
Update: At least two sources confirm that Turkey also fired on the Syrian army on Saturday, an exceptionally provocative move.
Update: Washington has now weighed in and is asking the Turks to please stop shelling the soldiers the Pentagon is arming.
* * *
Even as all sides – including the US, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and select rebel groups – pretend to be working towards a ceasefire and a diplomatic solution to the five year conflict in Syria, actions speak louder than words, and to put it as succinctly as possible, everyone is still fighting.
In fact, the fighting is more intense than ever. Russia and Hezbollah are closing in on Aleppo, the country’s largest city and a key urban center where rebels are dug in for what amounts to a last stand. If the city is liberated by the government (and yes, “liberated” is more accurate than “falls” because occupied territory belongs to the Syrian government, not to Sunni extremists), Assad will have regained control of the country’s backbone in the west.
That would effectively mean the end of the rebellion and the Gulf monarchies, not to mention Turkey, are not happy about it. “The main battle is about cutting the road between Aleppo and Turkey, for Turkey is the main conduit of supplies for the terrorists,” Assad said in an interview with AFP on Friday.
That supply line has been severed and now, it’s do or die time for the rebels’ Sunni benefactors in Ankara, Riyadh, and Doha. Either intervene or watch as Hezbollah rolls up the opposition under cover of Russian airstrikes, restoring the Assad government and securing the Shiite crescent for the Iranians.
As we documented extensively this week, the Saudis and the Turks are now set to invade. Assad has promised to “confront them”, which of course means that the IRGC and Hassan Nasrallah’s army are set to come into direct contact with Turkish and Saudi troops, setting the stage for an all-out sectarian war that will almost invariably end up pitting NATO against the Russians. Note that this is different from Yemen, where Tehran fights via proxies rather than directly against the Saudi military.
On Saturday the stakes were raised when Turkey said Saudi Arabia is set to send warplanes to Incirlik.
As a reminder, access to Incirlik was the carrot Erdogan used last summer to convince NATO to acquiesce to Ankara’s brutal crackdown on the PKK. “Let me wage war against my political rivals, and you can use our airbase,” is a fair approximation of Erdogan’s proposition.
Now, it appears the Saudis are set to use the base as a staging ground for strikes in Syria.
As RT reports, “Saudi Arabia is to deploy military jets and personnel to Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base in the south of the country.”
Of course the excuse is the same as it ever was for everyone involved: the fight against ISIS.
“The deployment is part of the US-led effort to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group,” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said. “At every coalition meeting, we have always emphasized the need for an extensive result-oriented strategy in the fight against the Daesh terrorist group,” he added.
Cavusoglu was speaking to the Yeni Safak newspaper after addressing the 52nd Munich Security Conference where over 60 foreign and defense ministers are gathered (see here for more from the meeting).
“If we have such a strategy, then Turkey and Saudi Arabia may launch a ground operation,” he added.
Remember that Ankara’s primary concern in the country is ensuring that the YPG (i.e. the Kurdish opposition that Erdogan equates with the PKK and thus with “terrorism”) doesn’t end up declaring a sovereign state on Turkey’s border. That, Erdogan fears, may embolden Kurds in Turkey who are already pushing for more autonomy.
In short: somehow, Turkey and Saudi Arabia need to figure out how to spin an attack on the YPG and an effort to rescue the opposition at Aleppo as an anti-ISIS operation even though ISIS doesn’t have a large presence in the area.
How they plan to do that is anyone’s guess, but the following tweets should tell you everything you need to know about where this is headed.
As you can see, Turkey has begun shelling Aleppo in what is indeed a very serious escalation that will likely prompt a Russian response.
“Shelling was reported at Menagh air base, a former Syrian Air Force facility that Kurds seized from Islamist rebels just days ago, and at three other positions between the airport and Turkish border,” The Independent reports. “The air base has been a key target for several parties in the Syrian civil war since 2012, being besieged by rebels for almost a year until it was seized by a coalition including an early form of Isis and the al-Qaeda-linked Jabhat al-Nusra in August 2013 [and] it remained in rebel hands until Thursday, when Kurdish PYD fighters capitalised on the diversion caused by Bashar al-Assad’s forces and Russian air strikes attacking rebel areas to the south to seize Menagh.”
PM Davutoglu says the shelling was in line with “rules of engagement.”
A Kurdish official confirmed the shelling of Menagh air base in the northern Aleppo countryside, which he said had been captured by the Kurdish-allied Jaysh al-Thuwwar group rather than the Kurdish YPG militia,” Reuters says, adding that “Both are part of the Syria Democratic Forces alliance.” That group, you’re reminded, was the subject of intense scrutiny late last year as we documented in our classic piece “Full Metal Retard: US Launches “Performance-Based” Ammo Paradrop Program For Make-Believe ‘Syrian Arabs.'” It’s the same group the US has been paradropping weapons to.
To sum up, Turkey is deliberately attempting to reverse gains made by the US-backed Kurds in an area that is under siege by the Russians and Iran. Or, more simply: utter chaos.
The Syrian government has confirmed that its army positions were targeted by Turkish shelling on Saturday, which also hit the positions of the Syrian Kurdish militias in the northern Aleppo province. Turkish shelling reportedly continued Sunday.
The Syrian government has condemned the Turkish shelling of Syrian territory and described it as direct support for “terrorist” groups, Syrian state media reported Sunday, citing a letter to the United Nations.
“Turkish artillery shelled Syrian territory, targeting Syrian Kurdish positions and the positions of the Syrian Arab Army,” the letter stated.
Damascus sent the letter in response to Saturday’s Turkish shelling of areas north of Aleppo recently captured by a Kurdish-backed alliance.
In the letter the Syrian government condemned statements by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as “blatant interference” in Syrian affairs.
Turkish military sources told Anadolu Agency that the shelling was continuing Sunday and several positions of YPG – the military wing of the Kurdish Democratic Union (PYD) – have been destroyed. The militias reportedly suffered a number of casualties, the sources added.
Saudi Arabia is to deploy military jets and personnel to Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base in the south of the country, Ankara said. The base is already used by the US Air Force for their sorties in Syria.
The deployment is part of the US-led effort to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.
“At every coalition meeting, we have always emphasized the need for an extensive result-oriented strategy in the fight against the Daesh terrorist group,” he said, referring to IS by an Arabic-language abbreviation.
Cavusoglu spoke to the Yeni Şafak newspaper after addressing a security conference in Munich, Germany, where the Syrian crisis was one of the top issues on the agenda.
“If we have such a strategy, then Turkey and Saudi Arabia may launch a ground operation,” he added, fueling concerns that a foreign troop invasion may soon further complicate the already turbulent situation in the war-torn country.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE voiced their readiness to contribute troops for a ground operation in Syria on the condition that the US would lead the intervention. Damascus and its key regional ally, Iran, warned that such a foreign force would face strong resistance.
The US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have shared goals in Syria, as all three want the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad to be toppled by rebel forces. On other issues they differ. For example, the US supports Kurdish forces in Syria who scored significant military victories against IS, but Turkey considers them terrorists and is targeting them with airstrikes.
Russia, which supports the government of Bashar Assad, seeing it as the only regional force capable of defeating IS on the ground, has warned against a ground intervention, which, Moscow believes, would only serve to prolong the war in Syria.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev called on his Western counterparts “not to threaten a ground operation” in Syria, stressing that Moscow is doing its utmost to pave the way for a lasting peace in the war-torn country.
Russia and other leading world powers have brought Damascus and a number of rebel groups to negotiations and leveraged them into agreeing to a ceasefire. The agreement, however, remains shaky, as neither side trusts the other, and the unity of the rebel delegation remains questionable. The terrorist groups IS and Al Nusra Front are not part of the talks.
Diana and Samuel Blog. The elderly Jewish couple that has been completely destroyed during a robbery by two Islamic Muslim racists Moroccan .
Both are since then in a wheelchair, and Samuel became even completely blind after the assault. The robbers took everything away from the couple. In addition to the 15,000 euros safe by the couple for their own funeral they even stole all Diana’s clothes .
She does not even have a coat to wear. “I have nothing more, not a penny, I am a poor schmuck …” she says. Diana survived Auschwitz and was again the victim of anti-Semitism in 2015. We like her, and her husband,we not to let them stand in the cold.
That is why we can call to donate to Diana, that this couple their final years still some dignity to life. So willingly, donate here . Perhaps there are clothing stores that could provide them with clothes .
For Diana a new jacket or dress. Mail in this case, feel free to to redactie@geenstijl.nl, we’ll arrange something. Everyone, thank you in advance.
IDF must be prepared for possible war with Hamas’ Southern Command officers warn political echelon may ‘lose patience’ and demand immediate action against Hamas terror tunnels.
Senior officers in the IDF’s Southern Command have begun to express concerns that the security situation along Israel’s border with Gaza is nearing the same levels of strain as during Operation Protective Edge.
However, according to one officer, unlike the 2014 campaign, there is now a possibility of the Israeli army taking offensive action against Hamas’ terrorist tunnels – from across the border.
“The various units should prepare for the possibility that the political echelon will lose patience or that the threat of tunnels in the Gaza Strip will not allow for restraint, and they will try to initiate treatment of the tunnels in Palestinian territory,” the officer told Walla! News.
He added that all military units should maintain a high level of readiness for the possibility of deployment, and that exercises be conducted for entering Gaza, including the scenario of rockets being launched at IDF bases.
Indeed, members of Security Cabinet have already suggested that Israel initiate action against the Hamas tunnels leading into Israel.
According to a Channel 2 report on Monday, Education Minister Naftali Bennett (Jewish Home) recently made such a demand only to be rejected by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon.
The two later publicly said that “on this matter we must exercise judgment and responsibility” and equated such action to attacking Hezbollah missiles or Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The topic of Hamas’s terror tunnels has come back in the spotlight in recent weeks, after four tunnels collapsed in the last two weeks killing 11 Hamas terrorists.
The IDF however has not ruled out the possibility that Hamas tunnels may succeed in reaching Israeli territory; all forces on the ground are being trained on how to deal with such an infiltration.
Counter-terror expert warned US Senate: “13% of Syrian refugees support ISIS” Counter-terror expert David Harris warned the US Senate about the dangers associated with Canada accepting so many Syrian refugees and the implications that it has for the United States.
David Harris, a counter-terror expert who serves as the head of the international intelligence program INSIGNIS Strategic Research Inc., recently addressed the US Senate in order to discuss the dangers associated with the fact that the Canadian government has decided to fast-trek the arrival of 25,000 Syrian refugees into Canada and its implications for the United States: “Complications led the government to adjust intake goals to 10,000 before the end of 2015 and another 15,000 prior to 1 March, 2016. By last week, about 15,000 had entered Canada. Reports indicate that Canada might raise its target level and take in 50,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2016. Given the threat picture in Syria and the scale of the intake, security considerations require thoughtful attention.”
According to Harris, FBI director James Corney highlighted screening difficulties if America would absorb 10,000 Syrians, warning that information gaps could lead to inadequate screening: “If the extensive US intelligence system would have trouble screening 10,000 Syrians in a year, how likely is it that Canada even with valuable US assistance could adequately screen two and a half times that number in four months?”
Harris emphasized that it is important to remember the risk associated with these refugees: “Apart from accounts of a suspected ISIS aim of penetrating international refugee streams, a Lebanese cabinet minister warned in September 2015 that at least two percent of the 1.1 million Syrians in Lebanon’s refugee camps were connected to ISIS extremism. Canada takes refugees from Lebanon’s UNHRC camps. More generally, Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies polls determined that 13% of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey had positive views of ISIS. How many more might favor Al Qaeda, the Al Nusra Front, Hezbollah, Assad’s militias and other non-ISIS threats?”
He noted that it is critical to screen for these things when determining which Syrian refugees will be able to come to countries like Canada and the United States but he questioned how easily one can access the history of each Syrian refugee given that they come from a hostile and chaotic country: “We cannot reliably confer with the authorities of such jurisdictions, assuming that an authority exists about many prospective refugees.”
While Canada believes that the risk can be mitigated by barring single adult males, Harris warned that many people can lie about their age, adding that many children both male and female under the age of 18 are part of ISIS: “And what effect would an adult male embargo have on an adult-at-risk gay man and other males targeted by terrorists? Meanwhile, in favoring women with children and men with families, do we know who is actually married to whom and whose children are accompanying whom? Are some ISIS fighters families involved? Would they in turn sponsor relatives?”
Harris also is greatly concerned that there may be security risks for North America’s existing minority communities if there is a huge influx of Syrian refugees given the fact that in Syria, demonizing Jews is a national policy and threatening the lives of members of the LGBT community has reached a crisis point: “And what of importing the people from a region where anti-black racism is an especially serious matter?”
According to Harris, this situation in Canada can also adversely affect the US as Canadians require no visas to enter into the United States and terrorists have taken advantage of this in the past: “Failed milliunium bomber Ahmed Ressam and Ghazi Ibrahim Abu Mezar’s arrest in his Brooklyn bomb factory remind us of the cross border risks.” Harris noted that the Canadian government has assured that the process will be transparent and this should reassure the Canadian public as well as Canada’s allies but noted there is still a great risk involved in taking in so many Syrians: “There is little doubt that those in Canada tasked with the job of screening refugees are doing the best that they can given the constraints but the constraints are significant and we must be realistic about that fact.”
According to CBS News, Guidy Mamann, a Toronto immigration lawyer, also addressed the US Senate hearing and proclaimed: “There are people in our office waiting for years. Why is somebody being allowed to jump ahead of the line? This is not a rescue mission. This is a resettlement mission. The people we are helping have already escaped the conflict zone and have already reached safety in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. We are only relocating them and offering them permanent resettlement. We are making no attempt, whatsoever, to rescue people who are actually in Syria and who are in imminent danger. When compared to other large groups of refugees, one could easily argue that this group represents a relatively higher-risk demographic. Syria is widely considered to be a major hotbed of international terror. Large parts of Syria are controlled by ISIS which, sadly, enjoys some considerable local support. Virtually the entire country supports one of the three warring factions. All three groups have been associated with assorted atrocities and violations of human rights.” Given this, he argued that Canada should take more time to screen the Syrian refugees.
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