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2,000 Russian Troops Head To Syria For "First Phase" Of Mission To Support Assad
With each passing day, The Kremlin seems less and less interested in observing any niceties with regard to how it describes Russia’s military involvement in Syria.
Initially, it seemed likely that Moscow would go the Ukraine route by providing logistical support and lurking behind the scenes while officially denying - or at least downplaying - its role in the conflict. Over the course of the last two weeks, it’s become increasingly clear that Russia now intends to make no secret of its intention not only to stabilize the Assad regime but in fact to turn the tide completely with the provision of advanced weapons and equipment including combat aircraft, tanks, and drones.
The only remaining question was how long it would be before Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem made an official request for ground troops, allowing Moscow to abandon all pretense that Russia isn’t officially at war and while we may not have reached that point yet, you can’t very well build a forward operating base and not staff it which is why now, according to FT, Moscow is set to send 2,000 troops to Latakia as part of the mission’s “first phase”. Here’s more:
Russia is to deploy 2,000 military personnel to its new air base near the Syrian port city of Latakia, signalling the scale of Moscow’s involvement in the war-torn country.
The deployment “forms the first phase of the mission there”, according to an adviser on Syria policy in Moscow.
The force will include fighter aircraft crews, engineers and troops to secure the facility, said another person briefed on the matter.
Three western defence officials agreed that the Russian deployment tallied with the numbers needed to establish a forward air base similar to those built by western militaries in Afghanistan.
Here's more, from The New York Times, on the buildup at Latakia:
The deployment of some of Russia’s most advanced ground attack planes and fighter jets as well as multiple air defense systems at the base near the ancestral home of President Bashar al-Assad appears to leave little doubt about Moscow’s goal to establish a military outpost in the Middle East. The planes are protected by at least two or possibly three SA-22 surface-to-air, antiaircraft systems, and unarmed Predator-like surveillance drones are being used to fly reconnaissance missions.
Russia has military presences near Latakia and in Tartus.Russian Moves in Syria Widen Role in MideastSEPT. 14, 2015
“With competent pilots and with an effective command and control process, the addition of these aircraft could prove very effective depending on the desired objectives for their use,” said David A. Deptula, a retired three-star Air Force general who planned the American air campaigns in 2001 in Afghanistan and in the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
In addition, a total of 15 Russian Hip transport and Hind attack helicopters are also now stationed at the base, doubling the number of those aircraft from last week, the American official said. For use in possible ground attacks, the Russians now also have nine T-90 tanks and more than 500 marines, up from more than 200 last week.
“The equipment and personnel just keep flowing in,” said the American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential intelligence reports. “They were very busy over the weekend.”
On Monday, the Russian embassy in Damascus came under mortar fire. That attack, Moscow says, did not emanate from ISIS but rather from other anti-Assad forces backed by “external sponsors”:
The Russian foreign ministry said a shell, which landed near its embassy on Sunday but caused no casualties, came from Jobar, which is held by anti-Assad fighters who were not allied with Isis and had “external sponsors”.
“We expect a clear position with regard to this terrorist act from all members of the international community, including regional players,” the ministry said. “This requires not just words but concrete action.”
It added that the fighters’ “foreign sponsors” were responsible for using their influence on “illegal armed formations”.
Clearly, “foreign sponsors” is a reference to Assad’s US-backed regional enemies including the Saudis, Qatar, and Turkey among others and this certainly seems to indicate that the Russians will not be prepared to tolerate attacks on their assets by groups who enjoy the support of the US-backed coalition. Of course quite a few of the groups battling for control of Syria are supported either directly or indirectly by the US and its regional allies which means that even if Russia manages to avoid direct confrontation with the handful of troops the US overtly backs, avoiding confrontations with the troops covertly supported by the US and other state actors will be impossible by definition, as they, just as much as ISIS, are angling for the ouster of Assad.
Meanwhile, the French took the absurdity to a whole new level on Monday when Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius claimed that the country's plans to begin bombing Syria were born out of concerns for "self defense". Here's the quote:
"We received specific intelligence indicating that the resent terrorist attacks against France and other European nations were organized by Daesh [Arabic derogatory term for IS] in Syria. Due to this threat we decided to start reconnaissance flights to have the option for airstrikes, if that would be necessary. This is self-defense."
And so, as the violence escalates and Syria looks set to become the stage for a not-so-cold war pitting Russia and its regional proxies against the US and its regional proxies, we close with the following graphic which (partially) quantifies the human cost of geopolitical wrangling gone horribly awry:
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How could this end without extreme escalation by one side or the other? If the U.S. Is forced out, then I suspect our hegemony days are numbered. If Russia capitulates then she loses her Energy monopoly over Europe. Buckle up boys and girls this thing could get nasty.
My man... while Obummer (and too many Amerikans) are consumed with sucking the Pope's cock.
We see another example of education and experience.
Vlad: Attended the KGB Do Evil Shit training where he learned the art of denial and deception.
Obutthole: Smoked the ganger... and well that's about it. He did get a Nobel Peace Prize which they now regret giving him.
It is high time someone took some action to control and eliminate ISIS - the jihadist killers made in USA
ISIS: The jihadist movement stamped “Made in America”https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/07/30/isis-j30.html
im french and yeah, sadly our government is just a sheep at the moment ... blindly following US warmongering machine
f**cking NATO
time for you and Americans to overthrow your govs...
indeed ! if only we could, maybe a 2008 x3 crash will create this opportunity :/
half europe starting to elect radical parties, that's a start
Cue more MSM propaganda about how we need to save poor Syrian children, this time from evil Ruskies, by importing them into your neighborhood.
Good. That will just provoke an even stronger response.
This shit was never going to be fixed at the ballot box anyway.
Now columns of 20,000 Iranian mechanized soldiers is what we need. ISIS should be toast in no time.
I suppose there are S400's on the ships nearby. The smaller AA are mobile for advancing to mop up the scum.
You bring up two very important aspects of this.
The Iranians have always been the hidden key to whether Assad survives or not. Hezbullah saved Assads butt two or three years ago when he was on the ropes and I have no doubt the Iranians are providing lots of manpower and logistics (probably most of it).
I also think that Obama's deal with Iran has hidden clauses which limit Iranian participlation in Syria - this might be another reason Putin is acting now.
Once the Iran deal is done one way or another, watch Iranian participation skyrocket in Syria.Until it is, Iran will remain relatively low key.
The other aspect is of course air superiority. The Turkey/SA/Israel/US axis has pretty much been able to get away with whatever timely airstrikes they need to help ISIS but no longer.
It might be that the Israeli airstrikes of not too long ago are another factor that make Putin decide to commit - I don't think you'll see very more of those, and the French airstrikes? They better start printing some signs saying "Je Suis Poofter" - even Hollande isn't that stupid even if the Zionists got him on board with the false flag affaire Charlie Hebdo.
US assets tend to not do so well without air superiority meethinks, so the game has changed and watch ISIS run back to Rita Katz in tears...
There is a reason there are no columns of Iranian troops driving in Syria. They would be destroyed, not ISIS. If it was that easy it would have been done.
There are no S-400 or S-300 missiles in Iran. Despite all the promises and threats to supply them by Putin.
Putin has not commited anything yet. Putin has not fired a single shot or flown a single mission (other than unarmed drones).
Who has taken air superiority in Syria from the west? No one has.
France is mostly talking for now but their talk is about actively bombing in Syria. Have to see if they do anthing in reality.
When will Putin actually engage directly?
Putin for the Nobel "Phuck you" prize..
Hooks in the Jaw of Russia
Don't be deceived, it is not a cake walk.
They are diving into a snake pit.
Who ever tries to deal with Muslim terrrorists will surely be bitten.
Lets put blame where blame belongs
I wish Vlad luck it that is truely his intentiions.
Russia spent the entire 90s and early 00s fighting Saudi backed Islamists. Or have you forgotten the Chechen war?
I guarantee you that the Russians haven't.
Never mind their misadventures in Afghanistan in the 80s.
Putin knows what to do: kill the Muslim fanatics dead. Then kill them again just to be sure. No fucking around with drones, no "collateral damage", no stupid "civil affairs officers", no attempt at nation building. Just boots on the ground, hunt 'em down, and exterminate them.
You build on the smoking ruins of the past, not the half-crumbling structures of the present.
Wipe it clean, start again.
Putin is a Russian modern Prince. He'll act just as Machiavelli's book instructs - either treat a man well or kill him.
He's not going to treat the ISIS men well.
Something tells me that we're not going to see many more pictures of ISIS convoys of pickups riding through the desert with black flags flying.
Bullish for Syrian asphalt repair service companies.
Comparisons with the Soviet experience in Afghanistan may be misleading, it will depend whether lessons have been learned and whether the US and the other stirrers can get away with continuing to arm religious fundamentalists as they did then and up to now in Syria. The main problem will be ISIS hiding within the civilian population, their trusty and tried defence, though that didn't seem to deter the Russians in Chechnya.
And Syrian DMV will report Toyota´s market share plunging.
It's interesting how everybody discuss Russian invasion to Siria based on several photoshopped images.
White house has 'evidences' that noone have seen. As usual...
Street to street combat in Damascus .... don't think so .... they will protect their assets at Latakia and Tartus (love that name) .... Syria, the Corridor, will fail .... just like every other Arab Spring blossom !
Its all because of that Red line that Obama balked on. Hey Putin, after the election I can do much more for you.
Can't wait for the Zionist "sewing circle" to hit this one for the rest of today!
Tyler will have 500 comment(s) by noon!
Have fun Putin! Let's see how popular you are at home when Russian boys start coming home in body bags.
It's all going to be over in two weeks I hear ... just unleash the hounds ... done!
Have fun Putin! Let's see how popular you are at home when Russian boys start coming home in body bags.
Mick
Are you over 50 and retired from 6 tours in Afghanistan and Iraq?...
The "white chimp" has work to do and needs your military savy to get us through another one!...
What da ya say you pony up with the winning team and go all in for another American military victory?!!!
P.S.
Don't forget to bring plenty of your PTSD meds!!! Refills near Latakia and Damascus will be hard to get when this gets underway!
intellectually challenged muritard
Let's see how popular he is after those boys come home and have a full fledged military parade aka Triumph!
Whenever I see that Aleppo on a map it reminds me that there has been 3,500 years of war on and off along that line and below.
Rameses II and Muwatalli II had their big fight at Kadesh or thereabouts 1274 BC when they were misinformed by Pentagon intelligence that Hittite troops were way off in Aleppo.
Aleppo, one if of the oldest, if not the oldest, continuously inhabited cities in the world.
The good old days, before the COMEX and LBMA
whatever happened to all those peeps did they run out of bronze
Wow!! ZH article of Russia invasion. And not a single photo of Russian soldiers? C'mon WESTERN MSM! You can do better !
Again that sukhoi? Actually it's Mig-31. Here's
http://www.janes.com/article/53660/syria-reportedly-receives-mig-31-inte...
That Sukhoi-25? Actually it's Yak-130!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yakovlev_Yak-130
Does Syria bought that! Here's,
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/syria-buying-mig31s-mig35s-for-1-bil...
(BTW That news is coming from ALL Western Military news channels)
You read about that HIND (ATTACK Helicopter)? Read that defense industry daily about syria purchase ATTACK helicopter? What do you think that REFER to?
That Syria purchase? Also featured into whitehouse military mouth news channels. Here's,
http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russian-arms-sales-to-syria-iran...
That tent you see? Here's RT article.
https://www.rt.com/news/315823-russia-refugee-camp-syria/
WHERE Russia delivered the tent & all hardware? LATAKIA airport.
That T-90 tanks? It's improved T-72 that Syria DID bought (see again that defense industry daily news.)
- - -
Feeling ridicuolous already now??
Western media propaganda at its finest!! (Which is still sounds STUPID!)...
Yaks are awesome, I want one
Yes they are, although they do smell a bit when their hair gets wet.
Plane porn.
SU-25 Frogfoot-Flying Tank (Russian)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtAThLpxmxw&html5=1
You have to admire their design for unimproved battle conditions philosophy.
Their new land tank seems like a smart adaptable platform in that vein.
http://defense-update.com/20120810_russia-plans-to-field-the-t-99-a-radi...
http://defense-update.com/20150424_armata_2015.html
Our overpriced mic corpse ripoff way has a weakness folks.
Yup, keep it real kaboom, cheers.
One thing though, I just had a closer look at that image in Tylers's post, it does show Su-25s, and a Flanker type, with what appear to be canards .
No MiG31 present there.
Edited: I was mistaken about the presence of Su34, it was just the Su30, so I have removed that part of the comment. However more recent images show
4 x Su30
12 x Su24
12 x Su25
Supported by at least one tanker aircraft.
No presence of Yak130 or MiG35 seen.
four mig31 interceptor were first arrivals
Well, he's pointing out they were ordered by Syria years ago, and are arriving in dribs and drabs now.
Are you saying these are separate to that order and are actual active inventory RuAF jets?
Syria is Russia's foothold in Middle East and leverage against Israel. Russia can't let Assad fall right?
Actually it is quite remarkable that Russia is capable to mount such an expedition operation - Putin gets credit for modernizing Russian armed forces.
I think Russia actually has a better dialog going with Israel than does the US.
Once he rids syria of isis he'll have leverage over the persians and israel will then align with Russia.
Syrians may be fleeing only to return after the debris field calms down and the restoration/clean up crews have departed. As an attempt to lessen collateral damage when Miseryell is whipped off the blue planet.
Misrael is being surrounded. Prepare for state capture by the world in unison. Houston, Tel Aviv is Ground Control
He definitely gets credit for modernizing the military and so will his Defense Minister Shoigu. But all the snap war games are not the same as a real test. Will be interesting to see how the Russians manage in Syria.
putin is just using his power to hold out on negotiations over the price of gas to europe.
all this 'military war' just leads to syrian peasants dying. no one cares. not nato , not west, not russia, not east.
this is just about long term supply contracts and getting the leverage for supply and pricing power.
it's not personal, it's just business...
Syria is fairly flat without cover... should be easy to roast ISIS.... now why couldn't NATO?
In about a month, ISIS will likely have no tanks, no Humvees, and no artillery. Any ISIS pickup trucks had better travel alone, because any convoy is going to be shot to pieces.
Go long Toyota. Lots of parts orders coming in soon...
Dead man cannot order.
No alcohol allowed in Syria - Russians will go home by the weekend.
I cant see the Russians being too concerned about the no alcohol rule, they will soon find a way to make some.
Don't Arak much?
Nobody tells the Russians what to do.
Syria is a secular state, alcohol is readily available in Assad controlled territory.
Victorious. The alchohol ban will just make them more motivated.
have fun Putin! Let's see how popular you are at home when Russian boys start coming home in body bags.
Didn't seem to harm US presidents too much from Vietnam to now.
No; wonderful US patriots happily volunteer to get themselves blown up or shot so the big US corporations can come in later and take over the area. One of the big reasons the US has been constantly in war for more continuous years than any time in history, is we have these wonderful volunteers that don't complain about it. I guess they go for the "adventure", or they got a good sell job at their local recruitment office. They'll join up because they are "patriots", and they want to "serve their country". If nobody volunteered and they had to institute a draft to have yours or your neighbor's kid sent over and get whacked when he/she had other plans for their life other than getting their arms or legs blown off, it would be a lot harder for John McCain and the rest of the neos in the beltway to sell the population on the need to take over other legitimate government's resources by force and continue to funnel endless billions to the US military industrial complex. We just should not be at war forever, but the dumbed down, numbed down US population is an easy sell, apparently.
The reason most sign up is because there are no other jobs here.If they weren't enlisted,the labor participation rate would be 25%.
Welcome to the party, Ivan. Where you been.
Putin is not going into this with the intention of losing - a big difference from US involvement!
He knows that if he dinks around with ISIS in Syria, he will have to face them in the Caucasus. They have no intention of stopping their caliphate-building with just Syria and Iraq. And the Russians are still dealing with Islamist terrorists in Chechnia, Ingushetia, Dagestan, etc. - terrorists that get funneled up through Georgia and across the Russian border and that have Western backing. Might as well stop them in Syria as stop them in Groszny.
Syria aint Afghanistan, Chuck and this time there will be no messing around with USSA'S I$I$ psychos.
Onward to the great flush of the Saudi Mercan Ponzi petroscrip dollah!
Thank God that at least one country is determined to actually fight terrorists instead of arming and training them and asking them to fill out questionnaires as to whether they consider themselves to be moderate terrorists or not.
It has been many years coming. Once again Putin makes the western leaders look impotent.
Don't get me wrong, I have no illusions about Putin, however it would be a nice change to have somebody with some balls on our side in the Political arena who is actually willing to fight terrorism instead of just trying to work out how they can use them to scare the crap out of the population to obtain either more political power, wealth or a larger weapons budget.
Putin also just totally banned GMOs. Why do I have this strange urge to explore real-estate in Russia ?
i understand the woman are worth exploring as well.
Sorry,
I understand that foreigners are not allowed to own property in Russia. I am sure you could rent an apartment, but I have been told that only natives can buy land there.
It appears you are correct qcjohns1971:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2013/10/16/russia-cracks-down-on-i...
I wonder what the price of real estate would be in the US if they adopted a similar policy to prevent rich Chinese flying in, buying everything not nailed down, locking it up and leaving the country again. Buying a house might be considerably cheaper than it is currently.
"It has been many years coming. Once again Putin makes the western leaders look impotent."
A white leader with some balls. About fucking time.
About time!
Looks like George W. Bush's "Operation Bring on The Rapture" is finally coming to fruition. The PNAC clowns thought they were using him, but he was actually using them.
The Rapture will consist of Christian Zionists being vaporized by a nuclear flash.
The Great Challenge: Israel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPMXS6yflcg (40 min Addresses AIPAC, evangelical/protestants/religious meme's impact on foreign policy)
Nuclear flash, sure but going directly to Heaven, are you sure you don't want to go to?
GENTLEMENS....I'd like to ask a more important question:
Where's Jen Psaki??
Is she related to a Kardashian?
Go Putin! He has more sense than Obama any day!
This picture of the results of our arrogant, oppressive policies round the world shows that we desperately need regime change in the US:
http://goo.gl/aoJMeO
We murder people in foreign lands to defend the dollar.
With the country united behind him after 9/11, Bush called for war on an “axis of evil” – Iraq, Iran and North Korea – that had nothing to do with 9/11. He then persuaded Congress to authorize an invasion of Iraq to strip it of weapons of mass destruction it did not have.
Cost: 4,500 American dead, 35,000 wounded warriors, $1 trillion dollars sunk, 100,000 dead Iraqis, half a million widows and orphans, a country ravaged and a Mideast now awash in war and bloodshed.
Putin hey here's an idea. BOMB the SAUDI PALACES for taking down the WTCs.
He would have to include Tel Aviv as well, I'm afraid.
What a shit show.
In summary. What we can expect from these latest developments.
Based on that Debka file from September 13 Putin made Netanyahu an offer he can't refuse... Either way!
Syria will not fall to the false Jews.
This will result in another major outflow of migrants into Europe, incresaing the alreay extensive NO GO ZONES problems in France, Gremany, Sweden, Netherlands. Despite claims from Bloomberg press that NO GO zones do not exist, the Chief of Police for all og Germany came out and said they do.
http://tsecnetwork.ca/2015/09/18/no-go-zones-and-the-european-migration-...
Come-on, Putin is a douche, a second rate strategist... His economy is in tatters, he's burning through fx reserves, the rouble has been cut in half, quickly running out of options. His master chess move was to fuck his own people by sanctions on food (WTF!) and cut a deal at any cost with the chinese (good luck with that Vlad!) Maintaining Ukraine and Crimea entitlements cant be cheap and increased military adventures is expensive. Now (scary music...) he's wheeling the machine into Syria. We have so many proxies and assets there (granted they're all fighting eachother) but we can remain indefinitely... We can outspend, out strategize, pour more assets, gear, whatever till the cows come home! The only card fucktard Vlad has to play is his unwilling military - all we have to do is wait him out untill he burns through the rest of his fx reserves and the Russian union implodes - theres your long game!
Now now NJC. If the USSA and the Zio empire was as strong as you say it is then Assad would have been gone years ago.
Putin's going to mop the floor with these stooges.
now swhtf expect ukraine to escalate now to get putin busy with two fronts its about time russia did something its been pissed over for too long
Maybe Putin can liberate Western Europe next then the USA, Canada, Australia, UK. Repsect for Putin, Russia, Syrian people, Assad, Syrian Army, Hezboolah for fighting to protect all Syrian people.
Why America, Israel and Britain are finally fucking finished because of this and this!...
To you Clint Eastwood Zio-sellouts the Chris Kyle story "American Piece of Shit" will be airing on HBO October 23rd.
And just in time for Halloween!!!
I'm thinking this year that Spetsnaz and Vlad costumes will be selling like hot cakes!
I read Kyle's book. Not impressed.
You do not want to line your airplanes up in a neat row in a war zone.
Syria is surrounded by American & euroPeon backed nations , rebels & terrorists.
At some point in time, all will attack from all sides
Russia has little population to make cannon fodder,
and I believe, when Russians are cornered , they will use their ultimate weapon
NUCLEAR OPTION
the middle east , including the Israel will be wiped out, burned, charred, irradiated.
(Jesus had already told in Bible - flee
and the ppl are just doing that)
---
At the same time europe/Nato will attack Russia from Ukraine , and that will be a doom(again) for europe, Russians know where to hide , they have (as usual) better chances to escape nuclear fate , considering vast land masses they have & europe will mostly attack the cities with nuclear dud bombs (B-61). So Russians will have a huge advantage of second chance (and more) in the nuclear game. But whether Russia will attack America with nuclear missiles , that is to be pondered.