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Syrian Showdown: Russia, Iran Rally Forces, US Rearms Rebels As "Promised" Battle For Aleppo Begins
On Friday, we previewed the battle for Aleppo, Syria’s largest city prior to the war.
It’s now run by a hodgepodge of rebels and militants including al-Qaeda, the Free Syrian Army, and ISIS and for the Assad regime, regaining control of the city is absolutely critical. As Reuters noted last week, "the assault means the army is now pressing insurgents on several fronts near Syria's main cities in the west, control of which would secure President Bashar al-Assad's hold on power even if the east of the country is still held by Islamic State."
In other words, if Assad can secure Aleppo, Iran and Russia will have successfully restored his grip on the country for all intents and purposes.
Here’s a look a map showing where Aleppo is in relation to Russia’s base at Latakia, along with the before and after images we highlighted last week which depict nighttime light emissions on the way to vividly demonstrating the effect the war has had on the city.
For reference, this is one of Syria's most war-torn areas. To give you an idea of what's taken place there since the war began, we present the following stark visuals from in and around the city ca. 2012 (as you might imagine, it's only gotten worse since):


And here's a short audio clip from NPR which explains why Aleppo matters (it's largely objective and thus worth the three minutes):
The offensive is also notable for the scale of Iran’s involvement.
Between Hezbollah and Iranian forces, the battle for Aleppo is shaping up to be the largest ground operation orchestrated by Tehran to date. Underscoring how deeply involved Iran truly is, Quds Commander Qasem Soleimani (who we profiled here) showed up near the frontlines late last week to rally the troops. Here’s GOP mouthpiece Fox News (who are most assuredly not Soleimani fans):
Iran's shadowy top military commander has been spotted in Syria addressing Iranian military officers and members of the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah, according to photos that emerged Thursday on social media.
Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani -- the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps or Qods Force -- was pictured rallying Iranian military and Hezbollah members in western Syria in photos that appeared on Twitter.
On Thursday, Reuters confirmed Soleimani's presence in the western province of Latakia in Syria. The news agency said Soleimani was seen addressing Iranian officers and Hezbollah fighters with a microphone while clad in dark-colored clothes.
Here are the images Fox references:


As WaPo, goes on to point out, some of the fighters called to Syria by Soleimani are from Iraq's Shiite militias, supporting our contention that as soon as Syria is "secure" (whatever that means in this context), Russia and Iran will take the fight across the border, where militiamen loyal to Tehran are already battling Sunni extremists:
Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the leader of Iran’s elite Quds forces and the public face of Iran’s military intervention in the region, has ordered thousands of Shiite militiamen into Syria for an operation to recapture Aleppo, according to officials from three Iraqi militias. The militiamen are to join Iranian troops and forces from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shiite militia, the officials said. The Iraqi Shiite militia Kitaeb Hezbollah has sent around 1,000 fighters from Iraq, one said.
The new arrivals shore up the position of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose beleaguered forces had been losing ground before Russia began launching airstrikes three weeks ago. Pro-government forces have claimed victory in a string of villages around the Aleppo in recent days, in a conflict that Shiite militias frame as a single regional struggle between Shiites and Sunni extremists from the Islamic State.
“It makes no difference whether we’re in Iraq or Syria, we consider it the same front line because we are fighting the same enemy,” said Bashar al-Saidi, a spokesman for Harakat al-Hezbollah al-Nujaba, an Iraqi Shiite militia that says it has fighters around Aleppo. “We are all the followers of Khamenei and will go and fight to defend the holy sites and Shiites everywhere," he said, referring to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Quds Force, which is part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, have also sent reinforcements, he said. Last week, a U.S. defense official said hundreds of Iranian troops were near the city in preparation for an offensive.
“It’s not a secret. We are all fighting against the same enemy,” said Saidi.
His militia released a photo of Soleimani, the Quds Force commander, with its fighters near Aleppo on one of its social media accounts last week.
“The operation is an extension for our operations in Iraq because it’s the same enemy, and when we hit them there it means that it will get results in Iraqi lands,” the Kitaeb official said. Soleimani “specifically requested they go there for the launch of the operation for Aleppo,” he said.
And here's a look at an airstrike map which delineates bombing runs by date, thus giving you an idea of the extent to which the Russians targeted Aleppo last week to soften up the rebels ahead of the offensive:
Meanwhile, as Russia revved up the Sukhois and the shadow commander rallied the ground forces, the US rearmed the rebels. Here’s Reuters:
Rebels battling the Syrian army and its allies south of Aleppo say they have received new supplies of U.S.-made anti-tank missiles from states that oppose President Bashar al-Assad since a major government offensive began there on Friday.
Rebels from three Free Syrian Army-affiliated groups contacted by Reuters said new supplies had arrived since the start of the attack by the army backed by Iranian fighters and Lebanon's Hezbollah.
A number of rebel groups vetted by states opposed to Assad have been supplied with weapons via Turkey, part of a program supported by the United States and which has in some cases included military training by the Central Intelligence Agency.
And so, with the proxy war lines clearly drawn, the battle has begun. Via WSJ:
Syrian pro-regime forces backed by Russian airstrikes have expanded their ground offensive to the strategic city of Aleppo, one of the clearest signs yet of how Russia’s recent military intervention has emboldened President Bashar al-Assad and his loyalists.
In the bitterly fought multi-sided war, Aleppo is among the most coveted prizes. Losing partial control of the city, which was once Syria’s largest and its commercial capital, was an embarrassment to the regime. But with the backing of Russian warplanes, Iranian forces and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, Mr. Assad’s forces could now be in position to regain large parts of the city and the surrounding countryside.
“I suspect Assad always wanted to take back Aleppo because it is such an important city and retaking it has such strategic and symbolic importance,” said Emile Hokayem, a Middle East analyst at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based military and security think tank. “And it would deny the rebels a foothold in any major city.”
Since Friday, the regime has netted a number of villages on the southern outskirts of the city and thousands of civilians are fleeing fighting in the area. On Sunday, the regime captured one additional village and U.S.-backed rebels destroyed two regime tanks using American-supplied weapons as they tried to stem the regime’s progress.
The regime appears to be advancing westward toward the strategic highway linking Aleppo with the capital Damascus, rebels said.
In a rare move, the offensive is being led by regime-allied Iranian fighters, according to Ahmad al-Ahmad, a spokesman for the moderate Islamist rebel group Faylaq al-Sham, which is involved in the battles.
The city of Aleppo is now divided in two, with an array of rebel factions controlling the eastern half and the regime holding the western half.
The regime’s ground offensives over the past two weeks have been led by fighters and military advisers from Iran and forces from Hezbollah, supplemented by Syrian security forces.
So far the battles in Aleppo are concentrated in the southern countryside on multiple fronts pushing toward the crucial highway that links the city with the coastal province of Latakia and the central provinces such as Hama, rebels said.
One of the goals of the offensive could be to prevent rebel reinforcements from Aleppo being sent to help fighters along other fronts. Rebels also report an amassing of pro-regime forces elsewhere in Aleppo province that could be aimed at cutting off the rebel supply route from Turkey.
Such moves could severely weaken the array of rebel forces in Aleppo, which include Islamist groups such as Ahrar al-Sham and al Qaeda affiliate Nusra Front as well as U.S.-backed rebels.
Note how shockingly close this is to an actual shooting war between the US/NATO and the Iran-Russia "nexus."
CIA-trained rebels are now using weapons supplied by the US to kill Iranian soldiers backed by Russian airstrikes. The fact that the ground invasion is now clearly run by Iran and Hezbollah means that one side of the "rebels vs. SAA" proxy label has been removed. This is now "rebels vs. Iran and Russia", meaning there's literally but one degree of separation from an outright NATO vs. Russia-Iran armed conflict. And don't forget: the nation through which the US is suppliying the rebels at Aleppo (i.e. Turkey) just shot down a Russian drone.
And so, as we wait to see whether the US will finally step in on behalf of its proxy armies before they are routed in the most critical battle yet in the war for Syria, we leave you with a few still shots taken over the weekend in Aleppo.





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Game On?
Just shooting the can down the road?
Tyler, a number of comments have been disappearded, mine included. What's up?
What type of comments have disappeared?
The comments were running pretty strong anti-war, otherwise I have no idea.
War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing! See if this disappears.
I was thinking of flipping, instead. You know, "Fuck Syria, man," "Sow salt in their soil," "This time drop 100 tons of Ammo to ISIS, fuck Russia and Assad's chemical weapons."
How'd I do?
Desert rats doing what desert rats do best, kill each other over spaghetti monsters in the sky.
All of these middle-eastern assholes are the same, they are pro-their tribe, and will kill anyone that doesn't bow to them. Jew, Sunni, Shi-ite. Doesn't matter they are all the damn same.
The headline is completely wrong. The Crimjnal Fraud UNITED STATES, CORP. INC. & Pure Evil Psychopaths at the CIA arm Terror Organization is more like it.
Reality....
Joe Syrian and his wife Joan just want to have a place to live, food on the table and clothes on their backs with enough to spare to look after their kids.
All being fucked over by total fucking arseholes who think they have the right to play criminal and evil games with other people's lives.
Fuck, what a world.
It isn't easy being a choosenite, God's work is thankless and hard...
Yeah, this isn't going to end well for Obama's friends. In the mean time, enjoy watching how a war is fought, to win that is;
And More Bad Ass Video from Russia’s Attack on Islamofacists in SyriaJGF-
One thing missing from your stirling analysis: The Double-Cross.
You know it's there when an old Alzheimer's victim is dying from a Coup (Not "Croup". Not Andropov's, "He had a cold..." He's dying from COUP! Look it up!).
"I am the Ruler of the House of Saud. All I see I own. All I own I...I... Urrrrupp...Aaaaackk....Splliiiishh..."Uhhhh"..." <Head smashes on marble floor>
Follow-up: ""Hey, Joe, howd'ja like to represent the US at the State Funeral of the King of Saudi Arabia, huh?..."
Uhhh...I'm kinda like all full up schedule wise, ya'know?
The Saudis have a bigger problem:
They are running out of US Treasuries to sell. The Camel Rapists may soon have to liquidate all of their US equities to raise cash. NOW THAT will be fun to watch. Beer and popcorn city baby.
All that blood. Must be progress. That is so messed up.
ignatius,
agree, i've been wondering if paveway IV (whose posts are succinct, brilliant & to straight to the bone), has caught the attention not merely of the trolls but TPTB? fearing his observations are not simply dead on but classified? we've all known we are observed.
my comments don't hit "nerve central", HA
Classified? You think the Pentagram calls up Tyler and says, " Hey, son Uncle Sam here. You have some classified material in your comments section. Pull it now."? And Tyler jumps on that? Tyler would be in on it too!?! Oh, no.
In any case, Paveway, if you see this, can you repost?
cb,
i hope you are right & paveway responds.
"...i've been wondering if paveway IV...has caught the attention not merely of the trolls but TPTB?..."
I spent six months at a CIA black site getting waterboarded, rectally fed and scopolamined... yeah, I would have to argue that they finally caught on.
"...fearing his observations are not simply dead on but classified?..."
Of course they're classified - I work as a limited hangout for the U.S. government now. Everything I write is scripted. Do you think I want to be rectally fed hummus again? They can't even make their hummus right - it's only suitable for rectal feeding.
I can't remember all of my original reply to Latina Lover. It went something like this: Original attack on the Aleppo Thermal Power Plant was last week. That plant powers pumps that fill the water canal that runs from the Euphrates to Aleppo. No city water means Aleppo is drinking filthy, polluted well water. Imagine drinking from a shallow old water well dug in the middle of New York City or Chicago. Now add a thousand years to that - Aleppo is old.
Interesting thing about the U.S. bombing is that tweets about it were deleted from Twitter and those accounts deleted. Facebook - same thing. Google is not doubt also 'managing' search results, but I haven't been tracking that specifically any more. You're not suppose to know about 1) U.S. committing war crimes by targeting civilian infrastructure, and 2) the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo compounded by loss of electricity and running water. This is to ensure 3) no connection is made between the U.S. bombing and Aleppo residents increasingly dying of renal failure, dysentery or cholera.
People have speculated that this is all meant to cause people still in Aleppo to panic and flood west towards Turkey/border refugee camps. This would mask head-choppers fleeing as well, or otherwise mask opposition activity from the intense Russian surveilance. Lack of clean water also affects SAA/Hezbollah/Iranian troops as they have nothing like U.S. logistics networks - they depend on local water.
Thanks PW. Two observations about the BBC map. 1) I see the "rebels" have the Golan Heights border with Israel covered. What a bad joke. The ready for matyrdom jihadis won't attack Israel. Istead they hide under Israeli protection ... for now. 2) I read the USAF attacked the Allepo power station twice. The last one just a few days ago on 10/18, but 2nd, recent strike doesn't seem to have made it to the BBBC map.
More on the two Aleppo power stations bombed by USAF from moonofalabama.org
paveway, pleased you survived...yes, thank you for your observations, clearly i need to examine my paranoia. ;-/
Someone got banned (it seems to be The Indelicate Genius). That person's comments got deleted together with all other embedded posts.
As for the reason of banning, AFAIK the only reason that will get someone banned on ZH is spamming.
Thanks for the explanation.
BS on the reason. I can personally attest that you can have your postings and be banned without doing any spamming.
He hasn't been around long if he thinks spam is the only thing you get banned from the Hedge for.
The best posters get banned. it's a badge of honor.
One year is more than enough to observe a pattern.
You can say anything you want on ZH, but if you keep pushing a single agenda over the edge by posting the same thing ad-nauseam, eventually you will get banned.
Only if it's an anti-zio agenda.
BS on your attest. What you consider spamming and what owners of this site see as spamming might not be the same thing.
Somebody remind me. Who are the " good guys" , again please?
The Russians of course. Besides, they do make the best videos.
The Russians will not look like heroes when the war is over, and they remain in the region.
No one will be heros when the real weapons fall on these nations. These new Nuclear weapons leave no prisoners. The US plays a deadly game of cat and mouse with the region and who will pay? The people will, as they will be taxed into oblivion and set upon by the trained terrorists of the CIA.
control where you live get to know your neighbors, your city councils, your county commissioners your sheriff. People working together will win this but individuals will become fair game.
Looking more and more like there aren't any.
I used to believe in the tooth fairy and Santa Claus
The cavalry is not going to come galloping over the hill to the rescue, the good guys have always died alongside the bad guys with their hands around each others throat, locked in the eternal embrace of their last moments on earth.
Yes, there is no tooth fairy, no Santa Claus, no Superman and there will always be times when you see a man drenched in the blood & gore of another and wonder to yourself, is this victorious warrior the good or the evil standing before me?
Either way, it's best to prepare yourself ;-)
If Nixon was President and he was caught arming ISIS rapist murderers, he would be charged with treason, since the chief backers of ISIS were responsible for 9/11. You know, the Saudis. Nixon would never do that, though, he believed in the U.S. Constitution, not Sharia law. Unlike Obama.
---
Disappearing in 9,8,7,. . .
When the Osama-did-it story began to fall apart, the Saudis-did-it story began to take shape, pushed along by Daniel Hopsicker. But that is just a fall-back story. We can take a pretty good guess who really did 911.
I wonder how Dick Cheyney is doing these days?
Cheney? I hear those Iraqi, Palestinian and Syrian children body part replacements were just what the doctor ordered. He'll be fine.
Hopefully getting a little nervous about his coming invite from Hell.
Does not want in Hell or in Heaven Mr. Cheney.
Purgatory does not kick and those poor souls such punishment not deserved.
While supernatural can kicking and Mr. Cheney lives still.
If the devil did, in fact, exist, he'd be repulsed by Cheney.
Theres no point in driving a stake thru Cheneys heart, He will just go out and get another one.
cheney yes, but rumsfeld too. and larry silverstein had to have been brought in pretty early, rabbi dov zakheim too.
i wonder when young bush learned of the plan. when he was listening to my pet goat? i think earlier considering the interesting look on his face when the spelling words immediately prior were Kite, Hit, Steel, Plane, Must. kite plane must hit steel? what are the chances?
The Syrian blasting is terrible, but we have nothing to be sorry for....KBR is standing by waiting to help them rebuilt about $20 billion worth of infrastructure.
When the Osama-did-it story began to fall apart, the Saudis-did-it story began to take shape...
I'm sure there are a lot of participants, but the architects were probably the same ones as have authored multiple false-flag attacks on the United States: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVHstSrC1CQ
No. Soleimani is like Patton. Men will follow him into battle. He is a Leader and a soldier.
As will the Russians follow Vlad, also a stone killer (if he needs to be).
The alciaduh should just give up. These guys won't waste time chopping off heads for videos. They will just kill you and blow up your stuff.
If the actual US MIC rode in then it would be a real war, but Russia and Iran will kick the shit out of these US led rebel groups.
They would just as likely kick US ass all the way back to their pink barracks.
If they did, they would obliterate Syria but then Israel and the Saudis would get nuked... then what?
The US has not fought a real enemy with missles and fighter jets for a long long time. My guess is they are not willing to make that happen anytime soon.
Cursed by geography, and even worse by the money power
A close up look at these photos, especially the woman with blood on her face look fake! Download them and look for yourself!
Brought to you by Paliwood. Where is green helmet guy, grieving grandma, and islamic rage boy?
All Re called to the Ukraine to clean toilets, after their contracts ran out.
.
Nothing else to say? Good. Better to shut your mouth and be thought a fool, than to open and confirm it.
son, welcome to ZH.not quite 10 weeks.
"Ukraine" not "the Ukraine" dumb ass.
I will keep repeating this until you fucking get it.., which is a shame as I agree with majority of your posts.
It is commendable. Gauleiter of the Ukraine approves.
Hay Barkingcat, why do you care if it is "Ukraine" vs "the Ukraine"? What does this 'difference' mean to you?
It's Hey..., not "Hay"..., ;-)
unless you're a gay horse.
It was a typo.
I think Mordor has a better ring to it.
One does not simply walk into the Mordor.
lol
http://www.pallywood.com
WE DO NOT PRODUCE LOVE STORIES ... only fake dramashttp://www.businessinsider.com/expert-russias-propaganda-campaign-around...
http://mashable.com/2015/10/02/russias-propaganda-machine-switch/#4cjSSO...
http://www-cf.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russia-can-t-sell-its-syri...
Msm sheeple peddling presstitutes diatribe without verifying it. How convenient isnt it apologist?
?
Did the whole first page of comments just disappear? I was commenting and got the message that "the comment you are responding to does not exist." Bizarre.
yes, implied V, it appears a page is missing. i hope paveway IV & indelicate have not been bannished. i appreciate the tylers courage & clarity, their insight into the market is stella, and now they are leading the way in bringing us clear reporting on events currently unfolding in the ME & pacific. it's not surprising that they may be experiencing extreme opposition. i for one hope they can continue to give us such insightful articles. despite the dark forces.
Paveway has some of the most thought provoking posts I've seen on the Hedge in a long time, not as verbose as Radical Marijuana but certainly as good. Indelicate might be the latest incarnation of F_S and if so I tip my hat to him. F_S helped me pull my head out of the sand as to the who our elite rulers are. The odds that such a small minority should have so much control over a population that is foreign to them is staggering and leads the mind to asking more questions.
I can still find Paveway. I cannot find - The Indelicate Genius"
I you read between the lines over the last 6 months a certain storyline and bias is clear. Others who did not violate the rules have been banned or wiped. Something to consider.
Indelicate - If you were also F_S, I give my thanks because you documented what was implied in concrete terms. Just wish it was all together somewhere to be copied now.
Those comments will be back. The NSA is just borrowing them for awhile.
Fuck the NSA. THEY CAN HAVE THAT ONE.
OMG, Tylers have caught a Zionist Virus!
They dirty terrorist viruses those, hard to get rid of, somewhat impossible without some death involved.
Yeah, thought I saw green helmet in there somewhere.
Grimaldus
Maybe it's because you have a bag over your head.
Then plan your next family vacation over there if you really feel it is fake.
any photo that comes out of a Western news organization should be assumed to be staged unless verifiable uninterested or adversarial third-party evidence verification demands a different conclusion
Very true. The CIA uses several entire production teams inside nations of interest to produce fake youtbe videos with aid of local traitors. Very common in Syrian fake chemical attacks etc.
This years new flavor in Syria is "The White Helmets" who seem to be on the scene when a child or elderly person is injured with perfectly timed shots that look like something out of National Geographic
One day, someone may write a book detailing the connections between Hollywood and the CIA, both masters at manufacturing a consensus reality.
They can start with: Chapter 1: The Apollo PROGRAM
Hell, I will even write the chapter for them!
They already have. You can order "The CIA in Hollywood: How the Agency Shapes Film and Television" from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/CIA-Hollywood-Agency-Shapes-Television/dp/0292754361
Dave McGowan writes a lot about the CIA film studio on Lookout Mountain, above Laurel Canyon in LA. Dave makes a great case that popular music is a psy-op. That hippies and folk-rock were invented in LA to redirect the anti VN War movement. Check out Vito Paulekas. LA hippie dance troup maestro with Aleister Crowley-like characteristics. Scene created out of whole cloth.
Everyone from Frank Zappa to David Crosby came from a military or inteligence family.
Vito's Dancers Freak Out with The Mothers of Invention
Hey, this is secret knowledge you are not supposed to talk about, man.
Seriously though... not everyone followed the script.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRweyGHJ3bc
wag the dog
There aren't any injuries. just just has "blood" on her face.
no doubt she did something heroic. like sitting in a make up chair.
Photos looke photoshoped, fake and staged.
sorry, something is rotten
Photos looke photoshoped, fake and staged.
sorry, something is rotten
I blew the image up five hundred percent and it looks like real skin damage.....
Yea those two guys in the back of that truck look like somebody really Photoshopped theirs ass and good. Gee bud what do you need missing limbs?
When you see all of the bombed-out buildings you sort of extrapolate to people having been killed, severely injured, injured.
Fake photo or not, our neocons have killed very many good people with their idiocy.
Progressives are in charge. Obirdbrain and his regime are NOT neocon. DUH!
You must have progressive taint you are ashamed of.
Grimaldus
People believe what they want to believe..., sad.
And all that destruction just confirms that all the refugees in Europe are fake refugees.
Yeah, fucking sure. I'd have my kids out of that place before the dust settled. Any of you refugee-hating heroes want to move to Aleppo, show us how it's done?
They've likely been toned down from reality.
Yep! Your right.
I've had plenty of rugby clashes, and with that much blood your eye would be closed over with swelling.
Silly bitch why didnt you wipe it off with your scarf.
hopefuly they will be contained and not sneak off to another city
too bad that city has been wasted
"It's for the children."
gotta love obama's guns/weapons policy.
GIVE weapons (semi-automatic machine guns) to mexican drug lords (in hope of "catching bigger fish") only to have dead border agents float to the surface as a result (investigation, torpedo'd).
GIVE weapons (50 tons of ammunitions, artillery) to who the fuck ever can get to it first in the syrian desert.
STRIP weapons from law-abyding citizens of the USA.
if i didn't know better, id think he was, umm, playing for the other team.
Barry plays catcher on alot of different teams.
You got the wrong sport.
He used to be a tight end but now is playing wide receiver.
You are both right. Barry is never the pitcher, and he likes to go long for the reception.
yore raycissests
Machineguns are fully automatic. Neutered semi-autos are what the USSA serfs are allowed to own. In some places.
If you ever fired an M 4 or AK47 on full rock and roll, you'd realize that fully automatic is a great way to waste bullets. Spray and pray doesn't really work.
Meh full auto is for cover and distraction fire. Operators only need one.
if i didn't know better, id think he was, umm, playing for the other team.
Really, if it walks like a duck, and quackes like a duck, how can there be any doubt?
A sad day to be an American.... We have also ceded Iraq to Iran.
The only angle I see is to fan the flames of a Shiite Shiia religious war.... Perhaps that is what Langley is ""thinking"" if it could be called thought. The Saudis have / had alot of money to feed the western MIC....
this isn't an american war. this is a zionazi war. be a proud american. fuck the zionazis running the place.
Nor should it ever have been at least 5,000 americans, and say 5T have been waisted simply feeding the MIC and the zionists.
Iraq is not America's to cede to anybody.
We broke it. We own it.
I think that 5 tri$$ion is a stretch. Maybe 2 tri$$ion.
Think of what we could have done with 2 tri$$ion.
To start, the current fleet of US nuclear reactors is 100 more or less. I think it was 103 before SONGS went tits up. A few new ones have been built on existin campuses.
Nobody knows what a greenfield reactor costs. A reasonable extiamte might be 5 bi$$ion.
Sooooooooo
We could have replicated the entire US fleet of nukes four times over for that 2 tri$$ion.
Instead we have killed "a bunch" (thats obama lingo) of people, bombed four or five Middle East countries which never left the stone age further into the stone age, started an influx of refugees into the US, started a tidal wave of refugees into Europe, left the US electrical grid open to all sorts of electro magnetic attacks, jacked up the cost of electricity (instead of making it near free) by getting rid of coal.....is that enough.
This is what comes of hiring a "commnity organizer" into the CEO slot. That fundamental change doesn't taste so very good right now. What kind of bumf*&k country elects someone running on fundamental change w/o asking him....'just what do you mean by fundamental change?'
Of course "W" said it would cost $30 bi$$ion and we would be welcome with open arms.
Why do we keep electing these losers? I guess tha corporate America which apparently keeps selects them for us, want to reign in hell as opposed to serving in heaven. Wat is going to happen to Procter and Gamble, Ford, Johnson&Johnson when there is no middle class left to buy soap, cars and Zoloft or whatever? Speaking of mass murders, what happens when the SSIDs get too expensive?
Shiite and Shia are the same retard
Three downvotes. And people say we don't need captcha back.
I was not aware we owned Iraq and could cede its title to anyone....
ZIO USSA is a Sponsor Of Terrorism - a Rogue Regime with no legitimacy
That is all you need to know.
This is the logical first major battle that has to take place. Russian air strikes were made to degrade and throw off balance the Islamist Rebels. Now some ground force aid is in place to back up the worn out Syrian Arab Army. The push to take Aleppo requires the street to street fighting no infantry want to have to do.
The Islamists are split into many different factions. This is good, as it means a central defense command will be hard to employ. While Syria will have a united command and control of the air. This will be a bloody business anyway you look at it.
NATO and the USA seem to have come out of the closet and are lining up to back the whole Islamic Legions. Whether ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Al-nusra. etc. etc. The USA has the entire Turkish border to use to flood new arms to Jihadists. Including more TOW anti tank guided missiles. I suspect the battle for Aleppo will be where the USA introduces MANPAD anti aircarft missiles into Jihadist units. Russia will respond by using more cruise missiles and high elevation guided munitions to avoid the envelope of MANPAD utility.
The USA is now officially and publicly the Jihadist's allies and suppliers. And that just confirms what everyone outside America already knew. US citizens are so main warped by mainstream Media that they are clueless in total.
So let the battle begin. The only question is how far the USA will escalate. Will they begin a world wide Jihadist airlift of radical to Turkey for insertion into Syria? Will they give modern MANPADS and heavy supplies of TOW's? Will they keep the ammuntion flowing into Aleppo? The ball is firmly in America's court. They will have to decide how Jihadist we really are. I expect the CIA will be buring the midnight oil using every channel it has to flood Jihadists and arms into Syria.
As for Russia, I suspect there are new and off the shelf ready to use anti terror munitions. Or at least some Russians claim that their military has worked to develop muntions designed to confront terrorists in their favorite lairs. Being able to kill everyone in a building or dugout without the widespread explosive and shrapnel damage of convetional bombs.
Jack Burton, MANPADS and TOWS mean that Russian planes wil fly higher, but do little to help against heavy artillery like the TOS 1.
I'd like to see the CIA's ISIS/Al Queda pets Allah Akbar this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfacUxfJbFI
Yes, several TOS-1's were seen in Syria a few weeks ago. The Iraqi Army already employes several of these on Jihadists in the north of Iraq. Nobody survives inside the kill zone of the munnition of TOS-1.
"Yes, several TOS-1's were seen in Syria a few weeks ago. The Iraqi Army already employs several of these on Jihadists in the north of Iraq. Nobody survives inside the kill zone of the munition of TOS-1." -Jack Burton
In case the lesson is lost on the non-perceptive mind, the TOS-1 democratizes the specialist known as The American Sniper. Now anyone can take out enemies, at a range that even the best snipers can't.
When used in tandem with an Eye-in-the-Sky (drones at high altitude standoff, and small tactical drones at closer range), it changes the modern battlefield. Russian generals may be writing new chapters into the book of ME warfare.
Don't forget Putin said he wouldn't send in his ground troops - that's why the Iranian's are there. With little time to train another fighting force to use these new weapons, it's gonna have to be Russian fighters if they are used
I suspect Vlad has inserted numerous Spetznaz units into the fight.
But no, I don't think he will use infantry. I don't think he needs to. Spetznaz can do quite a number by themselves in small groups. The only infantry is probably Marines guarding Latakia AFB, etc.
TAALR S, using TOS 1 to take out a sniper is akin to using a flamethrower to burn a scorpion. Up to 8 city blocks will be destroyed by the fuel air explosion. But I agree that with drones, the field changes against snipers.
Russian psychology is to use a hammer to kill a fly, so, you are right.
So no more Chris Kyle "Heroes" THATS AWESOME!!!
Yeah, some hero.....
Snipers.....
On the winning side, hero.
On the losing side, bad guy.
Either way, a good shot.
Nothing is simple.
And then Manpads will suddenly show up in taliban hands.
or Caitlyn's
Wow. Sort of Mobil-Katiushas. Wow. Shame no translation. :(
Stalin's organ pipes!
The Grad system is terrifying as well. I can't imagine that much survived this barage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXpiB-Xcc-s
Neither side can afford to lose, except the US has already lost in the court of public opinion
in the RoW.Removing the fig leaf of moderate rebels only makes it worse.
Let's hope the battle for Aleppo drags the USA fully into the public view. Let media video the massive arms and Jihadist groups being sent to Syria. US can claim it is all for the FSA, which they will. But the world does not all watch CNN.
I doubt Mordor has a significant number of "jihadis" in reserve to send to Syria. They wanted to wrap this up and move onto Lebanon and Iran years ago, so I believe whatever mercenaries and gangs they could recruit are already there. It's hard to imagine many more will be eager to sign up for mass incineration.
Their other problem is that any deluded Muslims who thought they had joined a resistance movement can now see who they're really working for. Overt US/IS ties are anathema for both sides.
"US can claim it is all for the FSA"
´cept that FSA has no zip code. They are MIA.
If NATO keeps flying in weapons and munitions into Syria I can see the Russians declaring the entire country a no-fly zone and then shoot down anything that's not Russian or Syrian.
This could escalate to be quite ugly fast.
What happens if the Russians shoot down an American cargo plane over Syria?
What''s the US response?
Legally only those that have Syrian government's permission should be flying military aircraft in Syrian airspace,
Everybody else is committing an act of war.
Which really means that if the republicans wanted to they could impeach Obama. He has gone to war without a Congressional approval.
Of course the republicans probably want this war more than democrats, so they will not even complain.
Russia and Iran shouldn't divert forces to secure the Turkish border - make Turkey secure the border (and in the process escalate the "one AND A HALF degrees of separation from an outright NATO vs. Russia-Iran armed conflict" to ONE degree.... by threatening to provide the PKK with one ATGM for each Syrian or Iranian tank lost and one MANPAD for each vehicle that enters Syria from Turkey.)
No one wants to be the grand poobah of a war torn shit hole, when they (and their allies) can pillage a prosperous State and its citizens with impunity.
Legally only those that have Syrian government's permission should be flying military aircraft in Syrian airspace,
But but but!
If your gang calls itself the "coalition" and your leader - it is a corrupt cop, then you have the right to break any laws!
The US cannot say anything if a C17 goes down over Syrian airspace. They have NO PERMISSON to be there. Russia and Syria would be within international law if they shot one down. And, the US would have committed an overt Act of War against a sovereign state with NO declaration by the Congress!!
Free Aleppo!
Aleppo was once a very beautiful city
It will rise anew from the ashes to be a flower of the desert. Or not.
Interesting that the pics of Soleimani show his troops disarmed. No sense taking any chances. They do this in the US military.
" They will have to decide how Jihadist we really are"
nice, J.B.;)
"ZATO and USA come out of the closet."
A classic, Mr Burton.
Hopefully the Chinese will bring the WU-14 into play - it's nuclear capable and can cover the diameter of the planet in an HOUR - would end things for the sponsored terrorists very quickly !
I watched Deputy Minister Dmitri Rogozin on Soloviev a few months ago. I am posting the video here in case you might want to watch it. https://vimeo.com/118658420
What I found interesting was his assertion that the RF had been investing in "smart" weaponry. How they could spend less and get more than others.
Hezbollah is very versed in urban fighting. I suspect they will be forward in the taking of Aleppo.
The Kurds control most of the Turkish/Syrian border. It is essential that Syria close the border north of Aleppo, the only open border left.
I am hoping that Syria rings Aleppo, pushes north, closes the border and strangles the rebels.
Nahh, this is the future for everyone.
Way to go, government, big business, and religion.
Good job on profits this year, at any cost, same as usual.
Your time is gonna come............