Regional geopolitics

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics



Syrian Army attacks ISIS from two flanks as to reopen Aleppo supply road
Map update
By Chris Tomson
25/02/2016

Over the past 24 hours, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has launched a major counter-offensive on ISIS fighters that have established themselves in a dozen villages that run along the highly supply line between Hama and Aleppo.

Nevertheless, ISIS still controls some 7 miles of the road and temporarily entered areas firmly held by government forces since 2013.

Yesterday, Tiger Forces (elite SAA branch) and Hezbollah (Lebanese paramilitary) attacked ISIS from the north and have subsequently recaptured Rasm al-Nafl village while advancing to the outskirts of Shallalah al-Kabirah village.

Furthermore, the Syrian Arab Army – primarily backed by the pro-government Liwaa Al-Quds Brigade – successfully entered Khanasser while clashes are ongoing inside this strategic town.

Last November, ISIS cut the very same Aleppo supply line further south, near Ithriya village, and briefly blocked goods and supplies from reaching Aleppo city. At the time, government troops were re-deployed from Hama province to the area and quickly regained control of the road. This time, reinforcements have been called upon from Aleppo province as the Tiger Forces have been brought in to deal with the task.

Sadly, with each day that passes, food prices are on the rise in Aleppo city as especially poor people find themselves suffering from gradual malnutrition due to an ongoing blockade, unemployment and non-stop clashes between government forces and Islamist fighters within Syria’s largest city. However, Tiger Forces rarely lose battles; just a week ago these very same elite government troops captured a huge area in eastern Aleppo.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article...is-map-update/ | Al-Masdar News

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Turkey: The Eastern Question is back
Jonathan Marcus
BBC


Kurdish people carry flags as they march during a protest in the city of al-Derbasiyah, on the Syrian-Turkish border, against what the protesters said were the operations launched in Turkey by government security forces against the KurdsImage copyrightReuters
Image caption
Kurds on the Syrian protest against alleged Turkish military operations against their community
History has a strange way of imposing itself upon the present.
Back in the early 1990s, when I was on my way to join the first British troops despatched for peace-keeping duties to Bosnia, I stayed overnight at a Vienna hotel. In the lobby, there was a series of 19th Century maps of the Hapsburg Empire.
There they were, all of the old names - Bosnia Herzegovina, the Croat lands - names, long consigned to the history books, that were now the currency of nightly news reports, marking out the boundaries of this latest tragedy in the Balkans.
Later, standing in Sarajevo's old Turkish market, one had the clear sense of being in a historic border zone; a frontier between Europe and the old Ottoman lands to the east.
It was a reminder that for much of the 19th Century, Western diplomacy had been obsessed with what became known as "the Eastern Question."
This was the fear as to what might happen as the Ottoman Empire - then seen as "the sick man of Europe" - slowly relinquished its grip on its various possessions.
Who might step into the breach? One obvious concern was Russia. Britain and France had already fought one campaign to bolster Turkey and limit Russia's influence in the Holy Land - the Crimean War of the 1850s.
Grey line
Crimean War:
Fought over Tsar Nicholas I of Russia's plan to carve up the European part of Turkey
Britain and France objected to Russian expansionism, but favoured a diplomatic settlement
Russia occupied the Danubian Principalities (Modavia and Walachia) in July 1853, prompting a military response from Turkey
Britain and France entered the fray the following spring, after the Russians ignored a demand to evacuate the Danubian Principalities
The allies fought a year-long campaign in the Crimean peninsula, including three major land battles, one of which, the Battle of Balaclava, ended with the British "Charge of the Light Brigade"
Eventually, the Russians were forced to evacuate the key naval base of Sevastopol, in September 1855
25,000 British, 100,000 French and up to a million Russians died, almost all of disease and neglect
At the Treaty of Paris, signed on 39 March 1856, Russia returned southern Bessarabia and the mouth of the Danube to Turkey. Moldavia, Walachia and Serbia were placed under international administration
Grey line
Do you see a pattern here? Again those familiar names and themes; the Crimea; Russian influence in the Middle East.
Times change - but geography doesn't, and strategic interests have as much to do with geography as they do with anything else.
Thus, Europe now faces what might be called "a new Eastern Question".
Ambitious Turkey
It is not so much Turkey's weakness that is the problem today; it is maybe more a question of Ankara's over-reach.
Turkey has seemingly achieved the impossible.
I remember some years ago interviewing the then Turkish Foreign Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu. Bookish, a former professor, he was the proud architect of Turkey's new foreign policy, one of zero problems with any of its neighbours.
Now, Mr Davutoglu is Prime Minister. And in the intervening years, Turkey seems instead to have developed problems with almost all of its neighbours and erstwhile regional partners; be it Syria, Israel, and now, crucially, Russia.
Moscow and Ankara find themselves on different sides in the Syrian crisis; Moscow backing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government, and Turkey in the vanguard of those countries most eager to see his departure.
A kind of proxy war has turned hot, with Russia bombing Syrian opposition groups backed by Turkey and encouraging Kurdish forces to press ever closer to the Turkish frontier.
Turkey's shooting down of a Russian warplane last November - a plane that on best evidence had only briefly intruded into Turkish airspace - worsened the tensions.
A combination picture taken from video shows a war plane crashing in flames in a mountainous area in northern Syria after it was shot down by Turkish fighter jets near the Turkish-Syrian borderImage copyrightReuters
Image caption
Images of what is believed to have been a Russian jet being shot down by Turkey last November
More recently, the Russian-backed Syrian offensive on Aleppo has sent new waves of refugees heading for the Turkish border and worsened Ankara's fears about Kurdish success.
This "new Eastern Question" impinges upon Western Europe in two crucial ways. First, Turkey is a member of Nato.
If it gets itself into a spat with the Russians, this could have dramatic consequences for the alliance as a whole.
It was noticeable at the tail-end of last year that the Nato allies' very public support for Turkey in the wake of the shooting down of the Russian Sukhoi jet, was tempered, at least in private, by a good degree of amazement and concern that Turkey had chosen to behave so rashly.
Migrant problem
But there is another security dimension too, and that relates to the great wave of refugees, asylum seekers, call them what you will, that are battering on Europe's doors.
They, of course come not just from Syria. But the crisis there and the terrible dislocation that it has produced is an important driving factor.
A woman holding a baby is assisted as refugees and migrants disembark from an open sea ship of the Greek coast guard in Mytilene, the port of the northern island of Lesbos, on February 22, 2016, after crossing the Aegean sea from TurkeyImage copyrightGetty Images
Image caption
Migrants and refugees continue to cross into Europe from Turkey
Turkey is a conduit for some of this population movement, and this means that the EU must measure its relations with Ankara cautiously.
The implicit threat is there. If the Europeans do not help Turkey with this problem, then Ankara could simply open the gates and send a reinforced human wave westwards.
This could be one reason why western Europe has been largely mute in the face of the Turkish military's onslaught against its own Kurdish areas.
And it may also be why Turkey's self-serving involvement in Syria has similarly been so little criticised.
Apart from opening some of its air bases to help with the US-led air campaign, Turkey has acted in large part to deal with what it sees as a strategic threat from the Kurds, rather than weighing-in against the so-called Islamic State.
Turkey is doing pretty much everything it can to upset Moscow. Just a few days ago, Mr Davutoglu visited the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, to discuss "strategic cooperation" between Turkey and Ukraine.
But bolder Turkish threats to intervene on the ground in Syria - a step that might put them in direct confrontation with the Russians - seem to be just that, threats, at least for now.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko (R) welcomes Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (L) during their meeting in KievImage copyrightEPA
Image caption
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (right) visited Ukraine to discuss cooperation between the two countries
Few analysts are giving much hope to the forthcoming "ceasefire" in Syria, seemingly brokered by the US and the Russians.
The hope must be that at a minimum it may allow an opportunity for aid to reach some embattled areas.
But if the fighting does continue; if the Syrian government and its allies continue to gain ground, Turkey may well get to a point where it feels it has to act.
The "new Eastern Question" may be delayed, but it isn't going to go away.

[armnuke]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Interfax news agency says Gazprom has reduced gas supplies to Turkey since February 10.

[Haykakan]

Re: Regional geopolitics

URGENT: ARMY REGAINS FULL CONTROL OVER ANOTHER STRATEGIC TOWN IN ALEPPO

Thu Feb 25, 2016 12:54

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syrian army units won back the strategic town of
Khanaser, Southeast of Aleppo province, which was the scene of fierce
battles in recent days.

The army's latest advance in Aleppo province was made after heavy
clashes with the terrorist groups in the region.

Military sources said on Thursday that tens of terrorists were killed
and several others were injured in the battle.

The Syrian army killed tens of Takfiri terrorists in a
counter-offensive on the ISIL on Ithrya-Khanaser road on Wednesday.

The army's counter-offensive came after the ISIL tried to attack the
army units' military positions along Ithrya-Khanaser road.

Heavy clashes are still underway in the surrounding areas of Khanaser
town.

According to field sources, over 100 terrorists have been killed in
the fierce clashes with the Syrian army and popular forces.

In Southeast Aleppo, reports said on Wednesday that the ISIL militants
left behind scores of their dead and wounded members and fled their
strongholds near two key heights under the heavy offensives of the
Syrian army and popular forces.

The Syrian army and the National Defense Forces continued to push the
ISIL terrorists back from their positions along the main supplying
route of the government forces from Hama to Aleppo near the strategic
town of Khanaser and imposed full control over the Tal Syriatel and
Talal al-Sharghiyeh and their surroundings.

The government forces have started to fortify the newly-gained lands.

The Syrian army and its allies have repelled several ISIL attacks to
break through the government forces' lines of defense near Khanaser.

https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__en.farsnews.com_newstext.aspx-3Fnn-3D13941206000284&d=CwIBaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=LVw5zH6C4LHpVQcGEdVcrQ&m=aZK2_fq2so0kzS3OEEofzyCXebT9WqrLxGFWADnSg0w&s=FH23hpPjpsbBbCd_Y_c7gjkBzTz43iEVljNRk1s9Sk4&e=

[Artashes]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Above post #2362 by Vrej.
Speaks of maps of yesteryear while discussing Kerd/turc competition for western Armenia.
Not one word is mentioned that all maps from ancient times to the modern era refer to these lands that kerd & turc are fighting over IS ANCIENT Armenia.
Not one word is mentioned that virtually all Armenians were killed or exiled by kerds & turcs in order to steal the wealth and heritage (land) of the Armenians.
This is nothing more than the continuation of the Armenian GENOCIDE.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Above post #2362 by Vrej.
Speaks of maps of yesteryear while discussing Kerd/turc competition for western Armenia.
Not one word is mentioned that all maps from ancient times to the modern era refer to these lands that kerd & turc are fighting over IS ANCIENT Armenia.
Not one word is mentioned that virtually all Armenians were killed or exiled by kerds & turcs in order to steal the wealth and heritage (land) of the Armenians.
This is nothing more than the continuation of the Armenian GENOCIDE.

My dear,
1- does that surprise you from the brits/BBC?
2- since ourselves we do not speak about, and at first occasion our presidents and foreign ministers declare that we have no claims from turkey, why should others care about?

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Իրանի ու Ադրբեջանի յուրահատուկ համաձայնագիրը

ՆԱԻՐԱ ՀԱՅՐՈՒՄՅԱՆ, Մեկնաբան
Քաղաքականություն - 25 Փետրվարի 2016


Երեկ Ադրբեջանի էկոնոմիկայի նախարար Շահին Մուստաֆաեւը եւ Իրանի կապի ու տեղեկատվական տեխնոլոգիաների նախարար Մահմուդ Վաեզին համաձայնագիր են ստորագրել, որն Ադրբեջանում գնահատվել է որպես «Ադրբեջանի ու Իրանի ինքնիշխանության ու տարածքային ամբողջականության նկատմամբ հարգանքի նշան»: Համաձայնագրում խոսքը Արաքս գետի վրա Լեռնային Ղարաբաղի տարածքում երկու ջրային հանգույցների մասին է, չնայած, որ Ղարաբաղը համաձայնագրում չի հիշատակվում:

Համաձայնագրում ընդգծվում է Ադրբեջանի տարածքային ամբողջականությունը վերականգնելու անհրաժեշտությունը, «Խուդաֆերին» և «Գըզ Գալասի» ջրային հանգույցների շրջանում հայտարարվում են միեւնույն իրավունքները ջրային ու էներգետիկ ռեսուրսների հանդեպ:

Փաստաթղթում նշված է, որ Իրանը կավարտի ջրային հանգույցների ու հիդրոէլեկտրակայանների շինարարությունը, կպահպանի ու կշահագործի ջրային ու էներգետիկ ռեսուրսները մինչեւ Ադրբեջանի տարածքային ամբողջականությունը կվերականգնվի:

Հիշեցնենք, որ 2007 թվականին հայկական ու իրանական կողմերը նախագահներ Քոչարյանի ու Ահմադինեջադի որոշմամբ Արաքսի վրա ջրային հանգույցներ են կառուցվում: Ադրբեջանը 2009 թվականին բողոք էր ներկայացրել այս կապակցությամբ, սակայն Իրանն անտեսել էր այն: Այդուհանդերձ, շինարարությունը դադարեցվել է վերջին փուլում: Իրանն այժմ հայտարարում է ջրային հանգույցների շինարարությունն ավարտելու մտադրության մասին:

2009 թվականին Mehr գործակալության հաղորդագրությունում նշվում էր, որ Իրանն ու Ադրբեջանը համատեղ նախագծեր են իրականացնում վերոնշյալ հիդրոէլեկտրակայաններում: Փաստացի, Իրանն ու Ադրբեջանը համաձայնագիր են ստորագրել, որով Իրանը ճանաչում է, որ Ղարաբաղում Իրանի ու Հայաստանի կողմից կառուցվող ջրային հանգույցները կարող են պատկանել Ադրբեջանին նրա «տարածքային ամբողջականության» վերականգնումից հետո: Այլ հարց է, թե երբ դա կլինի կամ արդյոք ընդհանրապես կլինի:

Միայն կռահել կարելի է, թե ինչ դրդապատճառներով է ընդունվել այդ համաձայնագիրը: Իրանը միշտ հանդես է եկել Ադրբեջանի տարածքային ամբողջականության օգտին, սակայն պնդել է, որ ղարաբաղյան հակամարտությունը պետք է խաղաղ կարգավորվի: Ավելին, Իրանը համառորեն դեմ է հանդես եկել հակամարտության գոտում «երրորդ երկրների» խաղաղապահների տեղակայմանը՝ դրանով ճանաչելով այդ տարածքների նկատմամբ հայկական բանակի վերահսկողության իրավունքը:

Սակայն, իրանա-ադրբեջանական հարաբերությունների ներկայիս փուլը չի կարող շրջանցել ղարաբաղյան հակամարտությունը: Չի բացառվում, որ Թեհրանն ու Բաքուն փոխզիջման են հասել տարածաշրջանային նոր դասավորության շուրջ, եւ Իրանին անհրաժեշտ է ընդգծել Ադրբեջանի տարածքային ամբողջականությանն աջակցությունը եւ դրա նկատմամբ պահանջների բացակայությունը: Իսկ միգուցե Թեհրանն ակնարկում է, որ չի կարող անվերջ սպասել «Ադրբեջանի տարածքային ամբողջականության վերականգնմանը»:

Ի՞նչ պետք է անի Բաքուն դրա դիմաց՝ դժվար է ասել, սակայն կարելի է ենթադրել, որ Իրանը Բաքվին որոշակի տարածաշրջանային փոփոխություններ է առաջարկում՝ կապված լոգիստիկայի հետ:

- See more at: http://www.lragir.am/index/arm/0/pol....VpzHGoS1.dpuf

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

ISIS suddenly trapped as Syrian Army pushes to recapture Aleppo supply route


By Chris Tomson
- 26/02/2016 2

Lately, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) has launched a major counter-offensive which aims to reopen the supply line from central Syria (Hama) to Aleppo city. By capturing Khanasser (Khanasir) and a few other villages, government forces have reduced the ISIS-held road to just 4 miles; just yesterday, it was 7 miles.

According to a military source close to al-Masdar, the SAA intends to recapture the road entirely within the next 48 hours to come. Remarkably, ISIS fighters might become trapped in just hours as government forces continue to advance. Just a small escape route, largely made up of desert sand, links ISIS troops with the ar-Raqqah motherland which represents the capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate. Therefore, fighters of the Islamic State must either retreat while time is due or face the airstrikes of the Russian Airforce as well as seasoned government troops.

Currently, Tiger Forces (an elite specialized SAA offensive branch) are leading the efforts to recapture the road; however, their soldiers are also backed by hundreds of troops from the Syrian Arab Army’s 47th Regiment of the 11th Tank Division, the Republican Guard, the Liwaa Al-Quds Brigade, National Defence Forces and Al-Ba’ath Battalion. Earlier this month, the very same Tiger Forces unit captured more than a dozen villages from ISIS in eastern Aleppo and thus secured a steady supply route to Kuweiris Airbase.

However, over the past 4 days of combat, many government soldiers have died in battle:
– 49 from different SAA branches (Tiger Forces, Republican Guard, 47 Regiment).
– 13 from pro-government militias (National Defence Forces, Liwaa Al-Quds Brigade).
– 5 from paramilitary militias (Al-Baath Ba’ath Battalion).
– 4 officers of the Syrian Air Defence.

Furthermore, since ISIS cut the supply line to Syria’s largest city, government offensives elsewhere in Aleppo province have been temporarily halted as regional Syrian Arab Army commanders (most notably, Major General Suheil Al Hassan) found themselves forced to reconsider priorities inside the governorate. Whether or not Tiger Forces will recapture the final ISIS-held villages is yet to be proven; however, with the Russian Airforce blowing the area to smithereens, ISIS faces a considerable task in repelling them.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article...te-map-update/ | Al-Masdar News

[Artashes]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Above post #2362 by Vrej.
Speaks of maps of yesteryear while discussing Kerd/turc competition for western Armenia.
Not one word is mentioned that all maps from ancient times to the modern era refer to these lands that kerd & turc are fighting over IS ANCIENT Armenia.
Not one word is mentioned that virtually all Armenians were killed or exiled by kerds & turcs in order to steal the wealth and heritage (land) of the Armenians.
This is nothing more than the continuation of the Armenian GENOCIDE.

My dear,
1- does that surprise you from the brits/BBC?
2- since ourselves we do not speak about, and at first occasion our presidents and foreign ministers declare that we have no claims from turkey, why should others care about?

The yearly memorial of the recognition of the Armenian genocide is our perpetual claim to the truth.
Please do not get "real politic" scam confused with the TRUTH.

[Vrej1915]

Re: Regional geopolitics

Complete battlefield report from southeast Aleppo
By Leith Fadel -
25/02/2016


The Syrian Arab Army’s “Tiger Forces” made remarkable progress in the Khanasser Plains on Thursday, capturing one town, two villages, and four hilltops from the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) en route to recovering most of their lost territory. The Tiger Forces and their allies began the day by liberating Khanasser from the ISIS terrorists after entering this strategic town the night prior to the final push on Thursday morning.

With Khanasser under their control, the Tiger Forces and their allies turned their attention north towards the small village of Al-Mughayrat. Following a violent battle, the Tiger Forces and their allies imposed full control over Al-Mughayrat and 3 surrounding hilltops that were located just north of this small villages in southeast Aleppo.

The Tiger Forces would then capture the large hilltop of Talat Al-Bayda along the road to the imperative village of Al-Hawaz; this battle did not last more than 30 minutes. Meanwhile, in the Khanasser Plains’ northern countryside, the Tiger Forces – backed by Liwaa Al-Quds (Jerusalem Brigade) and the National Defense Forces (NDF) – established full control over the strategic village of Shilallah Al-Kabeera, killing over 15 enemy combatants and destroying 3 armored vehicles that were mounted with 14.5 mm anti-aircraft machine guns.

To conclude the day, the Tiger Forces and their allies reached the villages of Al-Hawaz and Shilallah Al-Saghira, staking their positions for another assault tomorrow morning.

Currently, the Tiger Forces are focused on closing the gap between the Al-Safira Plains and the Khanasser Plains; once this is complete, they will concentrate on the Sheikh Hilal-Ithriyah Road that is also cutoff.

Syrian Armed Forces death toll after 4 days of fighting:
49 Syrian Army soldiers KIA (47th Regiment, Tiger Forces, Republican Guard);
13 NDF and Liwaa Al-Quds soldiers KIA;
5 Al-Ba’ath Battalion fighters KIA;
4 Syrian Air Defense officers KIA.

ISIS death toll estimated between 130-150 KIA.

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/29977/ | Al-Masdar News

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NB: Provided Isis losses are exact, death ratio is catastrophic for the Syrian army given their huge advantage in firepower, geographic advantage, flat desert terrain and overwhelming air superiority....