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Regional geopolitics

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  • Re: Regional geopolitics

    Israel jets mark go-it-alone policy on Syria


    Arab media show damage caused by air strikes to Syrian army compound in Damascus
    Arab media carried conflicting reports wich described Israeli warplanes striking in and around Damascus overnight Tuesday, Nov. 29, with “four long-range Popeye” missiles fired from Lebanese air space on the government-held town of Al-Saboorah, a western suburb of Damascus, near the highway to Beirut.
    A Lebanese newspaper reported that a Syrian army ammunition depot was destroyed in one of the raids, while other strikes hit and damaged a Hizballah arms convoy bound for Lebanon on the Damascus-Beirut Highway. There was also speculation, later denied, that one of the air strikes aimed at assassinating a senior Hizballah figure.
    None of these reports were confirmed by Israel or any other official source.
    Even so, Israel’s reported military action against enemy targets in Syria is bound to have repercussions in the next 24 hours, since, whatever took place, broke out of the secret overarching understandings on Syria reached provisionally this month between US President elect Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
    Those understandings hinged strongly on joint US-Russian cooperation in the war on the Islamic State in Syria, supported by the coalition fighting for the Assad regime, namely, the Syrian army and its allies, the Lebanese Hizballah and foreign Shiite militias under the command of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
    As the sub-text of the “big power” understandings, an outline was drafted between the next US administration, Moscow, Jerusalem, Amman and the UAE on arrangements for stabilizing Syria’s southern borders with Israel and Jordan.
    Talks on these arrangements were first disclosed in an exclusive DEBKAfile report on Nov. 21, after they had already produced the unheralded return of the UN observers to the Golan demilitarized zone outside Quneitra.
    But then, Sunday, Nov. 27, Russian warplanes staged a sudden series of airstrikes against Syrian rebel concentrations in the very region under discussion, southern Syria. After a three-month pause in these attacks, Moscow appeared to have waited for major Syrian government progress in Aleppo, to go against those understandings and send Russian jets into action over Jasim and Daraa in order to wipe out the rebel forces holding out in the South. Heavy casualties were sustained by those forces.
    The Russian action was seen by the incoming Trump administration and Jerusalem as presaging the next danger-fraught step: To round out the raids, the Syrian army would come flooding into the South, along with Hizballah and other Shiite militias fighting under Iranian Revolutionary Guards command.
    Tuesday saw two further ruptures in the trilateral understandings on Syria.
    Assad announced he was gearing up for a decisive victory in Aleppo, notwithstanding a request from Trump’s advisers to Putin to hold back from the final step and refrain from retaking every last eastern district from rebel hands..
    This was followed by an unforeseen statement by Erdogan: “The Turkish military launched its operations in Syria to end the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.”
    This sentiment pivoted sharply away from the secret Trump-Putin understandings endorsed by the Turkish leader that was contingent on Assad remaining in power.
    Although Erdogan is notorious for his wildly unpredictable decision-making, it is more than likely that before going public on his radical change of heart on Assad, he was in touch with the new national security team taking shape in Washington. If that was the case, then Donald Trump was using Erdogan to notify Putin that the entire architecture of their understandings on Syria was now at risk.
    If the Arab media reporting on Israeli air attacks on Syrian military and Hizballah targets in Damascus from Lebanese air space are confirmed, Jerusalem will be shown to have followed Ankara in backing away from those short-lived, understandings, opting instead for an independent policy in its own security interests with regard to Syria.

    Comment


    • Re: Regional geopolitics

      Putin confirms Russia not involved in attack against Turkish forces: Erdogan
      By News Desk - 02/12/2016

      (TASS) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that via a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he received a confirmation Russia had nothing to do with the recent attack on Turkish forces in Syria.

      The Daily Turkiye reports Erdogan was speaking at a working breakfast with parliament members.

      "Over the past week we’ve had three conversations with Mr. Putin. He said that Russia had nothing to do whatsoever with the attack on the Turkish forces," Erdogan said, adding that in his opinion "the attack was staged by the forces of the regime," in other words, the Syrian army.

      "Also, we discussed efforts by our countries to deliver humanitarian aid to Syria. I asked Mr. Putin about attacks on schools and hospitals in Aleppo. I asked him who dealt the strike and he replied it was not Russia. We did not mount such attacks, either, so I asked who did that," the daily quotes Erdogan as saying.

      On November 24, Turkish troops in Syria came under attack by combat aircraft. Three servicemen were killed and ten others injured. According to preliminary data Turkey made public on the same day the Syrian Air Force might have taken part in the air raid.

      Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Alanya on December 1 that neither Russian nor Syrian aircraft had been involved. Russia and Turkey discussed that issue at various levels shortly after the incident.

      "There is a common understanding Russia and Syria’s Air Force were not responsible," Lavrov said.

      Comment


      • Re: Regional geopolitics

        Russia, Turkey agree to give jihadists 24 hours to leave east Aleppo: report
        By Leith Fadel - 03/12/2016

        BEIRUT, LEBANON (1:15 P.M.) - Russia and Turkey reportedly agreed on Friday to give the jihadist rebels of Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham (formerly Nusra Front) 24 hours to leave east Aleppo through the humanitarian corridor setup by the Russian military.

        According to the Russian media, Jabhat Fateh Al-Sham has 24 hours to leave east Aleppo; if they refuse to do so, then they will show no mercy to the 900 remaining jihadists combatting the Syrian Arab Army (SAA).

        No further details were released.

        If this story proves true, this will be the first time during this war that Turkey has refrained from aiding jihadist rebel groups fighting the Syrian Arab Army and their allies.

        Comment


        • Re: Regional geopolitics

          PS: finally, one of the smallest insurgent pockets in the suburbs of Tamaskos, named as West Ghuta (there is a large east one still holding), did surrender, but after negociating transfer of insurgents to main rebel heartland bordering Turkey, Idleb.
          What is interesting, is that this pocket never, at least in my knowledge, had a land link to Jordan or Israel, to be officially and massivly supplied.
          Yet the guys, having waged war for 5 years, manage to abandon quite interesting pile of small arms, understandibly transported on foot or via tunnels, behind government lines , but more amazangly, yet intact tanks and BMP-s, and even 2 Shilkas!!
          And this while the pocket was the size of 3 villages, and SAA + Russia had total air supremacy!
          How did they manage to hide those big chunks from those birds, and in such small territory?
          How did they have them in first place??
          If those were captured from SAA, then how was that possible in such overwhelming strategic situation?
          The only logical presomption I may do, is that they were acquired from SAA garrisons by force or by bribes at the early days of the conflict, and then were never used, hidden in a parking under a modern building. Any other explanation seems odds... given the situation and air power factor.
          If they were used, then how many were destroyed on each sorty??
          Questions that give a better idea of how well those "poor' rebels are organised, trained and armed..
          If they do have such amount of hardware in a such small pocket, deep in the suburbs of Tamaskos, what kind of equipment do they have in idleb or Haleb, where they had full access to Turkey for years??


          ===========

          In video: Khan Al-Sheh militants surrender loads of weapons to Syrian Army
          By Izat Charkatli - 03/12/2016


          DAMASCUS, SYRIA - Video footage uploaded recently shows large batches of weapons and ammunition confiscated by the Syrian Army from the surrendering militants.

          In total, the insurgents reportedly gave up three tanks, two shilkas, four BMPs, 30 x 23mm gun, 30 x 14.5mm gun, about 500 assault rifles, and thousands of bullets.

          Comment


          • Re: Regional geopolitics

            VIDEO: Syrian Army shock troops push through rebel-held districts in Aleppo
            By Chris Tomson - 02/12/2016


            On Friday, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) seized a large chunk of territory west of Aleppo International Airport and entered several rebel-held neighborhoods which have not seen government control since 2012.

            Following up on a string of advances, the SAA's Tiger Forces (elite assault troops) gained ground inside Halwaniyah, Tariq Al-Bab, Karam Al-Jazmati, and the Al-Maysar districts.

            New footage of urban warfare operations in the nearby Ma'asaraniyah district also shows scores of dead insurgents and hundreds of civilians seeking safety in government-held areas.

            Comment


            • Re: Regional geopolitics

              Second meeting this year between Israel, Cyprus and Greece on energy issues
              By Paul Antonopoulos - 03/12/2016
              almasdar news

              Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades will hold a one-day summit on Thursday. The three first met together in January in Nicosia in what was hailed as the formation of a new “strategic alliance” in the eastern Mediterranean, The Jerusalem Post reported.

              Israel is currently weighing three options for exporting recently discovered natural gas. The first is to export to Egypt for its needs. The second is to export to Turkey, a country keen on diversifying its energy supplies, and the third is to lay a pipeline to Cyprus and then to Greece. This option is by far the most expensive, the report explained.

              Natural Infrastructures, Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz said following a meeting with his colleagues from Greece and Cyprus in September that the underwater pipeline was “one of the most promising projects” under examination.

              Diplomatic officials said that Thursday's meeting will be a follow-up to the January summit. Following that summit the countries pledged closer cooperation in seven fields: energy, tourism, research and technology, environment, water management, anti-terrorism and migration.

              The cooperation is controversial as Greece has always been a strong advocate for Palestinian rights.
              Following up on a string of advances, the SAA's Tiger Forces (elite assault troops) gained ground inside Halwaniyah, Tariq Al-Bab, Karam Al-Jazmati, and the Al-Maysar districts.

              New footage of urban warfare operations in the nearby Ma'asaraniyah district also shows scores of dead insurgents and hundreds of civilians seeking safety in government-held areas.[/QUOTE]

              Comment


              • Re: Regional geopolitics

                The world wants turkish Lira but Amirikandan is preventing them.

                "Turkey wants trade with China, Russia and Iran in local currencies, Erdogan says
                Turkey is taking steps to allow commerce with China, Russia and Iran to be conducted in local currencies, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, the government's latest effort to shore up the tumbling lira.

                In a speech to flag-waving crowds in the central city of Kayseri, Erdogan also said that Prime Minister Binali Yildirim would bring up the issue with Moscow during a forthcoming trip to Russia.

                Erdogan has called on Turks to cash in their foreign exchange holdings and buy lira to stem the Turkish currency's decline. The lira has lost a fifth of its value this year, hit by a resurgent dollar and widening concern about a crackdown following the July 15 failed coup."

                Comment


                • Re: Regional geopolitics

                  Erdogan gets too close to Russia. Dumps the Caspian gas energy pipeline that was going to help the shekel nation as well. In return his is now on the NY shekel network hit list.
                  This turkish persecution has ben going on for over a century and it seams it is this week the "west" is concerned.

                  Crushing free speech in Turkey

                  Turkey last week rose to No. 1 in the world — when it comes to journalists the government has in jail.

                  It even tops the People’s Republic of China, which has 18 times the population ... can read the rest of their betching

                  Turkey last week rose to No. 1 in the world — when it comes to journalists the government has in jail. It even tops the People’s Republic of China, which has 18 times the population. According to t…

                  Comment


                  • Re: Regional geopolitics

                    Originally posted by Azad View Post
                    Erdogan gets too close to Russia. Dumps the Caspian gas energy pipeline that was going to help the shekel nation as well. In return his is now on the NY shekel network hit list.
                    This turkish persecution has ben going on for over a century and it seams it is this week the "west" is concerned.

                    Crushing free speech in Turkey

                    Turkey last week rose to No. 1 in the world — when it comes to journalists the government has in jail.

                    It even tops the People’s Republic of China, which has 18 times the population ... can read the rest of their betching

                    http://nypost.com/2016/12/04/crushin...ech-in-turkey/

                    Comment


                    • Re: Regional geopolitics

                      Comment

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