Syrian Civil War

[Yuli Ban]

Rockets fired at American base by pro-Iranian militias in response to US airstrikes

In the late afternoon, around dusk, reports emerged that pro-Iranian groups had shelled areas in eastern Syria across from Deir Ezzor, ostensibly targeting US forces near the Omar oil fields. This is an important and strategic area and US forces who support the Syrian Democratic Forces, have been reported to have a facility or base in this area. The attack was linked to airstrikes the US had carried out in Syria targeting pro-Iranian groups on Monday.
"US Forces in Syria, while under multiple rocket attack, acted in self- defense and conducted counter-battery artillery fire at rocket launching positions," wrote Col. Wayne Marotto, the spokesperson for the US-led Coalition to defeat ISIS.

[Ozzie guy]

I genuinely predicted that as soon as the US started pulling out of Afghanistan they would start or heat up a conflict somewhere else.

[wjfox]

ISIS leader killed in US-led Syria raid, Biden says

Updated 1424 GMT (2224 HKT) February 3, 2022

Washington (CNN) - US Special Forces killed ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in a counterterrorism mission in northwest Syria Wednesday evening, President Joe Biden announced Thursday morning.

It was the the biggest US raid in the country since the 2019 operation that killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Sources on the ground reported multiple fatalities. At least 13 people were killed in clashes that took place during and after the raid -- including six children and four women -- according to the Syrian civil defense group, the White Helmets. There were no US casualties, according to the Pentagon.

"Last night at my direction, US military forces in northwest Syria successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation to protect the American people and our Allies, and make the world a safer place," Biden said in a statement. "Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi -- the leader of ISIS. All Americans have returned safely from the operation."

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement late Wednesday night that the mission was conducted by US Central Command, which controls military operations and activities in the Middle East.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/03/worl ... index.html

[raklian]

ISIS leader killed in US-led Syria raid, Biden says

But....

[caltrek]

The U.S. Has Further Admitted to Additional Killing of Civilians in Iraq and Syria
by Sanjana Varghese
March 31, 2022

https://airwars.org/news-and-investigat ... and-syria/

Introduction:

(Airwars) The US has quietly restarted admitting killing civilians in Iraq and Syria.

US-led coalition against Islamic State had not admitted harming civilians in eight months

The US-led International Coalition has quietly admitted to killing 18 more civilians in Iraq and Syria and injuring a further 11, its first such public concession in eight months.

On March 10th, Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) – the US-led coalition against the so-called Islamic State – quietly released on its website its first public civilian harm assessment since July 2021. It assessed a total of 63 incidents dating back to 2015, of which 10 were assessed to be ‘credible’ – meaning the Coalition accepted causing civilian harm.

The statement conceded that 18 civilians were killed and 11 were injured cumulatively in these ten events. Matching the incidents to its own archive, Airwars put the likely casualty numbers far higher for these events, with between 45 and 166 civilians reportedly killed. The remaining 53 incidents were deemed ‘non-credible.’

Patterns of Civilian Harm from Russia's Military Actions in Syria (2015-2022)
March 24, 2022

https://airwars.org/news-and-investigat ... 2015-2022/

(Airwars) A review of 61,000 unique sources reveals the intensity and scale of civilian harm resulting from alleged Russian actions
Since the beginning of Russia’s military intervention in Syria in 2015, Airwars has tracked, documented and preserved every local allegation of civilian harm resulting from Russian actions – over 4,000 individual incidents from 61,915 unique sources.

We have collected 11,181 names of civilians reported killed, and identified 1,383 family members killed in the same incidents. In total, our archive indicates that by March 2022, as many as 24,743 civilians had been locally-alleged killed by Russian actions in Syria, and another 43,124 injured. To date Russia has yet to publicly accept responsibility for the death of a single civilian during the campaign.

Russian and Syrian regime pilots often fly the same Russian airframes, use the same munitions and tactics, and also fly joint patrols. For this reason, local communities can find it extremely challenging to attribute civilian harm directly to one party or another.

In those events where only Russia is implicated Airwars believes the likely civilian fatality toll to be between 4,300 and 6,400. Between 10,000 and 17,100 further deaths are alleged from contested events – where Russia is only one of the belligerents blamed for an attack, primarily alongside the regime.

[Time_Traveller]

Russia ‘sends a message’ with first missile attack on Israeli jets in Syrian war, expert says

May 20, 2022

A Russian counter-attack on Israeli forces in Syria has raised fears of a potential escalation to the conflict, with experts fearing a similar provocation “within days”.

This week, Russia launched missiles on Israeli jets that had flown over Syria and struck targets north of Damascus. Several casualties were reported and the Syrian army returned fire from anti-aircraft systems.

Israel has launched hundreds of similar missions since the beginning of Syria’s civil war in 2011, often targeting adversaries Iran and Hezbollah which have established a presence in the country and facing down Syrian air defences.

However on this occasion, the retreating Israeli pilots were targeted by missiles from a Russian S-300 anti-aircraft system under the operational control of Russian officers, Israel’s Channel 13 reported. None of the missiles hit their targets.

https://inews.co.uk/news/world/russia-m ... ar-1641374

[caltrek]

Nighttime U.S. Helicopter Raid Captures ‘Senior Daesh Leader’ In Syria
by Howard Altman
June 15, 2022

Introduction:

(The War Zone) Forces from the U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State jihadi group detained what officials say is a “senior Daesh leader" in an operation in Syria today that had no civilian casualties.

Daesh is an Arabic pejorative for ISIS, widely used by the coalition.

“The detained individual was assessed to be an experienced bomb maker and facilitator who became one of the group’s top leaders in Syria,” officials from Combined Joint Task Force - Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR) said in a media release Wednesday evening.

Earlier this evening, video began emerging on social media showing helicopters, likely those from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), better known as the Night Stalkers, flying blacked-out at high speed and very low altitude over northwest Syria. (See linked article for several Twitter posts that include video of helicopters flying blacked-out).

It was not immediately clear what role U.S. forces played in the mission beyond airborne transportation and support. The coalition consists of dozens of nations. We've reached out to CJTF-OIR for answers and will update this story.

Read more here: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ ... -in-syria

[caltrek]

The Mass Ethnic Cleansing of Syrian Kurds is Collateral Damage From the War in Ukraine
by Patrick Cockburn
July 4, 2022

Introduction:

(Counterpunch) Kurds are suffering the greatest collateral damage form the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian refugees attract global attention, but the Ukraine war has opened the door wide to the mass expulsion of two million Syrian Kurds, which is likely to take place in the coming months. Turkey is threatening to complete the ethnic cleansing of Kurds from northern Syria which it began five years ago.

Hundreds of thousands of Kurds have already been forced by Turkish-led forces to flee from their enclaves on the Syrian side of the Turkish-Syrian border. “There is no place for the [Kurdish fighters] in Syria‘s future,” said Erdogan. “We hope that… we will rid the region of separatist terror.” In practice, the Turkish policy during previous incursions into Syria has been to drive out all Syrian Kurds, civilians as well as fighters, separatists and terrorists.

After Turkey lifted its veto on Sweden and Finland joining Nato, the Nato powers are less likely than before to deter Erdogan from a fresh invasion of Northern Syria. In the longer term, they want to recruit Turkey as an ally against Russia.

The US has already largely abandoned the Syrian Kurds to Turkey, though it was they who provided the ground forces that, in alliance with the US, defeated the so-called Islamic State in Syria and lost 11,000 Kurdish soldiers in the fighting.

The Syrian Kurds themselves have no doubt about their likely fate and many are already seeking to escape. Their ethnic cleansing is the most important and tragic piece of collateral damage stemming from the Ukraine war – and one which is being largely ignored by the outside world.

Read more here: https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/07/0 ... -ukraine/

[caltrek]

[weatheriscool]

Pentagon: US kills IS group leader in Syria in drone strike
Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon said Tuesday that it killed a leader of the Islamic State group in Syria in a drone strike.

U.S. Central Command said in a news release that Maher al-Agal was killed Tuesday and an unidentified senior official in the Islamic State group was seriously injured. The Pentagon said there were no civilian casualties, though it wasn’t possible to immediately confirm that information.

The U.S. carried out the strike outside Jindaris, a town in northwest Syria close to the Turkish border.

The attack “takes a key terrorist off the field and significantly degrades the ability of (IS) to plan, resource, and conduct their operations in the region,” said President Joe Biden in a statement. “And, like the U.S. operation in February that eliminated (IS’s) overall leader, it sends a powerful message to all terrorists who threaten our homeland and our interests around the world.”

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/islamic-stat ... 3c72cce216

[caltrek]

Why the U.S. Doesn’t Want Turkey to Invade Syria
by Ellen Ioanes
July 17, 2022

Introduction:

(Vox) US officials warned Turkey this week against expanding its so-called buffer zone in northeast Syria, saying such a move would complicate counter-ISIS measures, and would increase the violence that Kurds and Syrians in the region have faced since Turkey’s initial incursion in 2019.

“We strongly oppose any Turkish operation into northern Syria and have made clear our objections to Turkey,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East Dana Stroul said in a speech at the Middle East Institute Wednesday. “ISIS is going to take advantage of that campaign, not to mention the humanitarian impact.”

As Stroul pointed out, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a group that’s made up largely of Kurds and is critical to the ground battle to recover ISIS-held territory in Iraq and Syria, are responsible for security in the Al-Hol and Azraq camps. Together the camps hold approximately 60,000 vulnerable, displaced people, and serve as prisons for around 10,000 alleged ISIS militants.

On May 23, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his military would launch further offensives, creating a 30-kilometer-deep buffer zone as soon as the military and intelligence and security services had completed their preparations, Reuters reported.

“The main target of these operations will be areas which are centers of attacks to our country and safe zones,” Erdogan said during a speech at the time, although he didn’t specifically mention where the operations would take place or point to any particular target.

Read more here: https://www.vox.com/2022/7/17/23259615 ... e-syria

[caltrek]

Dangerous 'Cycle of Escalation' Intensifies After Unauthorized U.S. Bombings in Syria
by Jake Johnson
August 25, 2022

Introduction:

(Common Dreams) Without legal authorization from Congress, the U.S. military launched a series of bombing campaigns this week against what American officials characterized as Iranian proxies in Syria, intensifying tit-for-tat violence that observers fear could spill into a broader and deadlier conflict.

The U.S. described the strikes, carried out by Central Command (CENTCOM) forces in eastern and northeastern Syria, as retaliation for August 15 rocket attacks on a base housing American military personnel. CENTCOM blamed "Iran-backed groups" for the attacks.

In a statement Thursday after "Iran-affiliated militants" purportedly launched another series of rocket attacks the previous day, CENTCOM said U.S. airstrikes over the past 24 hours have killed "four enemy fighters" and destroyed "seven enemy rocket launchers." It's not clear whether any civilians were killed or harmed.

The Syrian groups' rocket attacks Wednesday reportedly injured three U.S. servicemembers, and additional attacks were reported Thursday.

"The CENTCOM strikes in Syria are now part of a cycle of escalation that is endangering U.S. troops," Erik Sperling, executive director of Just Foreign Policy, warned late Wednesday. "Congress never authorized U.S. military action, as required by U.S. law and the Constitution."

Read more of the Common Dreams article here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... ngs-syria

For the statement from CENTCOM: https://www.centcom.mil/MEDIA/STATEMEN ... -in-syria/

[caltrek]

Russia Is Fighting More Than One War. I Went to Check on the ‘Other’ One.
by Tim Mak
December 3, 2023

Introduction:

(Politico) GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Mahmoud Amed Nasser arrived in Turkey a month ago. It’s safe here, but he still can’t stop listening for the sound of planes. Russian planes.

Nasser, 48, traveled from the rebel-held city of Idlib, Syria, to Turkey with his young grandson, who needs medical treatment for a congenital heart defect. In Syria, planes signal danger. Just the day before, he told me, his grandson was utterly terrified by the sounds of a commercial airliner.

“All our children know the sounds,” Nasser said. Even though there was no danger there in Turkey, his grandson grabbed him and told him, “Granddad, there’s a warplane in the sky!”

In Syria, he added, there is little they can do when Russian warplanes come, except hide and hope for the best. Oh, and “open your mouth,” he said with a grim laugh. Opening their mouths helps them not get injured or killed by the pressure waves from the blast, he explained.

“We and the Ukrainians have the same enemy, have the same killer,” Nasser said.

Read more here: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine ... -00128920

[caltrek]

Senior Iran Revolutionary Guard Officials Killed in Strike in Syria that is Blamed on Israel
by Frank Gardner
January 20, 2024

Introduction:

(BBC) Five senior members of Iran's security forces have been killed in a suspected air strike on the Syrian capital.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard blamed Israel for the attack, which it said killed its military advisers as well as a number of Syrian forces.

Israel has not commented. For years it has carried out strikes on Iranian-linked targets in Syria.

Such strikes have intensified since the Israel-Gaza war began following Hamas's 7 October attacks on Israel.

Iran's foreign ministry said the attacks were an "aggressive and provocative" act by Israel, urging international actors to condemn them.

Read more here: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-68040493


Syria

[caltrek]

Top Iranian General Killed by Israeli Airstrike
by Barak Ravid
April 1, 2024

Introduction:

(Axios) An Israeli airstrike killed a top Iranian general as it targeted a building near the Iranian Embassy in Damascus, two sources familiar told Axios.

The big picture: This is a major blow to Iran, as Brig. Gen. Mohammad Reza Zahedi was the commander of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force in Syria and Lebanon.

• The general was the key Iranian military official in charge of relations with Hezbollah in Lebanon and the pro-Iranian militias in Syria.

• According to Iranian media, five other IRGC officials were killed in the strike, including Zahedi's deputy, Gen. Mohammad Hadi Hajriahimi.

• Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian accused Israel of Zahedi's assassination and stressed that Israel will be responsible for the consequences.

Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2024/04/01/irani ... sination

[weatheriscool]

[caltrek]

Is Assad’s Government Collapsing?
December 3, 2024

Introduction:

(Al Jazeera) The surprise assault on the Syrian city of Aleppo by opposition forces on Wednesday appears to have caught the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad and his allies, as well as much of the world, off guard.

Currently, as the Syrian and Russian air forces pound opposition forces in northwest Syria, the brutal conflict that many had hoped had frozen since a ceasefire deal in 2020 is showing every sign of reigniting.

Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12 ... yrias-war

As the anti-Assad rebel forces’ surprise counteroffensive against regime forces stretches into its fifth day, Russia and Syria have stepped up their aerial bombardment campaign to slow it down. That appears to be having some effect on what until now had been a lightning-quick advance.

Adding to the challenge, forces supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad continue to pour into the Hama region to create a defensive line against the advance led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). To further assist the regime, hundreds of Iranian-backed Iraqi militia fighters have crossed the border to join the fight.

https://www.twz.com/news-features/airs ... -in-syria

In light of the reports cited above from Al Jazeera and The Drive, the conclusion presented below may be a little premature.

It has been another bad week for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government collapsed faster than Afghanistan’s had in August 2021. Syrian rebels caught Putin’s armed forces by surprise and swept through Aleppo, forcing the Russians to vacate several military bases.

The Russian commander, Lieutenant General Sergey Kisel, had previously commanded Russia’s 1st Guards Tank Army in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, where they were driven back by a Ukrainian counterattack in late 2022. Now a two-time battlefield failure, he would do well to avoid open windows when he is recalled back to the Kremlin.

The fighting rages on, with Damascus clearly the goal. Unlike Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Assad passed on the ammo and “took the ride” with his family. He was safely evacuated to Russia, where his “extended family and associates own $40 million worth of luxury apartments in Moscow’s skyscraper district.”

And with Assad’s regime likely coming to an end, Russian influence in the region may be ending, too.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/op ... gNewsSerp

[weatheriscool]

[Doozer]

How likely will Assad and his family end up living in asylum courtesy of Russia?

[weatheriscool]