"Syria regime prepares for ‘biggest military operation’ of war in Aleppo" Rudaw

 

"As fighters in the city dig-in and try to consolidate their positions, those fighting on the regime’s side are cutting off supply lines along seven fronts in a bid to cut-off the eastern part of the city, ahead of the upcoming offensive.

The Syrian military and its allied militias have once again started offensive operations after Russia intervened late last September on their side and began providing air support. "  Rudaw

------------------

Rudaw is a Kurdish news network.

"b" tells us that there are 8,000 R+6 reinforcements newly arrived in the Aleppo area.  Who these troops might be I know not.  Is this the much reported newly created 4th Assault Corps of the Syrian Army or some other group?  And what exactly is the composition of the 4th Assault Corps? 

Russian air and artillery are chewing the "opposition" to bits while the threat of Russian anti-air defenses have effectively grounded the Turkish Air Force.  This has enabled the YPG Kurds to advance across the Euphrates River to threaten the IS' supply line to Turkey and the Syrian Army to re-group and sort out the confusion caused by the long, slow decline it had experienced at the hands of rebels supplied by the US, Turkey and the Gulfies. 

The "grinding" process continues as forces are positioned for the climactic battle we have characterized here as the kesselschlacht . 

If I were in northern Syria as an "opposition" fighter I would either be thinking of "rallying" to the government side or looking over my shoulder at the Turkish border.  pl   

http://rudaw.net/english/middleeast/syria/160120164

Comments

[different clue]

Ishmael Zechariah,

They sure don't have any such right in their illegal settlements in the illegally Turkish-occupied North Bank. And given what they have shown themselves willing to do, I doubt the Chinese want to see them return. But yes, I express myself far too cruelly. The best thing would be for them to be captured very non-violently and very non-violently delivered to China for a lifetime vacation in kinder-and-gentler Chinese prisons. Just so they get taken all the way off-the-board so that they never pose any further terrorist or criminal outlaw demography-changing illegal settler potential ever again in any part of Syria.

And given some of your anti-Kurdish statements in the past, I wonder if you are any less selective in your own way about who has any right to life and liberty. Statements such as "the PKK pimped women and gave children drugs". I had never heard that one before.
Are there any credible links to evidence about that?

[different clue]

Ishmael Zechariah,

I was referring to the criminal outlaw illegal settler-terrorist Uygurs sent into Syria by the Erdogist regime specifically. I wasn't referring to generic ethnic Uygurs in general. Because after all, the Uygurs living in Sinjiang are not illegally squatting in stolen Syrian houses in the Turkish-occupied North Bank in Syria.

[Thirdeye]

If the response to the Ilovaysk battle in the Donbas is any indication, there will be an attempt to spin a breakthrough as a "Russian invasion." The MSM might respond to howls from Erdogan before it responds to any factual news.

[Ishmael Zechariah]

1-re: he PKK pimped women and gave children drugs". I had never heard that one before.Are there any credible links to evidence about that?"
Seek and ye shall find. There is this new invention called Internet Web search. The information is not deeply hidden.

2-The Chechens, Uygurs, etc. that are in Syria are there as Islamists-not Turks. Why do you think KSA-and the USA- is supporting them?

3-It is also interesting that USA is also supporting the separatist kurds- it will be interesting to see when these tools will be betrayed yet again. We will take care of them then. Just be patient.

Finally, will you support the Uygurs in their ancestral homeland if they revolt against the Chinese?

Get a clue.

Ishmael Zechariah

[Amir]

If I may suggest, check out truthdig.com (seems center left) and realnews.com (somewhat more left wing) but both are independent.

[Amir]

I agree with your previous analysis that the generation of leaders that grew up during the revolution and the Saddam's invasion of Iran (or The Sacred Defence as they call it in Iran), will need to have gone into retirement, before truly cordial relationships between Iran and U.S.A. Is established. Even the latter will only be valid if in the meanwhile no new shenanigans are experienced "by both sides". In the meanwhile, a professional and maybe business-like posture will be the best to hope for, if the Israel-firsters don't freak-up (if I may say so) the situation first.

[Amir]

"The former, the author argues, relies on local militias recruited on a sectarian basis, while the latter focuses on reinvigorating and modernizing conventional forces." I presume, you mean the other way around, "Iranian government relies on local militias recruited on a sectarian basis, while Russia focuses on reinvigorating and modernizing conventional forces".

[Valissa]

I used to read truthdig a while back, and also occasionally real news. But then I became an ex-liberal and by now am generally fairly nauseated by the liberal propaganda underlying those news sources these days. Rather like how an ex-smoker is more sensitive to smoking in their environment.

Also if you listen to the podcast that goes with the NEWSBUD announcement, you'll hear why Edmonds thinks many of these types of news sources have their own built in bias based on where their funding comes from.

I am currently reading Mike Lofgren's new book "The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government." I first heard of Lofgren on a Bill Moyers interview and it was Bill who urged Mike to write this book.

Below is a quote from the beginning of the book in which Mike describes his current political stance, which so closely resembles mine and much better writing job on it than I could have done. btw, Lofgren spent 30 years working in various congressional aide roles, particularly budgets and finance issues. He's an ex-Republican who a recent book criticizing the what the GOP has become.

[author Mike Logren] "By the end of my career I considered myself a resolute nonpartisan, and increasingly viewed all political ideologies as mental crutches, or substitute religions: for leaders, a means of manipulating attitudes and behaviors; for the rank and file, a lazy surrogate for problem solving and a way of fulfilling the craving to belong to something bigger than oneself."

Yeah... what he said!

[Babak Makkinejad]

"Finally, will you support the Uyghur's in their ancestral homeland if they revolt against the Chinese?"

You know the answer:

"You think I am nuts? Chinese have nuclear weapons."

[b]

"2-The Chechens, Uygurs, etc. that are in Syria are there as Islamists-not Turks. "

These were smuggled from China on "fake" Turkish passports. Passports were given out by Turkish embassies in Asia and collect back when the people arrived in Istanbul.

Erdogan loves these folks not because they are Islamists but because they are "Turkmen". (See his picture with the Turkmen "warriors" and wonder why one of them is a Uyigur.)

Supporting them in revolting against China? Why would anyone support these Islamists?

[Ghost ship]

"Russian air and artillery are chewing the "opposition" to bits"

To that you should add the return of "the cavalry".

http://news.yahoo.com/syria-regimes-secret-weapon-rebel-town-capture-motorbikes-153449534.html

[Ishmael Zechariah]

b,
1-erdogan did not support the Shia Turkmen when these were under attack. I am sure you can find references were you so inclined. He is an MB islamist-and pretends to be a Turkish Nationalist when it suits him. He played this card to reverse his election losses.
2-The Uygurs, islamist or not, in "China" are being ethnically cleansed. Those who approve of this should not complain when same rules apply to their pet ethnic minorities.

In the end the strong will do as they will, and the weak will suffer as they must. It is interesting to see you "liberals" trying to pick up a turd by its clean end.

Ishmael Zechariah

[annamaria]

http://thesaker.is/nuland-meets-surkov-to-warn-about-imminent-nato-attack-by-scott/
In the above article, there is a suggestion that the recent incident involving the two US boats in Iranian waters was actually a foiled false-flag operation designed by Tel Aviv.
https://theintercept.com/2016/01/15/the-u-s-radically-changes-its-story-of-the-boats-in-iranian-waters-to-an-even-more-suspicious-version/

[turcopolier]

annamaria

Ten sailors in two little boats who got lost and all this fuss! pl

[Babak Makkinejad]

To your number 2:

Han are going to Xinxiang because there is oil there and they can make a living - unlike places such as Sichuan.

That is how Uighurs, like Tibetans, have become a minority in those areas.

There are just too many Han people.

[LeaNder]

"Erdogan loves these folks not because they are Islamists but because they are "Turkmen"."

b, are you able to put this into a larger historical context spanning Kemalists and Islamists?

question: Now the reigning "Islamists" again can be simply equated with whatever type of ethnic nationalism that surfaced in the aftermath of WWI. Notice: this is a nitwit question.

Seen the latest piece of evidence cp provided us with:
http://fmso.leavenworth.army.mil/OEWatch/201511/201511.pdf

Notice, you only have to check for contributions by Jacob Zenn. But then do me a favor to look a bit deeper. But don't get into mental wirlpool while connecting dots. Or alternatively explain to me how it can be avoided.

[LeaNder]

sounds realistic. Although I would not have expected you to use some type of moderate: "it's all about the oil", stupid, type of argument.

But yes, maybe it fits.

No doubt there may be resistance to the changes in traditional culture patterns it results in. Including a fear of complete take-over. Theoretically: High times for merchants ...

Although, how would the merchants sell the idea, that fighting in Syria helps to deal with matters. And below the fog of war, with how many are we dealing with? And who sponsored them? Turkey? Really?

[turcopolier]

LeAnder

"there may be resistance to the changes in traditional culture patterns" It seems that you missed the import of the last 15 years. pl

[jld]

Sounds like pretty hardcore conspiracy. I wouldn't trust the Saker websites more than Debka such "news".

[Babak Makkinejad]

May be you can explain something to me.

Why does Germany hate Islamic Iran?

I can understand France - she hates Islamic Iran because she Loves Israel and hates Religion - except the Cult of Shoah.

But why Germany?

Do you understand that?

[FkDahl]

It is an old Turkish modus operandi isn't it? Same thing with Kurds taking over Armenian villages 100 years ago.

[different clue]

Ishmael Zechariah,

You say the Sinjiang Uygurs deserve freedom in their ancestral homeland but you deny that the Kurdistan Kurds deserve the same freedom in the Turkish-conquered part of their ancestral homeland. You show yourself to be very selective as to whose life and liberty rights you decide to support.

Will I support the Uygurs in their ancestral homeland if they revolt against the Chinese? Gee, I don't know . . . will you support the Kurds in their ancestral homeland if they revolt against the Turks? The exact same principle is at stake in both questions.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Supporting Uighurs in China against the central government; I think that would be sedition and in any future times could verge on aiding and abetting terrorism.

And let us not forget that Chinese have nuclear weapons.

As for Kurds -

For once, why don't you support Freedom for Ireland, or Catalonia, or Tyrol (Occupied Territories by Italy since 1918) or the League of Iroquois, or the Cherokee Nation, or the Andean People or the Québécois or the Basque, or the Hungarian minority in Romania?

I mean, you would be more credible after you have wreaked havoc and wrecked a number of states in Europe and North America before starting on your merry way of destroying other states outside of Europe.

Candidates: India, Nigeria, Congo, South Africa, Zimbabwe, China, Myanmar, Thailand, Pakistan, Israel, Algeria, etc.

People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.

[Ishmael Zechariah]

"The exact same principle is at stake in both questions."
Yep, that is why I asked the question. I am waiting for your answer.
Ishmael Zechariah (illiberal, secular, nationalist, ex-infantry)

[Babak Makkinejad]

You need to ask all those champions of "Nation without State" to please start closer at home.

In US, for example, they could start by apologizing for the War Between States, restore the Confederacy, and then try to persuade them to come back to the Union.

As long as the Yankees are south of Mason-Dixon Line I do not believe them to have the moral authority to tell other foreigners how to run their affairs.