There is something very strange about the supposed Syrian or Russian air attack on a relief convoy somewhere to the west (?) of government held west Aleppo. "Barish" is a German member of the SST community and he offers the following. pl
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"... Several things about the convoy - run by SARC - don't add up. One, it set out from govt.-held west Halab to the countryside mere hours before. Might suggest that someone somewhere failed to communicate this to Syrian and Russian military, or that those doing the run for whatever reason ignored the possibility that the ceasefire would expire/security in the area be dicey. Two, despite various news agencies already pinning it on air-strikes, no determination how the attack was carried out was yet made. SARC's official statement, themselves affected, does not do so either, see here: http://sarc.sy/syria-attack-humanitarian-convoy-attack-humanity/ Three, there's both photos and video around, supposedly of the incident. Video-footage here is night-time: https://twitter.com/MIG29_/status/777989672249266176 Photos taken in day-light can be viewed here: https://twitter.com/GissiSim/status/778109172294512641 Does that line up with damage done by air-strikes? Both RU and Syrian MoDs came out and officially denied air strikes in the area. Doesn't still rule out a cock-up considering possible failure to communicate this convoy's presence at just that time, but still." Barish
I just heard about this while watching RT. Not only did they deny any Russian or Syrian air attack, but they pointed out the the photos of the damage are not consistent with an air attack. The attack site remaims under rebel control and with RPGs, TOWs and IEDs, any level of damage can be simulated so the real truth will probably never be proved. This all smacks of another MH-17 or Ghouta chemical attack.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 20 September 2016 at 11:01 AM
I viewed some of the videos. Not equipped to offer any analysis but I will never understand how the people we elected to run our nation can sleep at night, seeing the living version of perdition they have helped create.
Posted by: BabelFish | 20 September 2016 at 11:09 AM
early comments on various Kurdish twitter feeds were saying that it was undetermined whether it was an airstrike or a VBIED or something else
Posted by: mike | 20 September 2016 at 11:11 AM
Russians said they had a drone on it coming in, stopped tracking it on the way back, at which point they assume rebels shelled it.
On another note, does anybody have access to this article?
https://sofrep.com/63764/us-special-forces-sabotage-white-house-policy-gone-disastrously-wrong-with-covert-ops-in-syria/
Posted by: Lemur | 20 September 2016 at 11:48 AM
@ Lemur
http://fortunascorner.com/2016/09/15/u-s-special-forces-sabotage-white-house-policy-gone-disastrously-wrong-with-covert-ops-in-syria/
Murphy is mad about it since it is copy-righted material
Posted by: The Beaver | 20 September 2016 at 12:42 PM
Lemur,
I happened upon the article and will write a post about it. The author, Jack Murphy, has this on his website behind a paywall. I will respect his copyright. I happened to see it on another site and did not realize it was copyrighted. I will do a post on the article hitting some of its highlights because it is so good.
Posted by: The Twisted Genius | 20 September 2016 at 12:44 PM
i turn to Col Cassad to get the scoop. Don't know where he gets his stuff. It may be like Debka, run by state intelligence. like the Col says, evaluate the source and material separately. his explanation is coherent and consistent internally. Like the judge used to instruct the jury during jury trials: you are the sole judge of the evidence- u can believe some, all, or note of the testimony of a witness based on bias, interest, consistency, opportunity to observe w/ other evidence .....
it's not pulling up right now. Yandex translates Cassad best.
in a nutshell this is what i remember when i read it. oh here it goes
http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/2966474.html
still can't find it, but it went like this: it was not UN but Syrian Red Crescent. The convoy started late, and by the time it got unloaded, it was dark. the workers did now want to take the chance of staying in dangerous E. Aleppo overnight. So they headed back in the dark, which is against protocol. Thus the tragedy.
this incident probably is an accident unlike deir ez zor (hereinafter EZ) (written in Arabic script as deir el zor but the l merges with the z so it's pronounced ezZor. kinda of like ar-rhaman). EZ had been beseiged by ISIS for a couple of years, and i disbelieve that A Carter wanted to bomb ISIS/IS/Daesh to relieve the siege. US policy has been mostly to leave IS in alone so as to weaken the SAA, or at least in Syria. Only started bombing IS in Syria effectively after the Russians arribed. Another instance of weaponized Wahhabi (or Deodbani) takfiri Jihadists.
For anybody that's interested EZ, named after a monastery (Deir) that was there a long time ago ( and Zor which is brush on the riverbank, was the site of an Armenian killing site by the Ottomans. They had been marched thru the desert w/o food or water. herded out in the open or in caves, and starved to death or executed. ISIS blew up an Armenian remembrance memorial at the site.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_ez-Zor_Camps
Posted by: Will | 20 September 2016 at 12:50 PM
Reprinted (without permission) at Fortuna's Corner: http://fortunascorner.com/2016/09/15/u-s-special-forces-sabotage-white-house-policy-gone-disastrously-wrong-with-covert-ops-in-syria/
Posted by: James Clarendon | 20 September 2016 at 12:52 PM
I noted that the video on BBC reportedly showing the attack there is audio of a person yelling Allahu Akbar. Seems suspicious.
Posted by: fjdixon | 20 September 2016 at 12:54 PM
I will never understand how the people we elected to run our nation can sleep at night"
IMO, long ago, even before they become deciders they have passed /overcome the Sleep deprivation over their spread of death and destruction. Apparently only poor US serviceman that they send to their destructive missions have a problem with sleeping. If you heard BHO speech at the UN today, you can understand how much sleep he has lost in last few days.
Posted by: kooshy | 20 September 2016 at 01:12 PM
Try this (via Mr Google):
http://fortunascorner.com/2016/09/15/u-s-special-forces-sabotage-white-house-policy-gone-disastrously-wrong-with-covert-ops-in-syria/
Posted by: Hood Canal Gardner | 20 September 2016 at 01:14 PM
My usual trick is to copy the title, paste it into google and voila!
http://fortunascorner.com/2016/09/15/u-s-special-forces-sabotage-white-house-policy-gone-disastrously-wrong-with-covert-ops-in-syria/
Posted by: ISL | 20 September 2016 at 01:35 PM
excerpts are found at:
http://russia-insider.com/en/nobody-believes-it-everyone-ground-knows-they-are-jihadis-us-special-forces-hate-their-syria-mission
Cheers
Posted by: Norbert M Salamon | 20 September 2016 at 01:36 PM
There are some excerpts from it here:
http://russia-insider.com/en/nobody-believes-it-everyone-ground-knows-they-are-jihadis-us-special-forces-hate-their-syria-mission
The "White Helmets" have a video out on this incident so that makes it suspect. It is in this article:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-20/moscow-denies-russian-syrian-planes-struck-aleppo-aid-convoy
Posted by: Tigermoth | 20 September 2016 at 01:42 PM
Photos do not look like an air strike. No bomb craters, no near by blast damage and the destroyed trucks are largely still intact. Looks like some sort of incendiary weapon. Anyone still use Napalm? Does this look like the damage from WP air burst artillery fire? Any of the rebels have the Russian manpac flame thrower rocket system (bumblebee)? Any rebels known to put gasoline cans in front of their IEDs?
Just wondering.
Vic
Posted by: Vic | 20 September 2016 at 01:49 PM
TTG: And the full-scale, wall-to-wall MSM coverage is absent. We normally get when the State Department has sanctioned the "outrage."
Posted by: Matthew | 20 September 2016 at 01:57 PM
Kooshy,
Nobody Believes in It. Everyone on the Ground Knows They Are Jihadis.' -- US Special Forces Hate Their Syria Mission
http://russia-insider.com/en/nobody-believes-it-everyone-ground-knows-they-are-jihadis-us-special-forces-hate-their-syria-mission?utm_source=dlvr.it
Posted by: Cee | 20 September 2016 at 02:31 PM
According to the Guardian, the convoy's destination was west of Aleppo at a village/town called Urem al-Kubra about 12 kms. inside rebel territory.
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Urem+Al-Kubra,+Syria/@36.185465,36.9954796,12.72z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x152567848deab329:0x11f8d0be1dddee26!8m2!3d36.1502725!4d36.9460462
Originally, a Guardian article claimed that the convoy set out from Damascus with supplies from the UN warehouse there. It makes sense to send it via Aleppo as then it would only have to deal with government checkpoints rather than numerous rebel checkpoints. But this raises an important question; if the Syrian or Russian governments had wanted to stop these supplies reaching the rebels, why not just stop it leaving Aleppo? It also means that the Syrian and Russian governments knew exactly what was being carried by the convoy so they had no reason to destroy it because it might have been carrying contraband goods.
Posted by: Ghostship | 20 September 2016 at 02:55 PM
Col. Lang:
I've been looking over some Russian websites and Facebook posts to find out the Russian reaction to these incidents.
Nikolai Starikov, a prominent Russian writer and political figure, attributed the bombing that struck SAA forces as the result of American reliance on Saudi and Qatari intelligence.
This is the translation of what he wrote (note that the translation is not grammatically correct):
"Americans have big problems with guided bomb on military objectives, which, apparently, due to the fact that they don't have on-site field agents, and they use the information from Saudi and Qatari intelligence. And here it cannot be ruled out that the gulf countries here playing their game ..."
Is it acstually possible that the US is relying on Saudi and Qatari intelligence ? I assumed that the US had special forces in Syria so that Pentagon wouldn't have to rely on foreign intelligence.
The situation does seem to have normalized today. South Front reported that the SAA regained some of the lost ground with Russian air support.
This is the link to Starikov's post. His post is lengthy and the translation button is at the bottom.
https://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1011570415630757&id=100003334233083&set=a.334637569990715.1073741826.100003334233083&source=48
Posted by: Liza | 20 September 2016 at 02:57 PM
"So they headed back in the dark"
If they were heading back in the dark why are the burnt out trucks parked at the side of the road?
http://s4.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20160920&t=2&i=1154249756&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=780&pl=468&sq=&r=LYNXNPEC8J0TR
http://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20160920&t=2&i=1154249755&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=780&pl=468&sq=&r=LYNXNPEC8J0TP
http://s1.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20160920&t=2&i=1154246869&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=780&pl=468&sq=&r=LYNXNPEC8J0SA
And then there is the big red and green truck:
http://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20160920&t=2&i=1154249753&w=&fh=&fw=&ll=780&pl=468&sq=&r=LYNXNPEC8J0TN
If it had been bombed, I would be surprised to see glass in one of the cab windows and un-fractured at that. If asked how far do i think that truck could travel now, I would suggest that it's further than one might think because other than missing a cover from the engine compartment it appears intact. The headlamps, still have glass lenses, those Syrian/Russian bombs are oh so clever because that engine cover has been so neatly removed instead of being a twisted piece of metal hanging off the truck, there are no scorch marks, the tyres are undamaged and the contents look as though they have been staged to look like the truck was hit by a bomb.
The UN is now backing off the claim that this was a result of an air strike.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN11Q1NR
Posted by: Ghostship | 20 September 2016 at 02:57 PM
A handful of Molotov Cocktails would do, since it doesn't appear the trucks were moving when they were set on fire and were parked up at the side of the road.
Posted by: Ghostship | 20 September 2016 at 03:01 PM
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-idUSKCN11Q1NR
After the Russian explanation, the U.N. put out a revised version of an earlier statement, removing wording on "air strikes" and replacing it with references to unspecified "attacks".
U.N. humanitarian spokesman Jens Laerke said the references to air strikes in the original statement, attributed to the top U.N. humanitarian officials in the region and in Syria, were probably the result of a drafting error.
"We are not in a position to determine whether these were in fact air strikes. We are in a position to say that the convoy was attacked," he said.
Washington said it still believed the attacks were the result of an air strike, which could only have been carried out by Russia or the Syrian military.
Posted by: fjdixon | 20 September 2016 at 03:02 PM
"This all smacks of another MH-17 or Ghouta chemical attack."
Yes, exactly. Yet another case where what happened is blatantly obvious to everyone who's not mainlining "information" from the neo-Pravda constellation.
I actually went to Sputnik news to see what the official line was. Didn't find anything on the subject, but I did find stories about 9/11 "controlled demolition" and Turkish firms trafficking organs from ISIS.
Posted by: toto | 20 September 2016 at 03:07 PM
"This all smacks of another MH-17 or Ghouta chemical attack."
If the Borg Story keeps on working, why change?
Posted by: Thomas | 20 September 2016 at 03:50 PM
Almasdar news has this:
https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/russian-defense-ministry-releases-footage-attacked-un-aid-convoy-syrias-aleppo/
The Russian military unveiled on Tuesday video footage of a UN humanitarian aid convoy that came under attack in Syria, which shows a militants’ pickup vehicle carrying a large-caliber mortar as part of the convoy.
The video shows that the UN aid convoy was accompanied by a terrorists’ off-road vehicle with a large-caliber mortar launcher, the Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said.
“The examination of the video footage made via drones of the movement of the humanitarian convoy in areas controlled by militants in the province of Aleppo has revealed new details. The video clearly shows how terrorists are redeploying a pickup with a large-caliber mortar on it using the convoy as a cover,” Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.
Guess that's why those International Civil servants at Turtle Bay had to change their tune. Pic does not lie.
Well some at UNSC must have wanted the "accident" of last Saturday @ Deir-Ezzor to be off the radar with these so-called air-strikes .
Posted by: The Beaver | 20 September 2016 at 03:52 PM