"Russian choppers transport Syrian paratroopers to besieged Deir Ezzor" - TTG

"BEIRUT, LEBANON (2:50 P.M.) - On the night of January 23rd, the Russian Air Force reportedly transported dozens of Syrian Arab Army (SAA) soldiers to the Deir Ezzor Governate after the road to the military airport was close by the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS).

According to the Russian news outlet "Izvestia", Ilyushin-76 transport carriers and Mi-17 choppers made their way across the vast Syrian Desert to the Deir Ezzor Governate in order to transport a large number reinforcements from the Syrian Arab Army's 104th Airborne Brigade of the Republican Guard and 1st Armored Division.

It was necessary for the Russian Air Force to complete this transport of reinforcements because most aircraft were unable to land in the province due to the Islamic State's proximity to their landing zones.

The Syrian military's high command reportedly thanked the Russians yesterday for allowing them to use their technology in the fierce fight against the Islamic State." (Al Masdar News)

—————————————

The situation is still pretty damned hairy at Deir ez-Zor, but this successful air insertion of a sizable force means things are much improved from a week ago. The original Izvestia article gives more detail of the operation. Elements of the 104th Republican Guard Airborne Brigade were first transported to the Qamishli Military Airport in northeast Syria by Russian Il-76 transports and trans-loaded onto Russian Mi-17 (Mi-8?) helicopters before the surprise night insertion into the airport at Deir ez-Zor. The size of the force was estimated to be a reinforced battalion task force.

The 104th did a similar airmobile insertion not that long ago to reinforce the defenses of the T4 after the fall of Palmyra. Another element of the 104th has been defending Deir ez-Zor since 2013. This was General Issam Zahreddine’s unit since the beginning of the war in Syria. The unit is heavily Druze, as is Zahreddine, known as the Lion of the Republican Guard. 

A night insertion into a contested LZ is obviously a difficult operation. I’m sure this is why it was done with Russian Aerospace Forces helicopters. Most of the Russian air support for the defenders of Deir ez-Zor seems to be based at Qamishli, some 180 miles away from Deir ez-Zor. The situation at Qamishli must be much improved since last year when Syrian warplanes were withdrawn due to Kurdish and American threats.

For some reason, Al Masdar News chose a photo of soldiers rappelling from a UH-1 "Huey" helicopter to accompany its article. I don't think anybody does that anymore. Now it's all fast roping from UH-60 Black Hawks. The Russian Mi-17 or Mi-8 helicopters are much larger than either of these U.S. helicopters.

This is a two year old article about Deir ez-Zor, the 104th and General Zahreddine. Despite its age, it contains a lot of good information.

TTG

Comments

[Ishmael Zechariah]

TTG,
Good news indeed. Russian strategic air has been hammering this area for the past several days. (http://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/3205209.html#cutid1 ).
Ishmael Zechariah

[James F]

Thanks much for returning SST. I need the analysis.

[Frank]

It seems the circumstances have changed enough that now might be a good time to go after ISIS hard. Jabhat Fatah al Sham and the moderate head choppers are destroying each other in Idlib right now. Is this infighting between American backed groups vs Turkish backed groups? Perhaps someone can provide some insight into the dynamics in Idlib right now.

If I were Assad I would take this opportunity to capture some strategic points from ISIS. They have plenty of options: Keep pushing east of Aleppo towards Al Bab, push east from Khanasser, push towards Palmyra. It seems like right now they are doing a little of all three.

[mike]

Upgraded MI-8s if Russian, the MI-17s are export only.

Didn't Assad command the 104th long ago pre-2000? Or am I thinking of his father or brother?

[The Twisted Genius]

mike,

That's what I thought. The Mi-17 is the export version. I get the feeling Qamishli is becoming a major Russian airbase, a perfect waypoint from Russia to Syria through Iranian and Iraqi airspace.

Both the father and the brother commanded the 104th at one time. The current Assad aspired to be an ophthalmologist rather than joining the family business.

[The Twisted Genius]

Frank,

The R+6 is attempting to a lot given the minimal size of the forces available to them. Right now, it's probably best to let the jihadis shoot each other for as long as they care to. Attacking them now, would reunite them.

[VietnamVet]

TTG and Colonel Lang;

Thanks for reopening and the latest posts. You and all the contributors to SST are continuing your service to our country. You are voices of sanity in an insane battle for the truth. We need you online. To show what we are up against, the Washington Post posted the following today:

“Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii met with President Bashar al-Assad during her secret trip to Syria last week and, now that she's returned, is downplaying his responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians. "Whatever you think about President Assad, the fact is that he is the president of Syria," she told CNN’s Jake Tapper last night. "In order for any possibility of a viable peace agreement to occur, there has to be a conversation with him." She added that the Syrians she met with told her there are “no moderate rebels” in the country.”

“-- Journalists following the Syria story closely are stunned by what they see as her breathtaking naiveté:....”

“Neera Tanden....

I tweeted out that David Duke was supporting @TulsiGabbard's pro-Assad statements, and now I have Russians tweeting similar nonsense at me.”

She is familiar from her e-mails to John Podesta.

Syria is also a battlefield in the war between globalists and nationalists.

[Ghostship]

Qamishli?
Either the Russians have become world leaders in land force projection or the Battle of Deir Ez-zor is a deception operation.
How quickly could any army establish a major FOB. The speed with which Qamishli was up and running as one with attack and transport aircraft operating out of it suggests that the R+6 knew what was going to happen and planned for it. So that makes me wonder whether it's another trap for ISIS with the bait being the incursion that split the government-controlled area west of Deir Ez-zor. If the initial attack hadn't achieved that breakthrough would ISIS have thrown the number of men they have into the meat grinder? Perhaps there was a reason that the Russians, Syrians and Iranians were quite calm about the assault on Deir Ez-zor.

[mike]

TTG -

I know Bashar originally wanted to go into medicine. But after his brother died he returned to the family business a la Michael Corleone. I am sure you are correct that Bashar never commanded the 104th. But looking him up on wiki, I note he did for a time in the late 90s command the entire Republican Guard, which was the senior command to the 104th, 105th, and 106th. He was undoubtedly just a figurehead, a move designed to give him creds & authenticity with the SAA.

[aleksandar]

Hum, so far, result of this so-called infighting is .......2 deads.
Surprising isn'it ?.

[aleksandar]

TTG.
He was indeed and even a good ophthalmic surgeon in London.
He only came back in Syria due to the dead of his brother, Bassel in 1994.

[aleksandar]

Resistance of the " Mad Druze " and his soldiers will, maybe , be teached in Infantry school. A lot to understand about urban warfare, especialyy about land use and manpower management.

[The Twisted Genius]

Ghostship,

To establish this kind of FOB and working airbase can be done overnight, especially with an existing major airfield like the one at Qamishli. We can do it, Russia can do it and I'm sure many others can also do it.

[mike]

TTG & Ghostship -

The Russians had surveyors in Qamishlo in January 2016. Presumably they have been building it up ever since.

There are also reports out there that the US has a small airbase in Rimelan, 40+ miles east of Qamishlo, primarily for helo and UAV ops.

[BraveNewWorld]

Putting some man power into Deir Ezzor right now makes sense due to the cease fire. If they can get them in push back the trash and then pull them back out before the cease fire collapses again that will be optimal.

[Ghostship]

VietnamVet - I know you're only quoting the Washington Post but I feel this is important.
"is downplaying his responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians"
When will the mainstream media stop spewing this garbage particularly the Washington "Fake News" Post? There have not been hundreds of thousands of dead civilians in Syria. According to the SOHR's latest figures, there have't even been a hundred thousand dead civilians.
On December 13, 2016, the SOHR (funded by MI6 and the Qatar government) was reporting that the total civilian dead numbered 90,506 of which 15948 were children and 10540 were females over the age of 18. The SOHR figures have been criticized for reporting dead rebels as civilians and experience elsewhere in Syria suggests that figure for dead male civilians really runs at about twice the figure for dead females so the SOHR figures suggest that in addition to the dead children and females over 18, about there are about 21,000 dead males over 18. This gives a figure of less than 50,000 dead civilians.
The vast majority of the dead are fighters of one side or another.
http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=56923

As for Tulsi Gabbard, she is not the one afflicted with "breathtaking naiveté", it is the so-called journalists like Anne Barnard (NYT) and Liz Sly (WaPo) who just repeat the propaganda from the terrorists' media operations. That is the real fake news.

[FourthAndLong]

Agree 200%.

The head-choppers are so preternaturally insane and vicious that it is useless to consider them to be "Turkish controlled", or "American controlled" or controlled by anyone or anything. Searching for or applying such labels is to miss the central issue of what they are -- an incestuous breed of incurably evil raving mad dogs.

As in "... to be shot down in the street, like mad dogs." I don't mean to judge them, there are situations which turn nearly anyone to such extremes of nihilistic violence. But they have become what they are and need to be recognized as such, not as something else.

[robt willmann]

The latest twist, made as an affirmative statement, is that "safe zones" are to be established in Syria: " `I'll absolutely do safe zones in Syria,' Trump told ABC's David Muir Wednesday."

This resulted in a qualified statement: " `I will tell you right now, what you’re asking about is based on things that are draft and pre-decisional and we’re just not going to be able to comment on pre-decisional things that may or not reflect what ultimately comes out,' spokesman Jeff Davis said in today's (26 January) Pentagon briefing."--

http://abcnews.go.com/International/president-trump-absolutely-put-safe-zones-syria/story?id=45062805

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-92421324/

[The Twisted Genius]

robt willmann,

I am sure we all agree that "safe zones" in Syria is a stupid, stupid idea that only an R2P Neocon bitter ender could embrace. I suggest we all wait until after the Friday meeting at the Pentagon to hyperventilate about this. The DoD has always hated the idea of no fly zones or safe zones and has never been shy about voicing those concerns. SecDef Mattis is sure to present a strong case on the stupidity of safe zones. This may be just another one of those pronouncements that fall by the wayside.

[Peter in Toronto]

Spot on. That is my assessment as well.

Half a million civilian deaths is not even remotely plausible. Someone in the alternative press or blogosphere needs to jump on this piece of propaganda, like that barrel bomb catchphrase contrived for the Western audiences, to imply some sort of deviant way of murdering people, rather than a crude, improvised explosive device used by a developing nation with an economy crippled by a proxy war...

Absolutely vile.

The quality of reporting on Syria by the mainstream has been nothing short of appalling. And quite frankly, "fake news" is a concise and simple way of describing.

[FB Ali]

"Perhaps someone can provide some insight into the dynamics in Idlib right now".

Moon of Alabama does at http://tinyurl.com/jboxasr

[mike]

Definitely a stupid idea. Bad when HRC brought it up and bad now. But I guess some people think IOKIYAT.

The Russians don't like it. The Turks used to be for it but not now, guess Erdogan had his head shaped.

We cannot even protect our allies the Syrian Kurds from attacks and bombings by our other allies the Turks. How do we propose to protect refugees? Besides, aren't most of those refugees already in UN camps in Turkey, Iraq, and southeastern Europe?

[Peter AU]

Safe zones for Syrians, or safe zones for Jihadists/Islamists?
Previous talk of safe zones have been for the latter.
Trump does not specify who the safe zones are for. Ambiguous.

[ToivoS]

The western press is always exaggerating the death figures if it fits their propaganda purposes. They reported numbers for the conflict in Darfur and the Bosnian civil war 3 to 5 times higher than the accepted post war estimates.

[Lyttenburgh]

Parts of the Tyrant look like shameless propaganda. I've stopped watching mid 3rd season.

P.S. Three guesses in what ME country did the FOX film the series.