Syrian War Report – February 17, 2017: Turkish General Staff Believes Al-Bab Is ‘Liberated’

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The Syrian army and the National Defense Forces (NDF) continued an assault against ISIS in the province of Homs, recapturing Eastern Bayarat and further advancing on Jabal Hayyal and Jabhal Thaniyat near the ISIS-held city of Palmyra. If government troops are able to take control over these hills, they will be able to set a fire control over the western outskirts of Palmyra.

Separately, government troops attacked ISIS terrorists in the area if the Jihar field northeast of the Tiyas Airbase, but were not able to make gains there yet.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), predominantly Kurdish YPG units, resized the villages of Siadun and Hasan Zayd from ISIS.

The northern Syrian town of al-Bab has been liberated from ISIS terrorists and Turkish troops are now working to clear the area from mines and explosives, the Turkish daily “Daily Sabah” reported, citing Chief of General Staff General Hulusi Akar. Probably, the Turkish chief of general staff forgot that pro-Turksih militant groups, backed up by the Turkish army, had retreated almost from all areas seized in the ISIS stronghold of al-Bab. Thus, the only side controlling al-Bab is ISIS.

Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani has allegedly visited Moscow to meet with high-ranking Russian officials, Fox News reported on Wednesday, citing sources in intelligence. Soleimani is a commander of the Quds Force, a Special Forces’ unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards responsible for their extraterritorial operations. The Kremlin declined to comment on media reports about the visit of the Iranian Major General.

If Soleimani’s visit to Russia is confirmed, it would be an obvious move by the Iranian political-military leadership. The likely agenda was the involvement of the US and Turkey in the conflict, as well as combating ISIS and other terrorist groups in Syria across the Middle East.

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Xanatos

Turkey is shifting focus. They don’t really want Bab anymore. They are redeploying to attack kurdish forces.

Trump thinks he can get turkey and saudis together to fight ISIS. Trump doesn’t understand there are saudi ties to alqaida and ISIS affiliated groups in Idlib. Turkey gave trump the offer : pull the kurds out of syria and you’ll have more kurdish forces to fight Iran. Turkey will help trump attack raqqa. Then turkey gave the saudis the offer: forget Assad, we’ll help you go to war with Iran.

These are all turkish lies. Turkey is readying to attack kurds if they don’t pull out of “Rojava” syria soon. They will Abandon the battle for Bab if it has not fallen by then. They want tell rifaat, and manbij. They may go east all the way to hasakah.

The only thing stopping them is the Pentagon. Trump will have to persuade the Pentagon to work with has turkey instead of kurds and redeploy the kurds to Iraq. If trump succeeds, turkey will kick out kurds in Syria, and then start an offensive with the US against raqqa. The Saudi backed militants can relocate to Iraq after Mosul is “liberated” to help in the planned war with Iran.

But the saudis may not want to forget about assad. And they may not be able to force these militants to leave syria. The Pentagon may not agree with trump. They may convince trump to keep the kurds in Syria. The turks could start a conflict with Kurds to preassure them into leaving syria. That will undermine their attack on Raqqa, and show trump he can’t beat isis without turkey.

Meanwhile the turks are telling Russia turkey won’t participate in a war on Iran. Russia wants isis defeated, but does not really know turkey’s long term plans for syria.

The turks are betting a lot on trumps ability to command the Pentagon. They are also betting on the saudis . Turkey has nothing to leverage against saudis. The turks are not just telling lies, they are living a lie.

Rodney Loder

I hope you are contributing a hefty sum to SOUTH FRONT for being allowed to transfer such made up stuff.

Rüdiger Preiss

What is your alternative, Rodney Loder? Enlighten us please.

Rodney Loder

Trump’s bipolar condition will have to be recognised by Russian pragmatic dealings I think their Syrian Federalism was a sop to Trump and will soon disappear. Then the SDF gets ostracized until they forfeit US assistance, after that we abandon Geneva, Turkey is already committed to Astana, give them green light to take out YPG, I come to Damascus and try out my Jesus Christ speel before any of the above and see how it goes down, I couldn’t reach my Salafist Brothers any other way, so if I get captured I’m innocent in their eyes anyway. After all if Isa would have come from Islam and not from a failed Christianity there would have been no point having the Jesus first time reserrruction last century, or maybe I’ve never been dead just missing, only Allah knows, the Sacred Chest may turn up yet, it wasn’t mentioned in Deuteronomy and never got a fitting ending in Kings, maybe all I have to do is attend a Service on Mt. Gerizim and the real one will turn up, only Allah knows, but we can eaisly find out, their must be some reason why, the Prophet Muhammad (pbuH), isn’t coming back again, to lead the way, I think everything is not all cut and dry, and Allah makes it up by the way that we go.

dutchnational

Bad boy, forgot your pills again. I promised your mother I would remind you.

Rodney Loder

This must be a first for you commenting on SF, correct vme if I’m wrong dutchmoron, but Allah took my mother into Paradise when I was only two so she wouldn’t have to witness the jew brown Masinics controlling the mind of the homosexual Sid Loder, I think I’ve posted it to you before but just in case here I go again, my preamble was to do with Religion three men Muammar Gaddafi, Bashar al-Assad and Putin changed the direction of human history away from tyranny, which has only got something to do with Religion if I say so.

Goran Grubić HardyVeles

I would say you’re crazy but right.
It’s crazy hard to follow your hard-core religious narrative – even I do have some background in the field, and,
It’s right what you conclude at the end.
But I have to tell you: even being right, you’re crazy in deed :)

Rodney Loder

If your interested in mental health then take a look at the philosophy of duplicity where strength and weakness like dark and light spawn associated relevance, there are many examples where humans have used this concept for purposeful accomplishment.
The future Sultan would be locked up in a couple of rooms until his Sultanship was announced, sometime for 40 or 50 years, then hatred would be impossible for him because he never felt emotion strength.
Another good one is the Chinese would bury an Emper (Sun God) and leave his servants guarding the Tomb with enough food for six or seven years when that ran out they would die gracefully, not feeling hate.
Buddha’s father starved to death also to die in peace.
Where they went wrong with me was that it was only ever short term, enlightenment was always imminent, when I would become a homosexual jew like Sid Loder, eventually revelation (when I was 27) happebed the jews couldn’t hold off any longer, and it became shock and awe, that went on for 40 years and counting, casting emotional strength aside is impossible when facing continual immediate catastrophic elucidation.

Bob

Good lord, you win today’s nutter of the internet gold level prize, by some margin.

Rodney Loder

There is your Lord and there is my Lord but there is only one Lord, Allah, my Salafist Brothers are commanded by Him and I am the Commander of the Faithful, you do yourself no favours being insolent to Jesus Christ.

§âm

I think this info is pretty wrong.. kurds have no quarrel with iran neither turkey

Bob

Israel and US have long, long, been using Kurds at north east peripheries of Iran as staging posts and points of espionage – Kurds are major smugglers of alcohol and heroin into Iran – and can easily move in and out. Kurds are not a united singular mass – they are massed across four major countries – and are engaged in different activities with differing benefactors across territories.

Bob

For Turkey to claim they took the centre of al-Bab and then be chased right back out the very next day may suggest they were lured into an ISIS trap in first instance, rather than being subject to any ISIS counter offensive. Turks may well have been lured into a salient kill zone at centre.