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On October 11, the Syrian army and its allies continued to conduct military operations in Aleppo with the most intense clashes were ongoing south of the Awijah neighborhood and in Sheikh Sa’eed where the army stormed the Sheikh Sa’eed Hill. Since October 10, up to 50 militants have been reported killed in the city.
Turkish-backed militant groups that operate under the brand of the Free Syrian Army, supported by the Turkish Armed Forces, have seized more areas from ISIS in northern Aleppo. The Ankara-led forces took control of the villages of Yahmul, Jarez, Sheikh Rih, al-Bel, Baraghitah and Tawaqli near the strategic town of Azaz in the province of Aleppo. Now, they are aiming to re-take Sawran. If this is done, the nearby town of Dabiq will likely become the next target of Erdogan’s Operation Euphrates Shield.
The joint forces of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), Failaq al-Sham, Jabhat Ansar al-Din and a number of less-known militant groups announced on Monday a fresh military operation, called ‘Ashoura Battle’, in northern Latakia. The operation is set to be focused on the Syrian army’s positions in the Kurdish Mountains. Pro-militants sources have already claimed that the so-called “moderate opposition” captured some “strategic points”. Nonetheless, these reports still have to be confirmed. The operation is most likely aimed to draw the Syrian military attention from the city of Aleppo and northern Hama where the militants’ defenses are collapsing under the pressure of the pro-government forces.
Russia is planning to expand its logistic facitiliy in Tartus into a fully-fledged permanent naval base. By now, the facility in Tartus has been used to resupply Russian warships during missions in the Mediterranean and to deliver supplies to the Syrian government forces.
“We have prepared the paperwork, which is now being reviewed by other government agencies. The documents are pretty much ready, so we hope to submit them to you for ratification soon,” Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister, General Nikolay Pankov, told the Russian Senate on October 10.
Last week the Russians confirmed delivery of the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Tartus to protect the facility and the naval grouping from potential airstrikes and missile attacks.
Meanwhile, reports have appeared that Russia is in talks with Egypt to lease military facilities, including an air base in the town of Sidi Barrani near the Mediterranean. If the agreement is made, the military base will be ready for use by 2019, according to the reports.
Now, there are no doubts that Washington’s actions to counter the Russian efforts in Syria have only pushed Moscow to expand its military presence in the Middle Eastern region.
the system at 00:24 seems a TOW missile. Some ignorants and ruffians from Saudi Arabia and Israel previously stated that the TOW would had caused in Syria an effect similar to the Stinger in Afghanistan (for the soviets). Besides the proven fact that the presence of the Stinger actually did not increase the soviet aircraft losses, and that its effect was merely psychological, the aforementioned idiots failed to see that being a ground system the TOW can be captured by the Syrian Army and then used against the jihadists. Which is a very positive thing indeed – US backed jihadists killed by weapons “courtesy of Uncle Sam”.
Well, see? Obomber IS “fighting ISIS,” then, right?
Looking at the maps in this informative report I ask myself the question what
will happen if the FSA pushing south from Turkey meet the Syrian
lines north of Aleppo? Do others think there may be an understanding
between the Turk and Russia that the push south will be limited to a
border strip ? Could such an understanding be made to hold? Does
anyone else suspect that the seeds of another conflict are being
created?
I have been asking myself that question too. I think, regarding the Russian-Turkish relations, Turkey won’t give a support (at least not active) to the al Nusra terrorists in a fight against Syrian army. And without the Turkish support, I guess, the Nusra terrorists won’t be more dangerous for SAA than ISIS is. So if I’m not wrong, the only difference which will be done by changing ISIS with Nusra in that area would be the active Turkish support for the terrorists against the Kurds, so to stop them in the formation of Rojava, which, by the way, is a good thing for Asad too. They won’t give active support to ISIS for sure. They (all the west) are considering supporting Nusra as not that shameful as supporting ISIS – I think that is all the Euphrates shield operation for.
And without an active support for the terrorist the Kurds will have a great chance to create the Rojava.
Another possibility, only theoretical but justly, would be instead of supporting terrorist against Kurds, to support SAA against Kurds – the same goal would have been achieved again, to stop the Kurds in creating Rojava – but that will never happen. For that to happen they should forget about “Asad must go”, and in fact accept a political defeat.
According to RT Egypt has denied talks on hosting a Russian airbase.