Syrian War Report – October 4, 2016: Russia Deploys Anti-ballistic Missile System amid Tensions with the US

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The US Fox News TV channel has reported, citing military sources, that Russia had deployed the S-300V4 “Antey-2500” anti-ballistic missile system in Syria. S-300V4 is an upgraded version of S-300. It’s designed to defeat short- and medium-range ballistic missile, aeroballistic and cruise missiles, fixed-wing aircraft, as well as loitering ECM platforms and precision-guided munitions. According to Fox News, it was delivered to the Russian naval facility in Tartus via the sea. In 2015, Moscow deployed the S-300 long range surface-to-air missile system after the incident with downing of Russia’s Su-24M bomber aircraft by Turkey. The new phase of strengthening of the air-defense capabilities of Moscow’s military grouping comes amid the increased US-Russian tensions over the ongoing conflict.

On October 3, Washington suspended bilateral contacts with Moscow over the crisis and, de-facto, withdrew from the peace process in Syria. There is “nothing more for the US and Russia to talk about”, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters. Nonetheless, contacts between US and Russian military to “deconflict” encounters between their aircraft in Syrian skies will continue.

The very same day Moscow accused Washington of sabotaging the ceasefire deal, saying that the US will be responsible for any new terror attacks in Syria. The US “has never exerted any real pressure on Jabhat Al-Nusra, done nothing for delineation to succeed and taken no action against its militants,“ the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding that “We are becoming more convinced that in a pursuit of a much desired regime change in Damascus, Washington is ready to ‘make a deal with the devil’.”

The Syrian army, the National Defense Forces (NDF), Liwa al-Quds and Hezbollah have been advancing in Aleppo city. The loyalists are clashing with militants in the Awijah neighborhood. The Syrian army and Liwa al-Quds have set a fire control of the Jandoul roundabout after a series of firefights. This chains significantly the movement of militant units in the area. Now, Jaish al-Fatah militants need to use the Asfar and Sawmills heights to maneuver in the neighborhood.

The Syrian army and Hezbhollah advanced against Jaish al-Fatah militants inside the Suleiman al-Halabi Neighborhood of Aleppo city. Recently, the pro-government forces have entered the water foundation area. Clashes are ongoing. The pro-government forces also launched attacks on the Sheikh Sa’eed neighborhood and the missile base of Khan Tuman in southern Aleppo.

The pro-government forces keep initiative in Aleppo and the recent developments show that without active help from foreign powers, the militants will not be able to hold the city.

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opereta

this tells you who is winning the war and is not the Pentagon !! as simple as that !!

Gue Bjuen

hey this is EPIC!!! shit i never thought of this one. only thought of white helmets or journalists but playing doctor? this is indeed interesting. if you can you should make one in english.

Tom kauser

If you want to start your own humanitarian bombing campaign
You may want to ask for a no fly zone and warn your “army” away from the roundabouts

Brad Isherwood

The pro-government forces keep initiative in Aleppo and the recent developments show that without active help from foreign powers, the militants will not be able to hold the city.

The US has to double down on partition now.
Seize Der Ezzor region and or Raqqa …and have Russia not stop them.

VGA

Who will seize what?

Brad Isherwood

A soft partition allready exists via ISIS in the Raqqa city /Raqqa province and Der Ezzor region of Syria.
ISIS cannot hold when SAA freed up from Aleppo marches in.
US would have to bomb SAA and own in World Media …they want Assad gone
So they are protecting ISIS.
They have to act to seize Raqqa and or Der Ezzor……or no partition and no Saudi/Qatar
Pipeline.

VGA

SAA’s goals are Aleppo, Damascus and later Idlib and Deir Ezzor.

Not Raqqa. That thing is a beehive …

Brad Isherwood

Isolate Raqqa so that US cannot send Kurd to obtain partition.
Kurds probably cannot pull that off without US airpower…
ISIS might leave Raqqa or wear new name and colors like they did when Turks
Went into Jarabulus.
Yes there are some ISIS who are complete Takfiri kook…others will leave
Like they did when the Turks rolled in

The levels of trickery in this war would get Sun Tzu’s attention.

VGA

Did you see what happened a couple of months ago when the SA tried to approach Raqqa? A serious defeat. The SAA also could not push from Palmyra to Deir Ezzor.

Yeah, forget about that for now.

Brad Isherwood

With the increased Russian TAC air arriving. …SAA could isolate Raqqa city
From Kurd/US.
SAA experienced some kind of gas attack which broke up their forward advances.
Russian Intel and Syrian would locate these pockets and waste them via bombing.
Syria has some soldiers who need rest…
Other units released from previous city districts can be reformed to be blocking force.
Airpower has moved the table recently. …SAAF is not as beat up as western media opine.
They still operate respective daily sortie rates.
Some of Syria’s past operations have been hampered from divided command authority
Between various units in…IE IRGC ..Hezbollah. ..Local defence units…Syrian Army
And Russian perspective
Coordination can bring sufficient numeric in to Isolate the Bee Hive : )

Percival

Brad, they thought the Kurds were going to move directly to Raqqa after taking Manbij, but it was a lie. The SAA though ISIS would be pressured from the North, but they fell for a lie and ISIS ambushed them in full force. That was during the last ceasefire when the SAA was fully engaged in liberating Palmyra and the other provinces. They didn’t have enough troops and should have held off.

Brad Isherwood

Like many others. …want Syria to beat Empire like the Vietnamese did.
Syria’s Military Intel completely failed the nation since 2011.
The SAA blundered forward. ….run around put out fires with local militias
And other lose what was gained back.
Not securing the nation’s borders made them easy pickings.
US could have partitioned Syria and run Assad out had they focused
Instead of reveling in the chaos.
Russia saved Assad….and has the soft partition of ISIS in Syria to either
End….or capitulate to some future peace which creates a new Sunni kook Stan.
Iran and Russia have the sheer muscle to turn this conflict in weeks.
Why they do not is the question…as Empire is at war with both.
On minute Kurds fight with Syria. ..then Fight against. ..then fight with US
Knowing US runs ISIS to.
At least we know who the devil is in this movie… ( it’s not ISIS)
We find out soon what the fight is really about….The pipeline route,
Block Iran…Block Silk road. ..Maybe all 3 and more.
US and Iraq operations in Mosul could have 1000s of ISIS flee to Syria.
Rumor is the ISIS leadership is already exit Mosul.
Some of these ISIS retreats are too easy and timely….like USA was running that.

Percival

Yes. Sound about right. If there are Iranian militias working to take back Mosul, they should hold back or blow the whistle on the plan to let ISIS escape to Syria. Iranian militias should reinforce Deir Ezzour to make sure they can’t create a Wahhabi state in Eastern Syria.

Brad Isherwood

The Iranian presence in Iraq and Syria is head scratcher.
Reports are they fight valiantly. …then screw up really quick and US runs circles around them…IE. ..ISIS escapes. ..or moves to the next perfect spot to roll over the locals.
Is Iran’s regular Army even in this game?….just IRGC and Iraqi Shia militias?

Bizarre how so much oil/gas and other gets pillaged for years in a war zone.
Maybe it’s a new take on robbery during disaster…like New Orleans cops stealing.
Meanwhile…US beating up Deutche Bank for 14 Billion.
The Gangster of Derivatives now beating the snot out of others in the board room.

Posted on several forums in recent weeks that Russia should put in a few Airborne divisions ( temporary ) to block partition…with Iran putting in match numeric.
Hopefully my premonitions of Empire schemes are wrong…and ISIS finally gets
The pummeling they deserve.

Percival

I think I read your posts about the Russian troops. I said months ago, Iran has the most to lose here. They could turn the tide with a nice addition of 20,000 or so regular troops. I think they just have IRGC, Hezbollah and some Iraqi Shia militias. I posted this question on this site a couple months ago, and another guy replied to me. He said Iran put regular troops in earlier in the war, but they lost a lot of troops at a battle in Khan Touman. I guess they weren’t able to coordinate and work well with the Arabs and it turned out bad. I guess public opinion in Iran is totally opposed to sending regular troops because this is a meat grinder. They have lost a few generals, too. They might want to play it safe because they got the nuclear deal and putting a lot of troops in would get Saudi Arabia and Israel on edge. It could escalate even more. Too bad, though. I think it would do the trick. They might even be able to take back most of Syria and not have to give up a lot of territory to later be partitioned.

Brad Isherwood

Looking back. …Assad maybe should have taken the pipeline route offer.
Still….Israel’s agenda appears to be keep chaos going and going. ..
Assad must go is more a toast and laughs in the banker boardroom.
China can kiss goodbye any hope of Silk road going in the region.
Not sure about Erdogan recent pivot. …he could or Turkey could fall back in
Nato lap more secure.
Putin to meet Erdogan on the 10th?….
If you have Nuclear weapons. ..you can indeed intimidate a region.
Israel having US backing. …is humiliation.
ISIS Takfiri know they are serving Israel and US ..allong with Saudi.
Guess it all washes down with booze and Captigon pills.
Iran’s money is still frozen….Euro banks intimidated to not fund them
Anything.
Extortion is running the table today.

Ronald

Extra troops would certainly be helpful , even “contractors” . The way USAF has bombed Dayr az Zawr for the last few days , taking out bridges , looks like the Sunnistan card is still to be played. Just one more reason to add to Brad’s list of reasons for all this madness. Under the Syrian but Israeli occupied Golan Heights, is a pool of oil estimated to be as large as Saudi Arabia’s. If Syria can be fractured, the Syrians would lose legal claim to it .

Brad Isherwood

Under the Syrian but Israeli occupied Golan Heights, is a pool of oil estimated to be as large as Saudi Arabia’s. If Syria can be fractured, the Syrians would lose legal claim to it .**

Yes indeed….and here…the world would condemn Saudi Qatar later for Syria demise over the pipeline and the Kook Sunni Stan. ..
Not noticing the oil/energy grab by Israel…

Arab greed becomes open diversion while the schemer of the entire crime gets away Scott free.

Percival

They were too overextended and fell for the lie that the US backed Kurds were going to move South and attack Raqqa after they conquered Manbij. At the time, The Syrian forces were fully engaged in Palmyra, Latakia, Idlib and Aleppo. They moved forces towards Raqqa thinking that the Kurdish advance from the North would tie up the ISIS. However, they never did and they were outnumbered and ambushed by ISIS. They fell into a trap.

Johnson Chidozie

saa’s goal is aleppo, and once alleppo is taken completely, it will cut off all the supply lines to raqqa and here you go.. game is over.

this is why u.s is mad. raqqa is surrounded already.. now to expand and cut off raqqa lines.

VGA

Raqqa is not cut off from Iraq. And ISIS holds a lot of territory and can supply Raqqa if it is sieges.

Did you see how long it took for Manbij to fall and at what cost? Not to mention the deal they struck, leaving hundreds of ISIS terrorists go in exchange for an end of that battle.

Gue Bjuen

i think the syrian government was maybe worried to have another Abu Duhur airbase disaster. IS is the least dangerous party in the syrian war. the first are the rebel punks and after them are the kurds. but as we know der ezzor pro gvernment forces are holding good.

i too think that these brave men should be freed from the siege but as i said the prior target are the rebel punks. they are the ones who really only do the job they have been ordered to figth against assad. the kurds can’t fight against assad for now. IS is fighting against the kurds more activley than assad.

you shouldn’t go after IS before you are finished with the rebel punks.

IS doesn’t enjoy support from world press. even the dirty pope would it find riscky to give his support for IS in public.

or maybe after the fall of the rebel punks, the US and world press declear IS became moderate. you know everything is possible in these people’s mind.
even a moderate IS…. is possible for these shameless people.

the US can’t take raqqa only with kurds. that’s not possible. high ranking general said it they can not hold raqqa only with kurds. how can you even take a city which you can not defend afterwards. it’s not possible.

but if you finish mosul you could take raqqa. because there are currently 8000 special us troops in iraq waitng to raid mosul. and the iraqi kurds could join them in raqqa after they have liberated mosul.

the iraqi government is the one who is not following the US schedule on mosul. there would be verious reasons for the iraqi government from not starting the operation.

my personal opinion is that, if the US will take mosul, it will be a disaster to syria. there is nothing more dangerous than a US and iraqi kurds troops having a free time.

raqqa should not be liberated by the US, that only will give them a political excuss and a symbol to be in syria.

we don’t know what the next military objective of the syrian alliance will be after aleppo. i think it will depend on the turks. whatever the turks decide to do, it will affect the final decision of post aleppo. may be idlib+hama and homs or operation against IS. the turks have the call.

tribute to the men who took part of the final battle of Abu Duhur airbase.

Gue Bjuen
gravity

I think US is in wrong side of history because helping terrorists who will capture Syria and will oust Assad. Tomorrow after they will control Syria and the first thing they will start with Islamic laws. After that they will send terrorists to US the same thing what happened Afghanistan twenty years ago when Us helped Majideen to defeat Russia. Utterly they defeated Russia from Afghanistan but after they defeated Russia from Afghanistan they came back to Us and this is the same kind of mistakes Us want to repeat again.

Percival

Israel wants a divided Syria with factions fighting each other. They want a failed state and chaos, rather than the secular and pluralist government of Assad. This way, Iran will have no way to supply Hezbollah and Israel can attack Lebanon. Then they can use the terrorists to destablilize Iran, Central Asia, Russia and China. The terrorists MUST be crushed NOW in Syria.

Lord Lemur

Wait, i thought the existing AA system in syria was the S-400?

Random guy

S-300V4 “Antey-2500” anti-BALLISTIC missile system

Lord Lemur

yeah i get the designation of this latter one but i’m referring to the first deployment they seemed to refer to as an S-300

Random guy

first indeed was s300, then s400

John Whitehot

the video has some errors in it. The first deployment in 2015 was the S-400, after the SU-24 shootdown, to enforce security of unescorted russian bombers. This deployment refers to a different system, the S-300V is actually a parallel development of the S-300 (SA-10), which was designated SA-12 by NATO. It is based on at least two different missiles which can cover different ranges, and it’s been developed specifically to hit incoming munitions. Of course it can hit planes, but in an integrated air defence scenario, this system would be directed more likely at missiles and bombs, while S-400 and S-300 would target aircraft. The deployment of the system at Tartus is kind of worrying to me, as it could hint to the russians preparing to counter air attacks directly on their facilities in Syria, something that only the west coalition, Israel or maybe Turkey can perform.

Rodney Loder

The sad truth is that only the Kurds in Syria are giving the US a leg up particularly around Hasakah, the reason for that being different from Iraq is because the privliged cast of business people that use the US to shelter their vested interests has been completely vanquished in Syria by the Original FSA who were Brotherhood affiliated more to al-Qa’da that Qatari and Turkey’s Morsi connection, they milked the bourgeoisie into supporting Assad only, now Assad is making yoghurt and cheese.