Iraq & Syrian Civil Wars - Page 163

BERLIN: German jihadists are heading for Syria in increasing numbers, unencumbered by travel formalities and able to integrate quickly into foreign militant groups where Arabic is not needed, the head of Germany's domestic intelligence said.

Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the Bundesamt fuer Verfassungsschutz since 2012 (BfV), said intelligence officers knew of 220 German citizens fighting in Syria, but the actual number could be much higher, and had risen sharply this year.

"For young people wanting to wage jihad, Syria is very interesting," he said in an interview. "It is easy to get to, you only need an identity card, a flight to Turkey then a domestic flight to the border."

"Once you are there you can be quickly integrated into brigades, and you can fight alongside people with the same language," he told Reuters, noting that in the past a lack of language skills particularly among converts had made it difficult for German Islamists to join other wars.

On November 14 2013 07:19 Yuljan wrote:

Sadly the increasing islamic extremism gets almost completely ignored by the government. Jihadists are already recruiting in front of schools here in Frankfurt. Luckily there is a new anti islam right wing coalition in Europe now. I really hope we get a decent anti islamic party in Germany too.

Opposition forces managed to seize control over Abeeda, a village near the town of Khanasser in Aleppo countryside, following fierce clashes with regular troops in the area.

Louay Abou Al-Joud, a civilian activist, reported to Syria Newsdesk that battles are still ongoing in nearby villages such as Al-Qourbatiyeh and Hajjireh, during which over a dozen of regular troops have been killed, in addition to rebels destroying two tanks and damaging a Shilka artillery.

It's worth mentioning that regime forces have recently retaken the southern Aleppo town of Khanasser.

LONDON — The head of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militant group whose armed followers are fighting in Syria on the side of President Bashar al-Assad, pledged on Thursday that his forces would remain there as long as necessary.

The leader, Hassan Nasrallah, spoke at a Shiite ceremony in his stronghold in southern Beirut, the Lebanese capital, held to observe Ashura, one of the most important holidays on the Shiite religious calendar. It commemorates the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad.

Mr. Nasrallah’s battle-hardened fighters joined the fray in Syria earlier this year to recapture a border town, and Mr. Assad’s foes say they have also been deployed on other fronts in the south near Damascus, the capital, and Aleppo in the north.

“As long as the reasons remain, our presence there will remain,” Mr. Nasrallah told thousands of his followers.

“Our fighters, our mujahedeen, are present on Syrian soil,” Mr. Nasrallah declared, adding that they were in Syria also to support Lebanon and Palestinian causes, “to confront all the dangers of the international, regional and takfiri attack on this country and on this region.” Takfiri refers to the extremist Sunni fighters aligned with Al Qaeda who have joined the attempt to overthrow Mr. Assad.

A rebel bomb attack has killed 31 Syrian military troops on an army base near Damascus. It came as government forces were on an offensive against the rebels on Sunday, AFP reported. Four generals died in the attack.

"Three generals and a brigadier-general were among 31 troops killed in a bomb attack that caused a building in the army transport base in Harasta to collapse,'' Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdul Rahman said.

On November 19 2013 06:45 Romantic wrote:
Likely the government will continue to try to bite and hold various areas one at a time with a focus on tightening the sieges of the Damascus districts and suburbs under opposition/jihadist control (The Damascus-Homs-Hama-Latakia-Tartous core). In less core areas (Daraa, Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Idlib) where forces are sparse they will simply try to hold supply lines and keep defensible positions. Even if they lose 90% of the countryside and parts of the cities in those provinces they can turn what is left into a fortress and prevent the rebels from having safe areas. In the Kurdish areas the government troops that remain in Hasakeh and Qamishli will hide in their bases and let the Kurds fight the jihadists. Essentially they will try to keep the current situation but improve slightly on it, for example, recent besieging and reduction of rebel pockets in Damascus and strengthening the supply line to Aleppo.

Syrian rebels have disabled, captured or destroyed 25 percent of the government’s armored vehicles—but does it matter?

In 24 months of brutal combat, Syrian opposition fighters have eliminated a quarter of Pres. Bashar Al Assad’s Russian-made tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, according to estimates.

That’s no fewer than 1,800 T-55, T-62 and T-72 tanks plus BMP fighting vehicles exploded, burned, disabled or seized by rebels—with potentially thousands of crewmen also being killed, injured or captured.

The destruction of so many of the government’s heavy vehicles by relatively lightly armed rebels is, for the regime, a painful reminder of the vulnerability of even the most thickly armored tanks in close urban fighting—and especially when the vehicles aren’t protected by nearby infantry.

The high attrition of Al Assad’s combat vehicles should give hope to the opposition that it can defeat government forces even without air support, sophisticated anti-armor weaponry or large numbers of its own tanks.

But with 75 percent of tanks and fighting vehicles remaining, Al Assad probably has sufficient heavy forces to continue fighting for years. To say nothing of light forces.

In that time frame, other factors—whether military, economic or political—are perhaps more likely than a dearth of tanks to bring the conflict to a negotiated resolution.

On November 19 2013 09:02 furymonkey wrote:


I thought what you described here is pretty much the strategy they implemented since the start of the year, and as result, the government forces has been making slow progress. They simply give up holding non strategic area and focusing on key locations that matters, instead of trying to wipe the whole rebellion out when the civil war first started.

Without foreign military intervention, I have my money on the the government forces.

On November 19 2013 17:12 Romantic wrote:


Pretty much, yeah. Early on, say pre-Summer 2012, the government did try to eliminate the uprising completely. By mid-2012 they had given up on that and began to position themselves to fight a protracted civil war (Essentially by putting nearly all maneuver units in Damascus and Homs). The change wasn't theoretical, it was a practical realization the task wasn't possible given their abilities.

Some people talk at times about huge regime offensives so I thought it was useful to lay out what I think is the real plan the Syrian government has. You'll hear talk of huge maneuvers coming up like a decisive battle for Aleppo or a Qalamoun-wide offensive. The government hasn't moved that much military might around for more than a year and probably couldn't even if they wanted to.

The one opportunity for big movements would be if the rebellion in and around Damascus was decisively defeated. I used to think regime talk of fully securing Damascus was just a bluff, but I am starting to think they are actually completely serious about it. It is the obvious target to go for, if they have the ability. We'll see what happens with what remains of the southern pocket.

Not just without foreign military intervention, but complete silence and lack of assistance from the West. Where is the condemnation of Abu Fadl al-Abbas (lots of Iraqi/Lebanese Shia) and Hezbollah involvement? Where is any condemnation? No response to regime advances? No calling Bashar an evil dictator in a while? No talking about military sieges of populated areas?

Given the radicalization of the rebellion, especially the most combat effective anti-regime combatants being some combination of Islamist and foreign, the lack of foreign pressure on Assad and the continued resilience of the government I think they have a great chance to at least stay in this for years to come and even improve on the situation.

On November 19 2013 20:05 Acrofales wrote:


You make it sound like "staying in" a bloody civil war in which both sides are committing numerous atrocities is a good thing...

Leaders of Syria's largest rebel faction and top commanders for al Qaeda's Iraqi and Syrian factions have reached a peace deal, agreeing to come together to battle the growing Iranian presence in the country.

Senior leaders from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), a teaming of al Qaeda's Iraqi cell and affiliated Syrian militant groups, agreed to the deal after a meeting in Aleppo over the weekend.

"ISIS and FSA infighting ceased mostly after a meeting of commanders . . . led all parties to decide to focus their efforts" against forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad and his Iranian backers, Syrian Support Group spokesman Dan Layman told The Hill on Monday.
As a result, both groups have launched "joint counteroffensives" against Hezbollah and Iranian military positions in and around Aleppo, according to Layman, whose D.C.-based organization backs the secular wing of the Syrian opposition.

Iran and Russia have been the biggest international backers of the Assad regime since war broke out in the country three years ago.

FSA and ISIS counterattacks have been focused in regime and Iranian-controlled portions of the city, specifically in Rashadeen and the Maarat Arteeq mountains along Aleppo's northern border, according to Layman citing rebel sources in country.

Earlier this month, a top commander with Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was reportedly killed inside Syria, shedding more light into the extent of Tehran's military involvement in the over two-year civil war there.

IRGC commander Mohammad Jamali was killed during an attack in Syria, according to the state-run Iranian news outlet Mehr.