Iraq & Syrian Civil Wars - Page 181

Two Austrian teenage girls that authorities believe were tricked into travelling to Syria to fight for Islamist rebels are currently being searched for by Interpol.

Samra Kesinovic, 16, and Sabina Selimovic, 15, disappeared from their homes in the Austrian capital of Vienna on April 10, the Daily Mail reported.

However, the girls’ parents found a slew of posts of social media networks that suggested that had gone to fight for a “holy war” in Syria.

The girl’s parents - who are originally Bosnian refugees who settled in Austria after the ethnic conflicts of the 1990’s - claim that the messages are not being written by the girls.

On April 12 2014 06:46 Disregard wrote:
It's like the recent appearance of the TOW missile being used by rebel factions, I'm curious where they are from because its apparently not the Iranian reversed-engineered version.

On April 20 2014 15:25 sgtnoobkilla wrote:
PSO optics, platecarriers and what looks like Multicam and Tiger stripe uniforms; those Chechens sure have come a long way from the sorry state they were in back in 1999-2000.



They don't seem to be the 71E versions currently being used by the U.S. military since the stocks appear to be from the 90's. But then you get images like this that show that the launchers are apparently the latest ones.

Going by the serial numbers on the launchers, they might have been from USMC stocks dating back all the way to 2012, so it's likely that the launchers were smuggled out of Afghanistan but are being loaded with older missiles either from Saudi Arabia, Iran or even Iraq. Wouldn't be the first time that ordnance stocks from these countries were "misplaced".

The U.S. and Saudi Arabia have supplied Syrian rebel groups with a small number of advanced American antitank missiles for the first time in a pilot program that could lead to larger flows of sophisticated weaponry, people briefed on the effort said

...

Another Syrian opposition figure in the region confirmed the U.S., with Saudi assistance, supplied the TOW missiles.

Mr. Alani, a senior security analyst at the Geneva-based Gulf Research Center who is regularly briefed by Saudi officials on security matters, said the two countries oversaw the delivery through neighboring Jordan and Turkey to vetted rebels inside Syria. Rebels already had some types of recoilless rifles in their stocks, which can also be used against tanks and other targets. But U.S.-made TOWs are more reliable and accurate, opposition officials and experts say.

On April 23 2014 01:47 {CC}StealthBlue wrote:
German rapper:

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed reports that Turkey has sent 300 troops into neighboring Syria to guard the tomb of a leading Turkish figure believed to be under threat from radical Islamist rebels, according to Today's Zaman.

The Turkish military force, which also included several armored vehicles, is being sent to bolster a small existing unit at the tomb of Süleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire.

The U.S. is providing more arms and training to the moderate rebels in Syria, under a growing secret program run by the CIA in Jordan. Sources tell NPR that secret program could be supplemented by a more public effort in the coming months involving American military trainers.

The change in strategy comes as the White House sees Syrian leader Bashar Assad growing in strength, and continuing to strike rebel strongholds.

Another factor: Russian leaders appear unwilling to help end the three-year-old civil war and are continuing to provide weapons to Assad. Finally, al-Qaida fighters and their allies are expanding in Syria, a development that some believe could threaten the U.S. homeland.

The ramped-up covert program is an attempt to further pressure the Assad regime and its allies to reach a political settlement, not necessarily to achieve a military victory by rebel forces.

Skeptics doubt the U.S. effort will help much, given the weakened state of the opposition and the inroads made by al-Qaida fighters. The moderate fighters being supported currently have relatively little influence on the ground.

DAMASCUS, Syria — As President Bashar al-Assad seeks re-election and promises victory over insurgents by year’s end, Syrian loyalists and regional analysts say that his success, if it materializes, could set him up for a new challenge: demands for change from core supporters who believe he owes his survival mainly to them.

Some loyalists say that the Syrians most responsible for keeping Mr. Assad afloat are newly aware of his dependence on them, and would push for a bigger share of power if they came to feel safe from the threat of insurgent revenge.

Paradoxically, Yezid Sayigh, an analyst at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, Lebanon, wrote recently, a short-term Assad victory “may be the only thing capable of paving the way for serious dissent to openly emerge from the regime’s own social constituencies and institutional base.”

Mr. Assad has survived largely thanks to the muscle, cohesion and sacrifices of two overlapping groups: fellow members of the minority Alawite sect, who disproportionately lead and serve in the security forces, and key military men from a variety of sects. Reeling from war losses and frustrated in some cases with the president’s policies, some have begun to say that they are entitled to more of the power, wealth and opportunity held close by Mr. Assad and his associates.

Rebels take over Eastern Tal al-Ahmar hill in Quneitra - so far as I am aware this means the regime no longer has any presence at all in Quneitra save in the far north. This is the sister base of western Tal al-Alhmar hill which they took a few weeks back

Commander Ali Alkbtz'h Hezbollah, known as the "father of Zaynab" killed on Friday night battles Latakia province. This is one of the most senior commanders of Hezbollah who was killed in Syria.