EPTIraq & Syrian Civil Wars - Page 232
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Please guys, stay on topic. This thread is about the situation in Iraq and Syria. | ||
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41117 Posts
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Sub40APM
6336 Posts
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sgtnoobkilla
Australia249 Posts
On September 23 2014 12:05 Sub40APM wrote: So the US and a couple of random Arab jets there to show 'solidarity' I guess started bombing ISIS positions in Syria tonight. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29321236 With a limited degree of authority as well (supposedly): | ||
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ImFromPortugal
Portugal1368 Posts
Update: Israeli military confirms Syrian warplane was shot down over the Golan Heights - @Reuters IDF intercepts Syrian Air Force MiG-21 fighter jet approaching Israel's border - @haaretzcom read more on haaretz.com | ||
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tomatriedes
New Zealand5356 Posts
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ahswtini
Northern Ireland22212 Posts
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Deleted User 183001
2939 Posts
The good news is this event has enraged the Iraqi government, and Al-Abadi, surprisingly without opposition, removed two of Maliki's most important goons in the Iraqi military leadership, including the leader of the ground forces / Army (basically the equivalent of the Chief of Staff of the US Army). State television announced that General Abboud Qanbar, the defense ministry's acting secretary-general, and General Ali Ghaidan, the former ground commander of the armed forces, had been put on pension. "Both men have been transferred to retirement. They are done," the senior security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Qanbar and Ghaidan were among Iraq's top operational commanders. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/23/us-iraq-crisis-army-idUSKCN0HI1K320140923 Accounts of Saqlawiyah: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/22/us-iraq-crisis-saqlawiya-idUSKCN0HH2LT20140922 http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/islamic-state-attack-on-iraqi-base-leaves-hundreds-missing-shows-army-weaknesses/2014/09/22/9a8b9e4d-0fea-4650-8816-5e720dbffd04_story.html?hpid=z2 Chemical attack kills 300 Iraqi soldiers at Saqlawiya: http://www.worldbulletin.net/todays-news/144922/isil-used-chlorine-gas-to-kill-300-iraqi-soldiers This is amid an ongoing campaign started about last week against the city of Fallujah, which has produced some successes like the liberation of Fallujah University. Note that ISIS has been in Fallujah since January. =========================================================================================== On September 23 2014 12:05 Sub40APM wrote: So the US and a couple of random Arab jets there to show 'solidarity' I guess started bombing ISIS positions in Syria tonight. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29321236 It was hardly a couple aircraft. The combined airstrikes in a single four-hour period exceeded the total number of US airstrikes in Iraq since August 8th. I can't find exact numbers at the moment for who did what in the 200+ Syria strikes, but if you consider that the most critical US action against ISIS has been in recapturing the pivotal Mosul Dam, which only had about 70-90ish US airstrikes over the period of a month in that area (I forget the exact number, but it was in that range), then it's not far-fetched to consider that perhaps Saudi Arabia carried the brunt of the load in the Syria strikes. Monday night, in three waves of attacks launched over four hours, the U.S. and its Arab partners made more than 200 airstrikes against roughly a dozen militant targets in Syria, including Islamic State headquarters, training camps and barracks as well as targets of the rival Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s branch within Syria. The first wave, conducted by the U.S. alone, focused mostly on a shadowy network of al-Qaida veterans known as the Khorasan Group, based in northwestern Syria. Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/sep/23/pentagon-us-partners-begin-airstrikes-in-syria/?page=1#ixzz3EAvd8500 What I'm confused about is how did allied airstrikes in Syria, in a 4 hour period, exceed the total non-Iraqi airstrikes in Iraq since early August? There has to be a mistake in reporting here... But more importantly, what were the losses for the terrorists? ABC News reported that the fighters included B-1 bombers and for the first time in combat history, the controversial stealth F-22 Raptor [my note: the mechanics sure as hell aren't liking the 45 maintenance hours per flight hour lol]. An estimated 70 Islamic State fighters have been killed in U.S.-led airstrikes on the group's positions in northern and eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. A further 300 extremists are estimated to have been injured, the group said.Fifty Al Qaida-linked Nusra Front fighters were killed in strikes over the course of the morning in the northwestern province of Syria. Eight civilians, including three children, were also among the fatalities in the strikes on Aleppo. http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.617310 100 terrorists killed just from these airstrikes alone. Obviously, it excludes the much larger picture of Syrian military efforts and inter-insurgent fighting between different insurgent group. I'd say it's a win. =========================================================================================== Observations: + Show Spoiler + In the larger scheme of things, ISIS is losing the propaganda war, as opposed to June-August, when it received almost all of its recruits and reputation. With the change of the war, that's on the decline. It doesn't help ISIS either, that the new Iraqi regime, unlike Maliki, is reconciling with local Sunni authorities, especially in the Anbar province. It especially doesn't help ISIS that Iraq is vindicating former Baath Iraqi military leaders, ya know, the kind that were actually really competent and professional military officers, that the US and Maliki had been hunting and assassinating for years. ISIS is losing personnel and territory at an unsustainable rate in September. They're now resorting to chemical weapons, larger degrees of suicide bombings, and surprise tactics (like impersonating Iraqi military forces) to make any gains, as we saw yesterday at Saqlawiyah. However, these few successes are undercut by the many losses to Iraqi forces and Arab/Kurdish militias in recent weeks. | ||
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41117 Posts
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zatic
Zurich15361 Posts
Anyway really wouldn't have expected that just two weeks ago. Side note: The F-22 has really never flown a combat mission before? | ||
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sgtnoobkilla
Australia249 Posts
Prior to the airstrikes, it was only used in exercises with other U.S. allies and on quite a few non-combat interceptions vs. Russian aircraft that strayed too close to Alaska (and a few times in the Gulf too). Interview with Pentagon Press Secretary RADM John Kirby on the on-going airstrikes: And what's going on here? Israel downs Syrian fighter jet over Golan Heights A Syrian fighter jet which apparently strayed into Israeli-controlled airspace over the occupied Golan Heights has been shot down by Israel. The plane, identified by Israeli sources as a Russian-built Sukhoi, plunged to the ground in flames but the pilot reportedly managed to eject. Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said Israel would respond to threats whether or not "they stemmed from a mistake". A Syrian activist group said the jet had been bombing an area inside Syria. ..... Brigadier General Ram Shmueli, former head of the Israeli air force's intelligence unit, said the likely cause of the incident was pilot error. "We believe [the pilot's] mission was to attack enemy forces - not ours - in the Syrian Golan Heights," he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency. Syria said the downing of the plane was an act of aggression, Reuters news agency reported. ..... The Sukhoi-24 had penetrated 800m (2,600 ft) into Israeli airspace, and tried to turn around after Israel launched a Patriot missile, an Israeli defence source told the Associated Press news agency. ..... Source | ||
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zeo
Serbia6336 Posts
Someone should give Obama another peace prize. | ||
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Maenander
Germany4926 Posts
On September 24 2014 17:52 zeo wrote: So apparenlty all you have to do is call a group of people in an independant country 'terrorists' and you can compleatly piss all over their sovereignty while bombing the shit out of parts of the country. All this is legal if you 'inform the government' that you will be bombing cities in their country beforehand, totally not an act of war! It's not like Assad would protest lol. | ||
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zeo
Serbia6336 Posts
On September 24 2014 17:59 Maenander wrote: It's not like Assad would protest lol. He will start protesting when 'oh, while we are here... might as well bomb Assad'. Not just the US, but NATO as a whole has a horrific record when it comes to smart decisions regarding Syria. | ||
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xM(Z
Romania5298 Posts
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Deleted User 26513
2376 Posts
On September 24 2014 17:59 Maenander wrote: It's not like Assad would protest lol. No, he is totally OK with the NATO jets bombing his country... Of course, the Syrian government already warned that they will take action against unauthorized bombings. Maybe by "we informed the government" the americans are saying that they do this in cooperation with Assad's government... Otherwise it's a giant bluff. | ||
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Simberto
Germany11735 Posts
"Yeah, btw, we are gonna bomb some shit. Thought you might wanna know. Not that there is anything you could do about it anyways." | ||
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zatic
Zurich15361 Posts
On September 24 2014 19:02 Pr0wler wrote: No, he is totally OK with the NATO jets bombing his country... Of course, the Syrian government already warned that they will take action against unauthorized bombings. Maybe by "we informed the government" the americans are saying that they do this in cooperation with Assad's government... Otherwise it's a giant bluff. Of course Assad will formally protest, if only to insist that he still has sovereignty over the country. That doesn't mean that in actuality he is quite glad the strongest opposition force is being hit. | ||
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Maenander
Germany4926 Posts
I just searched the net, I found no evidence for any protest from Assad's side, only Iran and Russia are protesting for obvious reasons, Syria apparently backs the strikes: http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/.premium-1.617478 "Syria supports any international counterterrorism effort" doesn't sound like a protest from Assad's mouth really: http://www.sana.sy/en/?p=13927 And while the US claims that there is no cooperation with the Syrian government, they are happy to let their "ally" Iraq talk to Syria about fighting terrorism a lot. Let's not kid ourselves, this is a huge win for Assad. Of course he would prefer open cooperation with the west and take any offer in a heartbeat as long as he stays in power, but this is the next best thing. | ||
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AngryMag
Germany1040 Posts
Herve Gourdel, Frenchman, just got beheaded in Algeria by the fundamentalist group Dschund al-Khilafa. It is related, because the group announced upfront of the murder that it happens in revenge for French airstrikes in Syrai/Iraq. This makes Algeria the third country in which IS sympathizers/loyalists committed crimes with deadly results. Some months ago some IS maniac shot some fellas in some jewish institution in Belgium, some days ago an IS sympathizer got himself killed in Australia after attacking the police, hurting 2 officers severely. 2 german citizens currently taken hostage by Abu Sayyaf in the Phillipines look likely to be the next victims. I hope that France continues to bomb the lights out of them. | ||
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Sub40APM
6336 Posts
On September 24 2014 17:52 zeo wrote: So apparenlty all you have to do is call a group of people in an independant country 'terrorists' and you can compleatly piss all over their sovereignty while bombing the shit out of parts of the country. All this is legal if you 'inform the government' that you will be bombing cities in their country beforehand, totally not an act of war! Someone should give Obama another peace prize. What Obama? He has nothing to do with it. Local anti-fascist independence democrats found some spare F-22's in local grocery store on sale for 5 for 9.99 and decided to defend themselves against neo-fascist-homosexuals. | ||
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