A California man who is fighting alongside a Kurdish militia against the Islamic State (IS) group in northern Syria has said that intense clashes with militants are continuning in the town of Tel Tamer, close to the border with Turkey and 40 kilometers north of Hasakah city.
The American fighter, who goes by the Kurdish nickname "Sores," (pronounced "Shoresh") is one of a number of Westerners fighting alongside the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia in Syria.
"It's an extremely intense fight," Sores told a Kurdish news channel on March 15.
Sores said that for six days, the YPG militiamen had been "going back and forth, battling within grenade range" of the militants.
"We're holding strong though, and we're killing them every chance we get," the American militiaman added.
Sores praised the YPG fighters alongside whom he is fighting in Tel Tamer, saying they are "incredibly fierce warriors."
On March 16 2015 20:06 Silvanel wrote: How is the battle for Tikrit going?
Apparently Iraqi forces and Shiite militias abandoned the offensive today, unable to break ISIS who holed up in the city center. ISIS also re-captured the supply route to the North to Mosul yesterday.
On March 19 2015 07:35 lastpuritan wrote: Who downed that drone?
It could of went down on it's own. I'm actually surprised there haven't been more crashes considering how often human operated military vehicles fail. Of course it could of been shot down too, but I don't think we can know for sure yet?
March 17, 2015 an unidentified areal target entered Syrian Air. The target was then identified as an MQ-1B Predator drone, and Syrian warning radar in the region notified air defense command with the track and course of the target, like any other Coalition jet that enters the Syrian airspace, then the target headed toward Latakia passing its countryside, a region where the Syrian government have restricted from Coalition areal activity, The central air defense command gave its orders to a S-125 Neva/Pechora 2M air defense battery to shoot down the target. A single missile was fired, and hit its target to fall on a civilian building, then be recovered by SAA with no casualties on Syrian side.
The picture attached is labeled, and the labels are as following: 1- The S-125 Neva missile used, and the picture of it recovered at the site. The remaining labeled pictures are parts recovered with the drone.
US officials admitted losing contact with a US made recon drone over Latakia, but they claimed they do not know what happened to it.
On the other hand, the Syrian Army Command didn't comment on the incident yet, but it was confirmed by State media.
We are awaiting an official statement, and we will post it as soon as it is out.
okay, ez $40 million dollars... this assad guy is shooting anything that enters his region, im guessing this is the second attack he commits after downing turkish jet, killing the pilots. iran and russia should stop selling missiles to that guy.
On March 19 2015 18:33 lastpuritan wrote: okay, ez $40 million dollars... this assad guy is shooting anything that enters his region, im guessing this is the second attack he commits after downing turkish jet, killing the pilots. iran and russia should stop selling missiles to that guy.
Assad is the reason ISIS hasn't taken over Syria yet, the FSA is a joke, Assad is the best thing the people have, not the greatest... but compared to the others the best, and he has the people's support
On March 19 2015 18:33 lastpuritan wrote: okay, ez $40 million dollars... this assad guy is shooting anything that enters his region, im guessing this is the second attack he commits after downing turkish jet, killing the pilots. iran and russia should stop selling missiles to that guy.
My god how naïve are you. FSA = ISIS. They share Sharia ideology and demand total subjugation to islamic Sharia.
They extort christians (infidel tax) and execute Shia.
Assad needs to win. Then we can negotiate reforms.
You would have to be very blind to not realize that we (The West) just trained and supplied the Salafi Sharia rebels. One of the biggest blunders of the 21st century and we will feel the pain of this ideology for another 50 years at least.
I once had an Egyptian professor of Middle Eastern Policy propose an idea which, at the time, seemed almost incomprehensible to me: Could Iraq have been better off under Saddam Hussein? Today, although I still reject the idea, I do understand its basis and as I studied further I found this idea was not so foreign at all; it's an idea that has been around since Machiavelli's The Prince and is a rather accepted school of thought in regard to Middle Eastern regimes.
Machiavelli proposed a sovereign could achieve power through unsavory means, could even abuse his power but could nonetheless create peace, unity and once unification is achieved, the sovereign can simply be removed and replaced by a progressive. Such is the basis of this idea. Such is the nature of Assad.
On March 20 2015 01:08 always_winter wrote: I once had an Egyptian professor of Middle Eastern Policy propose an idea which, at the time, seemed almost incomprehensible to me: Could Iraq have been better off under Saddam Hussein? Today, although I still reject the idea, I do understand its basis and as I studied further I found this idea was not so foreign at all; it's an idea that has been around since Machiavelli's The Prince and is a rather accepted school of thought in regard to Middle Eastern regimes.
Machiavelli proposed a sovereign could achieve power through unsavory means, could even abuse his power but could nonetheless create peace, unity and once unification is achieved, the sovereign can simply be removed and replaced by a progressive. Such is the basis of this idea. Such is the nature of Assad.
IMHO if the west hadn't invaded Iraq, there would be way less turmoil now. However it would be the Shia and Kurds who would be oppressed.
On March 20 2015 01:08 always_winter wrote: I once had an Egyptian professor of Middle Eastern Policy propose an idea which, at the time, seemed almost incomprehensible to me: Could Iraq have been better off under Saddam Hussein? Today, although I still reject the idea, I do understand its basis and as I studied further I found this idea was not so foreign at all; it's an idea that has been around since Machiavelli's The Prince and is a rather accepted school of thought in regard to Middle Eastern regimes.
Machiavelli proposed a sovereign could achieve power through unsavory means, could even abuse his power but could nonetheless create peace, unity and once unification is achieved, the sovereign can simply be removed and replaced by a progressive. Such is the basis of this idea. Such is the nature of Assad.
IMHO if the west hadn't invaded Iraq, there would be way less turmoil now. However it would be the Shia and Kurds who would be oppressed.
Yes, because the Shia and the Kurds are having such a happy time of it right now!
On March 19 2015 18:33 lastpuritan wrote: okay, ez $40 million dollars... this assad guy is shooting anything that enters his region, im guessing this is the second attack he commits after downing turkish jet, killing the pilots. iran and russia should stop selling missiles to that guy.
Assad is the reason ISIS hasn't taken over Syria yet, the FSA is a joke, Assad is the best thing the people have, not the greatest... but compared to the others the best, and he has the people's support
So far Assad's kill rate is higher by about a factor of 10 compared to ISIS. The reality is they are in a mutually beneficial relationship. ISIS makes aid to Syrian rebels impossible and their center of gravity is far away from the areas Assad is desperate to hold onto.
Iraqi security forces and allied militias burned and looted homes and destroyed entire villages in territory retaken from the Islamic State (IS) extremist group, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday.
These violations took place after government troops and militias broke a siege on the town of Amerli in August last year with the help of US and Iraqi airstrikes. Businesses, residences, public buildings and even mosques in the area were subsequently razed, possessions of Sunni residents looted and entire properties and villages destroyed using explosives and demolition equipment, according to evidence gathered by HRW.
EPT
