Iraq & Syrian Civil Wars - Page 379

there are valid syrian opposition factions with political leaders/scholars and such with which (UN)negotiations were held throughout 2016.
if you talk from a military perspective, around 2014-2015 people were talking about ~3.600 militia factions cooperating/collaborating with each other in varying degrees.

Mr. de Mistura appeared to be seeking a compromise by inviting some groups to be represented in Geneva not as parties to the negotiations but as advisers whom he would consult. The names that have surfaced include political figures allied with the Kurdish party and representatives from other groups that are not part of the High Negotiations Committee, including some backed by Russia or seen as close to the Assad government.

Haytham Manaa, a Syrian dissident and human rights activist who spent years in prison for opposing the Assad family’s rule, said that he was invited but that he might not attend. He spoke out for years against armed insurgency and foreign intervention; now he lives in Geneva and leads a new group called the Council of Democratic Syria, which is linked to Kurdish and Arab militias. In a telephone interview, he said Syrians should choose who is invited.

“I represent 22 parties and 70,000 fighters on the ground,” Mr. Manaa said. “I feel ashamed of sitting with some names on the same table.”

Two other figures in Mr. Manaa’s coalition are Kadri Jamil and Randa Kassis. Mr. Jamil was deputy prime minister for economic affairs in the Assad government until he was ejected in 2013; he is seen as close to Russia. Gennady Gatilov, the Russian deputy foreign minister, said Mr. Jamil would “lead the moderate opposition” in Geneva. Ms. Kassis, who is French-Syrian, leads a group called the Movement of the Pluralistic Society.

Jihad Makdissi, the longtime spokesman for the Syrian Foreign Ministry before he defected in late 2012, said he would not attend the first round of talks. “I think that my temporary absence from this initial round may contribute in alleviating the current disputes,” he wrote in a letter to Mr. de Mistura published online.

Syrian rebels have lost all of the northern neighbourhoods of their stronghold in eastern Aleppo, a monitor has said, as the army pushed an offensive to retake the battered city.

The army captured the Sakhur, Haydariya and Sheikh Khodr neighbourhoods today, while Kurdish forces took the Sheikh Fares district from rebels, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Kurdish forces in Aleppo are not officially allied with the regime, but the opposition regards them as cooperating with the government in a bid to recapture the city.

"The rebels have lost control of all the neighbourhoods in the north of east Aleppo, and this is their worst defeat since they seized half the city in 2012," said Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman.

Syrian state media reported the capture of Haydariya and Sakhur as it looped footage showing some of the thousands of civilians who have fled east Aleppo in recent days as loyalist troops have advanced.
The army renewed an operation to retake eastern Aleppo nearly two weeks ago, hoping to deal the opposition a potentially devastating blow.

One rebel official denied the report that Sakhur had fallen, while another said the situation was not yet clear.

Syria's Al-Watan daily, which is close to the government, said the army was advancing quickly.
It said the next stage of the operation would be "to divide the remaining area into security districts that will be easily controlled and to capture them successively".

It added that the advance would then "push the gunmen to turn themselves (in)... or accept national reconciliation under the terms of the Syrian state."

They agreed that the bombing would stop and that Fath Al-Sham fighters would leave.

The Turkish capital Ankara hosted talks between the Syrian opposition and Moscow that were attended by Turkish officials. The talks were devoted to the latest developments in Aleppo and halting military operations in the east of the city. According to available information, those taking part in the talks arrived at an agreement in principle that involves Jabhat Fath Al-Sham fighters leaving eastern Aleppo in exchange for an end to the bombing, opening safe corridors through which Jabhat Fath Al-Sham fighters can travel to Idlib and allowing the entry of aid into besieged neighbourhoods.

This came at a time when the armed opposition has agreed to form “The Army of Aleppo” which includes units from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and revolutionary factions. All units will work under a unified command in order to fight against what is happening in neighbourhoods in eastern Aleppo.

The Ankara meeting is of great importance because it coincides with an unprecedented escalation in Aleppo, and a leader of the Ahrar Al-Sham movement Mohammed Al-Shami said that “the meeting that took place in Ankara yesterday is the second in 24 hours”. He also told Asharq Al-Awsat that the meeting “was attended by 13 people representing opposition groups, Russian representatives and Turkish ones. US-backed opposition factions did not attend and neither did representatives of the Syrian regime and Iran”.

Al-Shami said “An agreement has been made to allow Jabhat Fath Al-Sham fighters to leave Aleppo via humanitarian corridors in exchange for halting the bombing and allowing humanitarian aid to enter through the Castello crossing under the guarantee of the Turkish government.” He explained that “this agreement will be presented to Fath Al-Sham on the condition that we receive their answer tomorrow in order to implement it “. The director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Rami Abdul Rahman told Asharq Al-Awsat that this information is correct and pointed out that “these items were raised and agreed upon, but they are yet to be implemented.”

For his part, a member of the National Coalition of Syrian Revolution and Opposition Forces named Ahmad Ramadan said that “Turkey is keen to sponsor these talks so that the bombing and continuous murder that is taking place in Aleppo can be stopped and so that the pretexts that Russia is using to justify its actions are invalidated. The issue of Fath Al-Sham fighters is the most important of these pretexts”.

Denmark will not extend military operations of its seven F-16 fighter jets in Syria and Iraq from mid-December after six months in action, the Danish government said on Friday.

Instead the Danish contribution in Syria and Iraq will primarily consist of training and analysis teams, which to a large extent will work closer to Iraqi military units.

"We are pulling our airplanes out as planned. We have offered the coalition extra help with some construction and engineer troops," Danish foreign minister Anders Samuelsen said after a meeting in the foreign political council.

"It has been assessed whether it would make sense from economical and practical considerations (to extend the mission) ... the conclusion has been that it makes no sense, so we just stick to the plan," Samuelsen said.

NATO member Denmark is part of the U.S.-led operation "Inherent Resolve" against Islamic State, which has declared a caliphate in parts of Iraq and Syria. It said when it joined the mission in June it would review the operation after six months.

On Monday, a U.S. military investigation said Danish war planes were involved in a Sept. 17 coalition air strike, where a series of "unintentional human errors" killed fighters aligned with the Syrian government instead of the targeted Islamic State militants.

The minister made no mention of the incident in his statement.

While the language in the annual defense bill also creates restrictions on the provision of the controversial weapons, it represents a win for Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., a fervent advocate of helping the rebels resist President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian and Iranian allies. The Senate is expected to pass the bill next week.

Until now, the transfer of man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADs, had been implicitly authorized in the absence of an outright ban. Critics, however, view the new provision as tantamount to a policy recommendation for the president-elect.

"I'm more afraid of Congress on this issue than I am of Trump,” said Robert Naiman, the policy director at Just Foreign Policy, a liberal advocacy group that lobbied for a ban. “I think Congress is trying to tie Trump's hands against making a realistic deal with Russia to end the Syrian civil war. And they are trying to pressure him in the direction of not doing that," he told Al-Monitor.

Trump was outspoken about his reluctance to get dragged into the Syrian civil war throughout the presidential campaign. He has since picked hawkish advisers and candidates for Cabinet positions, including retired Marine Gen. James Mattis as secretary of defense.

The rebels “are being slaughtered as we speak. A genocide is taking place. It's a black mark on American history," McCain told Al-Monitor when asked about the MANPAD provision. “I think [Trump] is going to listen to the people he appoints as secretary of defense and secretary of state.”

Mattis is well known in military and foreign policy circles for his aggressive determination to take on America’s foes, notably Iran, including in Syria and Iraq. Testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee as far back as January 2015, however, he opined that the time for supporting moderate rebel fighters against Assad's forces had "passed."

On December 04 2016 01:46 LegalLord wrote:
I'm not sure how "rebels getting slaughtered" amounts to genocide. John Rambo McCain is just being his usual warhawk self here.

I wish the US government would one day realize the short-sightedness of their approach to arming rebels. Today it's a low-cost way to create an opposition force, tomorrow they're fighting US troops. How many times has this already happened?