Moscow Times: Third Day of Russian Airstrikes in Syria, Mainly Avoiding ISIS

[pampango]

Russia bombed Syria for a third day on Friday, mainly hitting areas held by rival insurgent groups rather than the Islamic State fighters it said it was targeting and drawing an increasingly angry response from the West. Moscow said on Friday its latest strikes had hit 12 Islamic State targets, but most of the areas it described were in western and northern parts of the country, while Islamic State is mostly present in the east.

The Russian Defense Ministry said its Sukhoi-34, Sukhoi-24M and Sukhoi-25 warplanes had flown 18 sorties hitting targets that included a command post and a communications center in the province of Aleppo, a militant field camp in Idlib and a command post in Hama. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict with a network of sources on the ground, said there was no Islamic State presence at any of those areas.

Moscow's intervention comes at a time when insurgents had been scoring major battlefield gains against government forces after years of stalemate in the war.

Putin appears to be betting that by defending Assad he can increase Russia's influence in any post-war settlement, safeguard the naval base and counter the influence of regional rivals like NATO member Turkey. He may also intend to reinforce his image at home as a strong leader willing to challenge global rivals, first and foremost the United States.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/third-day-of-russian-airstrikes-in-syria-mainly-avoiding-islamic-state/536712.html

A few days ago there was a lot of support here for Russia decision to enter the Syrian civil war since its stated aim was to defeat ISIS which most agree is the greatest evil in Syria now. It would seem that their real intention is to protect Assad and Russia's national interests in Syria rather than prioritizing the defeat of ISIS.

Perhaps I should not be surprised and believed Russian statements about their intentions a little too much. At least the US is bombing actual ISIS targets. Perhaps I assumed Russia would do the same and between the two some progress could be made.

[hedda_foil]

1. Why is this coming from the Moscow Times?

That seems very odd to me.

[NuclearDem]

2. Moscow Times isn't state-controlled and is well-known to be frequently critical of Putin.

[oberliner]

3. It's not coming from the Moscow Times - it's a Reuters story

They just use the Reuters wire service.

[Oneironaut]

4. This, if true, is very risky and stupid.

I felt the same way about the US's role in Syria too. ISIS taking control of Syria would be a catastrophe.

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. Russia is bombing those nice guys in the Army of Conquest. Fuck 'em.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_of_Conquest

The Army of Conquest[11] (Arabic: جيش الفتح‎, Jaish al-Fatah, JaF) is a military operations coalition in the Syrian Civil War that consists of numerous Syrian Islamist rebel factions mainly active in the Idlib Governorate, with some factions active in the Hama and Latakia Governorates.[3] It declared its formation on 24 March 2015.[2] On the same day, a pro-opposition source claimed that about fifty Syrian government soldiers defected to the new operations room.[2] The Army of Conquest captured Idlib City on 28 March 2015.[12] In the following months, they spearheaded an offensive that drove out government forces from almost all of Idlib Governorate.[13] Following this success, additional branches of the Army of Conquest were established in other parts of Syria.


Composition and organization[edit]

The Army of Conquest coalition was partially modeled upon the success of the Southern Front of the Free Syrian Army,[14] and in turn newer coalitions, like the Battle of Victory, were modeled on the Army of Conquest.[15] Ahrar ash-Sham is the largest group in the Army of Conquest.[16] Other prominent Islamist factions in the operations room include the Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front and the Muslim Brotherhood of Syria linked Sham Legion, however the operations room collaborates with more moderate Free Syrian Army factions such as Knights of Justice Brigade.[4] "It is forbidden to mention the name of any faction" when conducting operations between the coalition's members.[17]

Expansion to other parts of Syria[edit]

In early May 2015, the Army of Conquest formed a new branch in Western Qalamoun, called Jaish al-Fatah al-Qalamoun.[18] On 11 June 2015, a new branch in the Eastern Qalamoun was announced.[19] On 1st October, after defeats from pro-Assad forces, the Western Qalamoun branch "Jaish al-Fatah al-Qalamoun" was replaced by an independent faction called Saraya Ahl al-Sham,which aims to unite all rebels factions in Western Qalamoun.[20]

Also in June, the al-Nusra Front issued a statement calling on the opposition in the Eastern Ghouta area of Damascus to form a similar coalition,[21] this call was rejected by the Unified Military Command of Eastern Ghouta,[22] a grouping which includes the most prominent factions in the area.

On 20 June 2015, Jaish al-Fatah in the Southern Region was created, encompassing 8 groups in Quneitra and Daraa: Ahrar ash-Sham, Al-Nusra Front, Tahaluf Fatah al-Sham, Liwa al-Jihad, Tajamu al-Mujahideen Nawa, Liwa Ansar al-Haq, Liwa al-Umawayn al-Islami and Liwa Fursan al-Sunna.[23][24] They work closely with the Jaish al-Haramoun alliance, which also includes Ahrar ash-Sham, Al-Nusra Front and Liwa Fursan al-Sunna.

In response to reports of Russian intervention, the Army of Conquest's Liwa al-Haqq commander Abu Abdullah Taftanaz posted a tweet addressing the "infidel Russians", inviting them to send troops to Syria and saying that "we have thousands like Khattab" who would "slaughter your pigs".[25][26]

[KamaAina]

6. Leave it to Pooty-Poot to screw even this up.

[David__77]

7. Who are those being bombed by Russia?

Are they with Nusra and Nusra-allied entities? Or are they other entities? Does it matter?

I think that parties don't agree on what would defeat ISIS. Some parties may think that removing Assad does so; others may think that consolidating the Syrian state would do so; there are many other viewpoints as well, I'm sure.

I imagine (and don't know) that some in Russian government think that consolidating the Syrian state power would be the most effective way to combat ISIS in Syria. I'm not an expert and have incomplete information; that idea I just cited is intuitive to me.

[jamzrockz]

9. For the record

ISIS (in their Raqqa capital), Al Nusra front and other Jihadist rebels for the first time canceled Friday prayers in a lot of the areas they control because of Russia's bombing. The US and their allies have been bombing Syria for over a year now and they have never closed town and canceled Friday prayers until today.

So say what you will about the Russians but just in 3 days, they did more dmg to the ISIS than all the coalition members did in a 1 yr of so called bombing which mostly involved attacking abandoned training sites.

PRAYERS CANCELED

Friday prayers were canceled in insurgent-held areas of Homs province that were hit by Russian warplanes this week, with residents concerned that mosques could be targeted, said one person from the area.

snip

Islamic State also canceled prayers in areas it controls, according to activists from its de facto capital Raqqa.

http://news.yahoo.com/russian-jets-mount-air-strikes-syria-095758940.html#

Wait till the Syrian Arab Army, Iranian revolutionary guard guys and Hezbollah goes in for the clean up. This war will end in 1 yr and not the long long fight suggested by the US defense secretary.

[NuclearDem]

10. Beg pardon for not being willing to commit blatant war crimes to defeat ISIS.

Or maybe you didn't know places of worship are protected under international law from attack during war.

[pampango]

11. They closed mosques because they were afraid Russia would target mosques.

Apparently they are not afraid that the US targets mosques for attack.

I don't view the closing of mosques out of fear of intentional attack from bombers as a sign of progress against ISIS.

[NuclearDem]

12. Apparently having such a reputation for committing war crimes that even ISIS is nervous

is now a selling point among alleged liberals.

As is cheering on Hezbollah.

[jamzrockz]

14. They also closed down the whole town

The talk about unannounced curfews is not just for Friday prayers. But then again, if the Russians weren't attacking ISIS, then why are they even closing anything? These people should be partying in the streets if the propaganda about Russia were true.

Btw, I couldn't care less if these animals were bombed while they prayed. Kill them any way possible. Gas them, poision them, burn them alive, drown them, torture them to death etc etc, just as long as you kill em, it would be OK with me. This idea that these people should be respected in their house of prayer is rubbish. Can you imagine the allied forces refusing to bomb Nazi fighters because there were in church praying?

Bombs away Putin, make sure they all regret the day they made the fatal decision of coming to Syria to wage Jihad.

[pampango]

16. "I couldn't care less if these animals were bombed while they prayed."

Kill them any way possible. Gas them, poision them, burn them alive, drown them, torture them to death etc etc, just as long as you kill em, it would be OK with me.

You know that many of the people in those mosques are civilians? Or does that not matter because all Muslims are "animals"?

[jamzrockz]

18. When the US

dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it killed a lot of civilians, but it also ended the was and the continued human suffering. I know I made it sound like it is an easy decision but the ISIS menace has to be stopped one way or another and the faster the better. The Russians are in a position to do what the Americans cannot do and to that, I wish them the best of luck.

I want Syria and their allies to hurt them so badly that anybody reading what happened to them would ever think of buying plane tickets to Jordan or Turkey in order to join the fight. Essentially, I hope what Assad Sr. did to the Muslim brotherhood extremist would be repeated on ISIS and their idiot supporters.

All that with the hope that as little innocent civilians die in the process.

[randome]

13. We can pretty much count on anything Putin does to be a catastrophe.

Ukraine and now Syria. It's funny how he lambastes Israel since he and Netanyahu both like the idea of war.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[frizzled]

15. That is the most ironic sentence ever written by an American

nt

[randome]

17. 'Catastrophe' or 'liking war'?

Bush, Jr. embodied both with the invasion of Iraq. But not everything America does is a catastrophe. The alternative in Syria is to sit back and watch ISIS get stronger. Nothing good can come of our interference but nothing good can come of doing nothing, either.

But yeah, if you see me as a 'typical' American, I can see that previous statement as ironic.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]Treat your body like a machine. Your mind like a castle.[/center][/font][hr]

[frizzled]

19. The U.S. should drop the terrorist Saudis as an ally, and recuperate it's relationship with Russia.

Nothing the US has done in the Middle East has not been a disaster.