Russian Planes Make First Incursion into Islamic State Stronghold in Syria

[Jesus Malverde]

Source: WSJ

Russian warplanes made their first incursion into Islamic State’s home base, as Moscow continued a bombardment of Syria that one official said Friday could last for months.

Russia’s Defense Ministry reported 18 sorties Thursday and overnight, and a further 14 during the day Friday. The strikes hit a total of 18 Islamic State positions, destroying command centers, weapons stores and a communication hub, according to the Defense Ministry.

Despite hitting some areas held by Islamic State on Friday, Russian planes continued to pound for a third consecutive day areas in northwest Syria where the extremist group isn’t present. These areas are controlled by a mix of Islamist and moderate rebel factions as well as the al Qaeda linked Nusra Front. Hitting these areas is consistent with what appears to be Moscow’s main goal: bolstering the defenses of the western coastal strongholds of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Alawite minority sect.

For instance, some of the targets listed by the Russian Ministry of Defense as being hit on Friday were a “militants’ underground HQ” and two bunkers in the town of Latamneh in the northwestern tip of Hama province adjacent to the coastal region.

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/russia-says-airstrikes-in-syria-to-last-a-few-months-1443777347

[mitty14u2]

1. Syrian rebel says Russia air raids mean longer war, seeks anti-aircraft missiles

A prominent Syrian rebel leader said on Thursday that Russian air strikes in support of President Bashar al-Assad meant the war would go on longer, fuel extremism, and draw more foreign fighters to Syria.

Bashar al-Zoubi, who heads one of the largest rebel groups in southern Syria, called on Assad's Arab foes to meet the rebels' long-standing demand for anti-aircraft missiles so they could defend themselves from the newly arrived Russian jets.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/01/us-mideast-crisis-syria-rebel-idUSKCN0RV4AY20151001

Russia built one of the most alarming antiaircraft systems in history — and won't say who it's sending it to

One of Russia's most alarming new weapons capabilities may be on the move soon.

Jane's reports that KBM, a state-owned armament company specializing in missile systems, recently presented its 9K333 Verba man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS).

At an arms fair this week, the company announced that the weapon had been cleared for export — although KBM designer Gen. Velariy Kashin would not reveal the foreign buyer or buyers.

http://www.businessinsider.com/russia-built-one-of-the-most-alarming-anti-aircraft-systems-in-history--and-wont-say-who-its-sending-it-to-2015-6

[Comrade Grumpy]

2. Anyone who gives these guys anti-aircraft missiles is crazy.

Mr. Al Zoubi's buddies include a lot of jihadis, including ones with links to Al Qaeda:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Front_of_the_Free_Syrian_Army#Member_groups

[leveymg]

6. MANPADS were the prized export from post-regime change Libya to pre-regime change Syria.

Unhappiness by some groups over who was going to get these missiles and when was the prime reason for the attack on the CIA annex and adjacent warehouses in Benghazi.

[jtuck004]

3. So while the bad guys were doing this, we were bombing and killing Doctors Without Borders.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141223422

Nice to be on the winning team.

[romanic]

4. Seems like Russia is going for a "Scorched Earth" campaign then.

[pampango]

5. Nice that he got around to doing what he told the UN was the reason for Russia getting involved

Heck, a lot of us here who are not very fond of Assad thought that Russia joining the US in bombing and defeating ISIS might be a good thing. Get rid of ISIS and perhaps the world can work out a deal between the rest.

Apparently the whole "we just want to join in the international effort to defeat ISIS" spin was just that.

2) Putin claims to target ISIS, but that's probably not who he's really after

Russia says that its airstrikes are against ISIS, and when Putin spoke at the United Nations General Assembly this week he described his Syria intervention as an effort against that group. But his first, second, and third objective is to shore up Bashar al-Assad, and that means targeting not ISIS but rather non-ISIS rebel groups. And, in practice, that is so far what Russia's forces appear to be doing.

The reasons for this are pretty simple. Assad's greatest threat isn't ISIS, a group that Assad in fact tolerates, but the myriad non-ISIS rebel groups in the country. Some of those groups are jihadists (al-Qaeda's local branch, Jabhat al-Nusra, for one), and some of them just want to fight Assad's atrocities. But they're who really threaten the Syrian dictator, and despite Moscow's rhetoric, they're whom Russia is really targeting.

http://www.vox.com/2015/9/24/9392543/russia-syria-putin

From the OP (can't get the full article without subscribing to the WSJ which I am not about to do):

Russian planes continued to pound for a third consecutive day areas in northwest Syria where the extremist group isn’t present. These areas are controlled by a mix of Islamist and moderate rebel factions as well as the al Qaeda linked Nusra Front. Hitting these areas is consistent with what appears to be Moscow’s main goal: bolstering the defenses of the western coastal strongholds of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Alawite minority sect.

[leveymg]

7. Was there ever any doubt that the primary reason Russia is in Syria is to stay in Syria?

This is their last Mediterranean base in an area adjacent to their southern border, where we helped Saudi Arabia carve off big slices of former Soviet territory. Russia is now confident and powerful enough again to put a stop to that.

Russia has been in Syria longer than it was in Poland. They aren't leaving, and use of additional force -- such as Hillary's favored no-fly zone -- would have merely caused a direct conflict between us and Russia. Not a good idea. Good thing that Obama has more sense than Hillary and Petraeus.