Trump regime backs Islamic terror group HTS remaining in control of Idlib province in Syria. HTS was designated a terror group by the US in March 2017. Pres. Trump generously makes himself the biggest human shield in the world for Islamic terrorists, warns the legitimate Syrian government don’t dare try to rescue millions of innocent Syrians from terrorists in Idlib or Trump will unleash a “massive attack” on Syria: Wall St. Journal: “In a recent discussion about Syria, people familiar with the exchange said, President Trump threatened to conduct a massive attack against [Syrian President] Mr. Assad if he carries out [an attempted rescue of millions of innocent Syrians from Islamic terrorist control] a massacre in Idlib, the northwestern province that has become the last refuge for more than three million people and as many as 70,000 [Islamic terrorists] opposition fighters that the [everyone in the world including the legitimate government of the nation of Syria] regime [knows to be] considers to be terrorists.“…9/9/2018, ”U.S. Says Syria Plans Gas Attack in Rebel Stronghold,” Wall St. Journal, Dion Nissenbaum…“Idlib’s present population includes, of course, a strong majority of innocent civilians. But it also includes an estimated 10,000-plus well-armed takfiri [foreign Islamist] fighters, a large portion of whom are not Syrians.…The takfiri fighters, who worry that if they lose in Idlib they’ll have nowhere else to go, also ruthlessly use civilians as hostages.”…
Image: 12/30/2018, “US flag flies in Syria’s Manbij despite pullout notice,” AFP, Delil Souleiman U.S. occupies about a third of Syria. “Violating both domestic and international law by invading and dismembering a country [Syria] is an odd way [for the US] to support the “rules-based international order.””…6/13/2019…
8/15/19, “Syria – Frontline Breach Opens Door To A Deep Battle For Idlib,” Moon of Alabama
“During the last months the Syrian government made some progress in the norther part of Hama governorate on the border to the jihadi held Idlib governorate. [US heavy weapons enabled Islamist fighters many of whom were from outside Syria to take control of Idlib away from Syrian government in 2015]. The breach of the jihadi defense lines must now be used to develop a larger campaign.
The maps show the progress between May 15 2019 and today
(Red – government control; Green – jihadi control).
North Hama Front – May 15 2019
via LiveUAmap – bigger….
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North Hama Front – August 15 2019
via LiveUAmap – bigger…
The current operation is a pincer movement on the western and eastern side of Khan Shaykhun. It is designed to envelope the jihadi held towns Al Lataminah, Kafr Zayta, Khan Shaykhun and Morek.
The north of Hama and Idlib governorate is held by the al-Qaeda aligned Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS). [HTS is the terrorist group Trump loudly protects]. HTS defeated and removed several Turkish supported [terrorist] ‘rebel’ groups from the area it rules. On the Syrian side the Tiger Force and the 4th division are the main units in the current fight.
The first phase of the operation, which began three month ago and was interupted by several ceasefires, proved to be difficult. The jihadis have good equipment which includes a large number of U.S. supplied TOW anti-tank missiles with 5,000 meter reach.
They also have a significant number of artillery missile launchers. Their positions were well prepared and they fiercely defended each and every house. They counterattacked with some success by utilizing vehicles with suicide bombers.
[Image: US ally and leader of Islamic Salafist Jihadist terror group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria that controls Idlib province, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani] The losses of the Syrian army during the first phase were unacceptably high. This led to a change of tactics. The Syrian and Russian airforce began an extensive bombing campaign with hundreds of air and artillery strikes per day against jihadi positions. Drones were used to find mobile missile launchers hidden in fruit plantations and to direct artillery and bombers to those aims. ANNA News published several videos of the extensive campaign (1, 2, 3 – Engl.subs). The air campaign cost the jihadis a significant amount of material and personal. Only one of the attacking planes, a Syrian SU-22, was lost during the fight.
The Syrian army also began to make large night attacks. Its new T-90 and modernized T-72 tanks have excellent thermal night vision and can destroy targets at long distances. The infantry can proceed under their protection. Instead of fighting along roads from town to town the army moved to take high ground first and to proceed from there. Using flanking operations the troops broke through several prepared defense lines. The jihadis are now on the run. This ANNA video (engl.subs) shows the last week’s operation to liberate the town of Al Habit (Al Hobeit) and gives a good impression of the new tactics. The army has since moved further to the north east of Al Habit and took Kafr Ayn and Tell As.
The encirclement north of Khan Shaykhun will close within the next several days. The jihadis who stay within the cauldron will have little chance to survive. They will most likely flee north along the M5 highway.
Current situation
via ISWnews – bigger….
The soon enclosed area also holds one of the Turkish manned ceasefire observation posts. While these posts are supposed to supervise the ever breaking ceasefire they are in fact used as supply and fire direction centers for the jihadi forces. It will be interesting to see the Turkish reaction when the Syrian army knocks on the observer post’s door.
There continues to be deep divide in the anti-Syrian front. HTS pushed back against Turkish attempts to control the area it holds. It rejected the various ceasefires that Turkey, Russia and Iran agreed upon in the Astana process. When its defense lines broke it refused offers from the Turkish controlled ‘National Army’ gangs to come to its help.
“Ömer Özkizilcik @OmerOzkizilcik – 10:32 UTC · Aug 15, 2019– When the factions of the National Army recently attempting to send fighters to Idlib, HTS [Islamic terrorist group] rejected anyone from Sultan Murad, Firka Hamza, Sultan Suleyman Shah and Jaysh al Islam. A 20-people delegation of Jaysh al Islam to negotiate a free passage was imprisoned by HTS”
Russia and Syria will continue to use this split between the various groups Turkey officially or unofficially supports to incite more infighting on the ‘rebel’ site. It proved to be one of their best weapons.
Recovering the area and Khan Shaykhun, a city with 35,000 pre-war inhabitants, will be a significant victory. But this operation is
only the opening battle of a larger campaign. The rather slow breach of
the frontline will now be turned into a dynamic campaign… The Syrian army will pursue the fleeing jihadis along the M5 highway with a strong armored forces upfront and under the bombing cover of the airforce. Defended towns along the road can be enveloped from east and west, surrounded, and left to the following infantry for clean up. The run must not stop at least until the forces reach Saraquib at the merging of the M4 and M5 highway. The tactical deep battle can then be further developed to recover all of Idlib governorate.
Idlib Governorate – August 15 2019
via LiveUAmap – bigger….
To support the push from the south additional fronts must be opened west of Aleppo along the M5 and from Latakia in the west along the M4 highway through Jish ash Shugur and on to Saraqib.
The battle to breach the frontline in Latakia has been ongoing for some time but a decisive breakthrough has yet to be achieved.
The recovery of the M4 and M5 highways is of uttermost importance for the Syrian economy. Syria, Russia and Iran should resist all calls from the U.S. and Turkey to stop their campaign before that job is done.”
Posted by b on August 15, 2019 at 17:28 UTC | Permalink
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“Most of Idlib is controlled by [Salafist Islamic terror group] Hayat Tahrir al-Sham [HTS], a group dominated by former members of Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate which is on the UN terrorism list.” (2nd to last sentence in article). “Most of the international community considers Tahrir al-Sham to be a terrorist organisation.The US embassy in Syria confirmed on May 2017 that HTS had been designated a terrorist organization in
March 2017. The United States Ambassador to Syria stated that “HTS is a
merger and any group that merges into it becomes part of al-Qaeda’s
Syrian network.” and “the core of HTS is Nusra, a designated terrorist
organization. This designation applies regardless of what name it uses
or what groups merge into it.” Canada designated Tahrir al-Sham as a terrorist organization on 23 May 2018. In August 2018, Turkey designated Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) as a terrorist organization. Trump knows that Al Qaeda or similar terrorist groups control Idlib: 7/27/2017, Trump regime envoy Brett MGurk said, “Idlib province [in Syria] is the largest Al Qaeda safe haven since 911…this is a huge problem. It’s been a problem for some time.” Yet Trump continues to support the effective terror annexation of Idlib per his 6/2/19 tweet saying he was “hearing” bad things, “butchery” going on in Syria’s Idlib province. To Trump, the problem wasn’t that “Idlib province [in Syria] is the largest Al Qaeda safe haven since 911. Instead Trump characterized the legitimate government of Syria trying to rescue its own citizens and land from terrorists as “butchery.”
Without naming Al Qaeda, Trump effectively demanded that Syria stop trying to save its citizens from Al Qaeda and absurdly said, “the world is watching.” Trump knows the entire US political class supports terrorists in Syria and lavished them with at least $12 billion US tax dollars from 2014-2017 alone. Instead of saving Americans from terrorists the Trump regime forces Americans to fund terrorists and their PR arm, White Helmets. In fact Trump deifies White Helmets jihadists and gives them $5 million more US taxpayer dollars. Trump hire Ambassador James Jeffrey announced Trump’s increased US taxpayer funding for jihadist White Helmets. A March 2019 State Dept. proclamation “at the direction” of Pres. Trump praised Islamic terror group White Helmets: “These heroic first responders have the most dangerous job in the world.” Trump statement said, “The United States Government strongly supports the work of the White Helmets.”…
It’s not a “dangerous job” if you’re a fellow jihadist. Being a “hero” won’t save you from being killed in Idlib. No Western reporters can go to Idlib because of the many killings and other attacks they’ve suffered at the hands of HTS and similar terror groups throughout Syria.
White Helmets “rescue group” never rescues suffering people in areas controlled by Syria’s legitimate government, only operates (with camera crews) in areas such as Idlib which are tightly controlled by Islamic terror groups. After White Helmet’s 2017 Oscar, “Boston Globe columnist Stephen Kinzer was one of a number of serious journalists who expressed disappointment over the Academy’s selection, writing on Twitter: “Congratulations to al-Qaeda and Syrian jihadists for the #Oscar given to a film about their PR outfit, the White Helmets.“”…3/3/2017, “An Oscar for a Propaganda Flick,” Consortium News, Patrick Hennigsen
Further, White Helmets are praised by Islamic terror group HTS as “hidden soldiers of the revolution:”
“This March [2017], a leader of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, the powerful newly rebranded al-Qaeda-led rebel coalition in Syria, hailed the White Helmets in a special video message as the “hidden soldiers of the revolution.”…”Abu Jaber praises [terrorist] humanitarian workers, such as the White Helmets.” 3/19/17.…..9/6/2017, ”Investigation: White Helmets Committing Acts Of Terror Across Syria,” Mint Press News
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Added: Like jihadists, the US government only provides humanitarian aid in Syria to areas controlled by Islamic terrorists:
“The U.S. State Department, USAID, and other government agencies have refused to provide humanitarian aid to government-held areas in Syria and have instead expressly used the funding to bankroll the political, civil, and health infrastructure of [Islamic terrorist] rebel-held territory, including areas that are governed by Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate, Jabhat al-Nusra. The Guardian exposed how similar aid initiatives by the British government financed the activities of al-Nusra and other extremist Salafi-jihadist militias. [Former Obama Ambassador] Ford acknowledged in his [2018] testimony that U.S. humanitarian aid to Syria was heavily politicized, explaining:
“The U.S. also has deployed a small civilian team into Syria charged with initial reconstruction and building new local governance or improving on existing local governance. If it sounds like nation-building, it is but on a smaller scale. USAID and other civilian agencies have provided $875 million in non-lethal and stabilization aid to opposition-controlled [Islamic terrorist controlled] areas in Syria since FY 2012. Last year [2017] alone the US provided about $200 million.” This politicized humanitarian funding has been part of a concerted effort to undermine the Syrian government’s control over Syrian territory by creating independent political administrations, civil society organizations, health institutions, and infrastructure that are outside of its control, effectively establishing de facto autonomous governments that survive on U.S. [taxpayer] funding.”……2/9/2018, “US Ambassador Confirms Billions Spent on Regime Change in Syria, Debunking ‘Obama Did Nothing’ Myth,”The Gray Zone, Ben Norton]
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Comment: Syria finally asked for help from its longtime friend Russia. Americans have no choice but to hope Putin succeeds in Syria and the US fails.
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