Syria

Reported Chemical Weapons Attack on Civilians in Syria

A suspected chemical weapons attack, reported to be Sarin gas has been alleged in the Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun, in Idlib province held by rebels against the Assad regime. Either Syrian or Russian jets according to Syrian activist sources, dropped a bomb that has killed up to 58 civilians including 11 children on Tuesday.

This is worst attack of its kind during the bloody six-year war. It was also the third claim of a chemical attack in just the past week in Syria. The previous two were reported in Hama province, in an area not far from Khan Sheikhoun, where Tuesday’s alleged chemical attack occurred.

Mohammed Hassoun, a media activist in nearby Sarmin — also in Idlib province where some of the critical cases were transferred — said the hospital there had been equipped to deal with such chemical attacks because the town was struck in one chemical attack, early on in the Syrian uprising.
The wounded have been “distributed around in rural Idlib,” he told The Associated Press by phone. “There are 18 critical cases here. They were unconscious, they had seizures and when oxygen was administered, they bled from the nose and mouth.”
Hassoun, who is documenting the attack for the medical society, said the doctors there have said it is likely more than one gas. “Chlorine gas doesn’t cause such convulsions,” he said, adding that doctors suspect sarin was used.
Hussein Kayal, a photographer for the Idlib Media Center, said he was awoken by the sound of a bomb blast around 6:30 a.m. When he arrived at the scene there was no smell, he said.
He found entire families inside their homes, lying on the floor, eyes wide open and unable to move. Their pupils were constricted. He put on a mask, he said. Kayal said he and other witnesses took victims to an emergency room, and removed their clothes and washed them in water.
He said he felt a burning sensation in his fingers and was treated for that.

Idlib Province is home to some 900,000 displaced Syrian refugees and is controlled almost completely by rebels battling the Assad regime. The attack was carried out early in the morning, around 6:30 a.m. when many of the victims were asleep in bed.

To read the ABC News entire article click here:

File Photo courtesy of BBC

US Drops Special Operations Near Raqqa, Cuts Off ISIS Escape Route

The US-led coalition has dropped both American and Syrian fighters behind the city of Raqqa in an effort to cut off the ISIS escape route out of the city. That’s an encouraging sign that perhaps the battle to drive out the insurgents from Syria is going well.

According to reports from inside Syria, five helicopters, supported by five fighter jets, dropped US Marines and dozens of Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters near the northern town of Shurfa on Wednesday afternoon.

The purpose of the operation is to seize the key Tabqa dam across the Euphrates River. This will isolate Raqqa from the remaining ISIS-controlled territory in Syria. Raqqa was named the capital city of the self-styled caliphate.

The group said in a statement that the operation was in preparation for an assault on Tabqa, an ISIL redoubt 28 miles west of Raqqa.
They claimed to have captured four villages and severed the main artery running between the extremists’ de facto capital and the western countryside.
Top officials from the 68-nation alliance are set to meet in Washington today to hear more about a revised plan drafted by the Pentagon and presented to US President Donald Trump in February.
The meeting was the first of all the coalition’s top diplomats since September 2014.

Meanwhile, the US and President Donald Trump are having discussions on whether or not to continue to support the YPG, the Kurdish group that is fighting ISIS but is considered a terrorist organization by Turkey and President Erdogan. If the US should shift its allegiance away from YPG, it could signal a thawing of relations between Washington and Ankara.

The US is also ramping up plans to add another 1000 troops to Syria in support of the SDF.

To read the entire article from the Telegraph click here:

Photo courtesy DOD

Israel’s Air Force Bombs Targets in Syria

Israeli Air Force jets pounded targets in Syria which resulted in the Syrian air defense systems launching multiple ground-to-air missiles at the jets in retaliation. One of the rockets was intercepted.

The two countries have been technically at war since the 2011 Syrian civil war against Bashar Al-Assad’s government began. But the bombing of yesterday is regarded as the most serious escalation of the conflict yet in the region.

Israeli authorities claim that their Arrow missile defense systems intercepted one of the rockets fired at the Israeli jets. Syrian military authorities claim to have shot down one of the jets, but the Israeli Air Force said that they suffered no losses in the air strike.

Syria’s army high command confirmed in a statement on Friday that Israeli jets breached Syrian airspace early in the morning and attacked a military target near Palmyra.
The high command described the attack as an act of aggression that aided the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, which is fighting against the Syrian government.
It said its air defences shot down one of four Israeli jets over what it called “occupied ground” and damaged another.
There were no reports by the Israeli army of any aircraft lost in the operation.
Jordanian new media said an “unidentified object” fell from the skies on Thursday night in the northern area of Irbid, after which security forces surrounded the area of impact.
Pictures shared on social media showed what appeared to be part of a missile that had landed in a yard.

The air strikes were reportedly targeting arms convoys of the known terror group Hezbollah who fought the Israelis in Lebanon in 2016 and is supporting the Assad regime in this conflict. The missile launches prompted the Israelis to set off air raid sirens in the Jordan Valley. Witnesses claimed to have heard an explosion, which may have been the rocket being intercepted.

To read the entire article from Al Jazeera, click here:

Photo courtesy Israeli Air Force

Conventional Troops Adding to Special Operations Forces in Syria

The US has augmented the already 500 Special Operations forces in Syria with 400 conventional troops. Reports were filtering down that a Marine Corps artillery unit and an Army Stryker unit have been sent to Syria in advance of the anticipated battle to free the major town of Raqqa.

Army General Joseph Votel, Commander of the US Central Command told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the need for more conventional troops may increase for later stability operations.

Sen. John McCain R – Arizona pushed Votel on questions that the US support for the Syrian Kurds, who the Turks consider terrorists could be a flashpoint in the upcoming battle where the different factions are working so closely together to remove ISIS.

What the Trump administration has done so far pretty much goes by the Obama administration’s playbook. I mean, their idea was the local provide the fighters, we provide the firepower, and that’s how we grab back territory from ISIS.
But the big question is, who are going to be the fighters who seize the town? And the most capable forces that the American military has found in the region is this YPG Kurdish militia. They’re the ones that have the most experience fighting. They’re the ones that played the key role in taking back Manbij.
They’re the force that the American military is counting on to be a component, not the majority of the force, that takes Raqqa, but a key component of the assault force.
The problem is, Turkey considers them to be terrorists, and they have sort of drawn a red line at arming the YPG. But, unless we arm the YPG, they’re in no position to help out in the Raqqa assault. And that’s pretty much where things stand at this point.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has given President Trump the Defense Dept. plans on defeating ISIS in both Syria and Iraq. Trump pledged to swiftly eradicate ISIS from both countries. Troop strength in Syria was capped by former President Obama in an attempt to keep the US from escalating into another conflict after the last eight-plus years in Iraq.

To read the PBS News entire article click here:

Photo courtesy of DOD

US Special Forces and Russians Working Too Close for Comfort

Reports were coming out of Syria that US-backed coalition units and Russian troops were operating in very close proximity to one another. In neighboring villages, they each tried to calm rival factions that are both fighting ISIS

The Telegraph is reporting that the two superpowers have each sent troops into the area of the northern town of Manbij to slow the tensions and stop the fighting between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

The SDF which is led by 500 US Special Forces advisors is leading an attack against ISIS’ de facto capital in Syria at Raqqa. As of March 6, they had advanced within 5 miles of the capital city.

Several US armored vehicles flying the stars and stripes were seen patrolling Manbij and the surrounding countryside over the weekend, in what the Pentagon called an effort to “reassure” allies.
“Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve has taken this deliberate action to reassure Coalition members & partner forces, deter aggression and keep focus on defeating Isil,” Col. John Dorrian, a spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, said on Twitter.
The Manbij military council earlier asked Russian and Syrian troops to form a buffer zone between Manbij and Turkish forces in al-Bab, 25 miles to the southwest.
Col Gen Sergei Rudskoi, a spokesman for the Russian general staff, confirmed on Friday that its commanders in Syria had negotiated an agreement for troops loyal to Damascus to take over several Kurdish-controlled villages.

The Turks consider the SDF an extension of the Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey. With the Russians and US troops in very close proximity to one another, this is the kind of slippery slope that much care must be taken to avoid a confrontation.

To read the Telegraph’s entire article click here:

Photo courtesy DOD