American boots on the ground will be seen in Syria

US President Barack Obama had, in the past, talked about not sending American boots on the ground in Syria but, the situation has changed and it is becoming difficult to rein in the activities of the ISIS in Syria - hence, a team of 50 specialist troops will be dispatched there.
The United States has, obviously, escalated its fight against the Islamic State and, the first open deployment of military boots on the ground, even as U.S. is proof of that. This even as Russian and other diplomats are pressing for a new peace effort which could hasten the departure of President Bashar al-Assad.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 31 October 2015.

The special operations troops will be sent to assist Kurdish and Arab forces in northern Syria.
Diplomats from 17 countries have assembled in Vienna and they have agreed to launch a broad new peace attempt to gradually end Syria's long civil war. Russia and Iran, strong allies of Assad,are in the team and, this attempt could mark a new and promising phase in the diplomacy.
The Syrian civil war has already killed more than 250,000 people and have uprooted more than 11 million and has led to an unprecedented refugee crisis throughout Europe.

(Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org)

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The naval strikes by Russia on Syrian targets were the first known operational use of state-of-the-art SSN-30A Kalibr cruise missiles – these are still being tested by the Russian navy. It was used by the Caspian Sea fleet when it launched a complex cruise missile strike against Syrian rebels from over 1000-Km away.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 8 October 2015.

It appeared to be an exhibition of Moscow's firepower as it backs a government offensive in Syria's multi-faction civil war and was the first naval salvo of Russia's week-old military intervention in Syria.
The attack also revealed Russia's advanced military capabilities and its close coordination with the governments of Iran and Iraq because the missile had to go over these airspaces to strike targets in Syria that were held by the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra, an affiliate of al-Qaeda.
Russia has already launched more than 100 airstrikes against the Islamic State and factions of Islamist and US-backed rebel forces opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.
Involvement of Russia in Syria is a problem for the West, which has launched more than 7,000 airstrikes against the Islamic State in the past year. The West has not taken kindly to Moscow's military buildup in Syria. It seems Russia has not only deployed surface-to-air missiles, fighter jets but also radar jamming equipment to the region which, in the opinion of officials, is meant to interfere with Western forces.
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Planned airstrike by the US has eliminated a top leader of Khorasan Group

#Pentagon #BasharalAssad #KhorasanGroup #Syria The Pentagon has revealed that a planned airstrike by the United States has eliminated a senior al-Qaeda militant in north-western Syria. The person was Muhsin al-Fadhli and he was targeted two weeks ago while he was travelling in a vehicle near Sarmada.
He was killed on 8 July near Sarmada, only 7-Km from Syria's border with Turkey.
This has been reported in bbc.com dated 22 July 2015.

Fadhli has been described as the leader of a network of veteran al-Qaeda operatives. They are also known as ‘Khorasan Group’ and had allegedly planning to carry out external attacks against the US and its allies. Fadhli is believed to have been close to Osama Bin Laden and one of the few al-Qaeda members who had received advanced warning of the 11 September 2001 attacks.
It seems before the US began air strikes on Islamic State (IS) across Syria in September, they had targeted areas near the northern city of Aleppo – the targets were not IS positions, but buildings that were supposed to be used by the Khorasan Group. This group consisted of about 50 veteran militants from Afghanistan and Pakistan, North Africa and Chechnya.
These militants had been sent to Syria by al-Qaeda's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Their mission was not to wage a war against the government of President Bashar al-Assad but embraced a whole of other activities like developing external attacks, constructing and testing improvised explosive devices and recruiting Westerners to carry out operations.
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#AmnestyInternational #SyrianConflict #barrelbombs #warcrimes #aleppo The Syrian conflict is gradually turning out to a case of the gradual disappearance of a centuries old civilization. This is evident in Aleppo, the second largest city of Syria and is all about the sufferings and unthinkable atrocities committed on civilians by both the army of President Bashar al-Assad as well as the rebel groups.
This has been reported in bbc.com dated 6 May 2015.

As per the information with Amnesty International, the forces of the government and many of the rebel groups are committing war crimes on a daily basis. It seems the government has increased the bombardment of Aleppo because of rebel offensive.
In February, in an interview given to the media, President Bashar al-Assad had categorically denied that barrel bombs had ever been used by his forces. But, in a latest incidence of violence at least 10 people were killed when a barrel bomb hit a nursery school in the Saif al-Dawla district. The dead included four children and teacher.
The report of Amnesty International indicates that between January 2014 and March 2015, government aircraft had carried out continuous attacks using barrel bombs. These bombs are oil barrels, fuel tanks or gas cylinders that are packed with explosives, fuel, and metal fragments. The attacks had targeted rebel-held areas of Aleppo.
Their targets are believed to have been at least 14 public markets, 12 transportation hubs, 23 mosques, 17 hospitals and medical centers, and three schools. As per records of the Violations Documentation Center, an activist-run monitoring group, barrel bombings have killed at least 3,124 civilians and 35 rebel fighters in Aleppo province during the same period.

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#ISIS #jihadists #yarmoukcamp #syria #damascus #alnusra The Islamic State militants are knocking at the doors of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and are believed to have infiltrated a refugee camp that is home to nearly 18000 refugees. The camp is the Yarmouk camp and this has happened even as Jordan has closed its only functioning border crossing with the country.
This was due to heavy clashes on the Syrian side between rebels and government forces, as has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 2 April 2015.

The ISIS militants already control large swaths of territory in northern Syria and have apparently made their entry from the Hajar Aswad neighborhood in southern Damascus. It was a coordinated attack with their rivals in the Al Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has revealed that the ISIS took control of large parts of the Yarmouk camp following clashes with a Palestinian group. Observers feel that once ISIS gains full control of Yarmouk, the jihadis can make use of the camp as a base from which to threaten not only the heart of the capital but also Assad himself.

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Glimmer of hope in 2015 for Syria – peace talks possible in Moscow in January

#Syria #peacetalks #BasharalAssad An official of the Syrian government has indicated that Syria was ready to take part in preparatory, advisory meetings in Moscow which could, in turn, pave the way to answer the aspirations of Syrians and help to find an exit from the present crisis.
This is against the backdrop of Russia's Foreign Ministry’s indication that it hoped to host peace talks after Jan. 20 between the Syrian government and its fractured opposition.
It may be recalled that the nearly four-year-old conflict has claimed over 200,000 lives, displaced a third of Syria's population, and nurtured an extremist group, the Islamic State, which now rules over vast swaths of Syria and neighboring Iraq.
Syrian state-run TV has remarked that the government is prepared to take part in peace talks hosted by Russia next month, and the scope of the negotiations would be limited to "preliminary" talks which could form a basis for a conference in Syria itself.
It is no secret that Russia is a staunch ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hadi Bahra, the head of the Syrian National Coalition, the main Western-backed opposition group, has revealed that it had not yet taken any decision on the talks.
The Western-backed Syrian opposition has been insisting that any negotiated settlement should include the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers but this demand has been rejected by Assad's government.