ISIS/ISIL conflict in Syria/Iraq (No OpEd, No Politics)

dtulsa said:

For a little bit of good news ...

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Newly created, US-trained units are leading the Iraqi Army counteroffensive against the

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, officers of the 82nd Airborne Division said this morning. Yes, the recapture of Ramadi is

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, acknowledged Col. Curtis Buzzard and Maj. Michael Hamilton, but at least it is moving, and the Iraqi troops they

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are not only holding their ground but advancing.

Neither officer offered a comparison to

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, but even limited success in Iraq makes a stark contrast to the collapse of US efforts to train a moderate Syrian opposition. For that matter, even limited success in Iraq today is a stark contrast to last year’s rout in which fleeing Iraqi forces ceded much of the country — and much US-provided equipment — to ISIL.

The Iraqis trained by Col. Buzzard’s 3rd Brigade, by contrast, were new recruits who joined the Iraqi Army after the Islamic State advance. These men are full of patriotic fervor — or at least Shia Arab hatred for the Sunni ISIL — and willing to fight.

“The majority of units that we trained were new units,” Buzzard told reporters at the Pentagon. “These were new soldiers that had joined the army and were very nationalistic. I remember being at an Iraqi Army brigade one graduation and the whole brigade’s chanting, ‘We’re going to Mosul! We’re going to Mosul!'”

The Mosul offensive was put on hold after Ramadi fell. But the new units’ enthusiasm transferred. “The 16th Iraqi Army Division and the 76th Brigade as part of that, they started as a subcomponent of one axis” in the multi-pronged march on Ramadi, said Buzzard. “Now…they’re basically the main effort.”

“The 16th Division, it stood up from scratch; it was a new unit when we first came in country,” added Hamilton. The 82nd Airborne guided them from “rudimentary training” all the way through operations in Ramadi, he said, where “they were probably the most successful Iraqi army unit participating in that operation.”

The Airborne’s training mission started with five brand-new brigades, Col. Buzzard said, and initially he was worried what would happen when those units graduated. But the Iraqis took to the training so enthusiastically that the training center, run by both US and allied Western troops, now has a waiting list. Iraqi units assigned to imminent major operations get jumped to the head of the queue.

The program must be customized depending on how much prior training each Iraqi unit has and how much time it has before it must go back into battle.

“We had training programs…that started from very basic soldier skills –marksmanship, medical skills, and soldier tasks like how to move in a formation — and progressed all the way up to battalion-level collective training, where hundreds of soldiers in a battalion formation were doing these complex maneuvers,” Hamilton said. That included live-fire exercises in realistic depictions of the

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-strewn defensive belts ISIL had built around Ramadi.

The Airborne also

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Iraqi units, like the 16th Division, that had moved on from training to actual operations — although the Americans

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. That’s a stark contrast to the last time Buzzard and Hamilton were in Iraq, during the intense US-led fighting of 2007. It also makes things much harder than the pre-2011 approach, in which US forces mentored Iraqis under fire, fighting side by side.

“We can’t accompany them on the battlefield and that presents a challenge, both to our own situational awareness of how they execute the operations and our ability to assist them in executing the operations,” Hamilton said. “It takes a lot of patience to let them lead the way, [but] it’s ultimately their fight to win or lose.”

“They’ve recognized they’ve got to do this on their own,” said Buzzard. “That’s something that’s a little bit different.”

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dtulsa said:

... what we are told is a majority of Syrian refugees are men of military age

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14 Trucks Loaded With 75 tons of Vegetables and Fruits Arrive to Aleppo
By

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on November 6, 2015

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Around 14 trucks loaded with 75 tons of vegetables and fruit arrived to Aleppo on Thursday noon to be distributed among markets and merchants in the city, after opening the road linking Aleppo, Khanaser, Athriya and al- Salamiyeh.


In a statement to SANA reporter, Mohamed Aboush, the manager of Internal Trade and Consumer Protection, pointed out that these amounts include 35 tons of tomatoes, 25 tons of citrus, 7 tons of pomegranates, 5 tons of apples in addition to amounts of vegetables.


Aboush affirmed that amounts of gasoline, fuel and domestic gas will arrive to Aleppo Thursday evening to be distributed Friday morning.


On Wednesday, Army and armed forces established full control over the road linking Aleppo, Khanaser, Athriya and al- Salamiyeh after 12 day closure by terrorist organizations.

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janjak desalin said:

give them 'til after the weekend, after they've had a chance to utilize the Tartus to Hama to Salamiyah to Ithriyah to Khannasser to Safirah highway (the reasoning for my Hama to Aleppo highway offensive should, now, be obvious) to supply sufficient ordinance, and other goodies, to get the job done right.

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Jura said:

... numerous sources are telling me the Rebels took over Morek most recently ...
I'll post details if I find any ...

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The US led coalition against the Islamic State plans to increase the number of airstrikes in Syria in the near future, a top US general said Saturday.

Lt. Gen Charles Brown Jr., commander of AFCENT, said strikes should increase in a matter of "weeks" as conditions on the ground evolve.

"Oh yeah," Brown said in response to a question of if the strike numbers will begin going up, before pushing back somewhat at the narrative that strikes had dropped in the last two months.

"Every strike's not equal," Brown told reporters at the Dubai International Air Chiefs Conference. "A strike can be one weapon, or it could be 40 weapons. And that's part of the challenge you run into when you start talking strike numbers."

"My goal is to come back with zero weapons," he added. "That might be unrealistic because we're doing overwatch but I'm trying to take advantage of every opportunity I can."

The number of reported airstrikes by the US in Syria dropped once Russia began flying in Syria, going from an average of seven strikes a day in August down to less than four strikes a day in October. The Pentagon has denied that Russia's presence has been the driver for that dip in strikes, instead blaming a series of factors including an increased focus of US airpower on Iraq and environmental factors.

Brown told reporters that targets from the Islamic State, commonly known as ISIS or ISIL, have largely been stationary in recent weeks. When that reality was combined with some weather issues, he said, the number of targets has simply been smaller than it was over the summer.

"When the ground force moves around, the enemy moves and they make themselves more vulnerable and their easier to strike," he said. "So we're able to pick up the pace. So that's why there is a little bit of a drop. The Russians have nothing to do with it."

The AFCENT commander also disagreed with those who feel the use of airpower has been handcuffed in how it applies air power, in particular the argument that some civilian casualties may be acceptable if it means wiping out the greater threat that is ISIS.

"Part of our coalition is to minimize civilian casualties," Brown said. "Part of this is getting the population to decide who is on their side, the insurgency or the coalition. And if we just start wiping out civilians, there is potential there that they go differently."

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Jura said:

interesting:
USAF General: Syrian Strikes to Increase in Coming Weeks

source:

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The Syrian War is a Battle for Roads; Not Territory

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By

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on September 2, 2015

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More often than not, military and political analysts refer to the current ground situation in Syria by referencing maps that are visually descriptive, but lack the depth to convey what is really going on inside the country.

Coloring provinces and cities can be productive if you are attempting to kill time while waiting for your dentist to perform a root canal procedure; however, in this war, it is a façade that has hyperbolized the gains of a radical group like the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham’s (ISIS), who are often depicted as having control of half of the country.

ISIS Enters the War:

Analysts display elaborate maps that show remarkable artwork, but little depth or comprehension of the ground war; after all, most observers do not know that over 80 percent of the territory ISIS controls is actually uninhabited desert terrain.

In fact, Syria’s eastern front was relatively quiet until ISIS captured the provincial capitals of Al-Raqqa and Nineveh (Iraq); this paved the way for the rebel forces to abandon their posts in the Deir Ezzor and Al-Hasakah Governorates.

Before ISIS’ capture of Palmyra in the Homs Governorate, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) actually controlled the main highway from Deir Ezzor City to Palmyra, despite allegedly being surrounded by ISIS from all sides.

The Road to Palmyra:

When ISIS attacked Palmyra, most observers did not realize that the terrorist group possessed a clear path to this ancient city from their own positions inside Al-Raqqa; and why would they?

Well, while ISIS was traveling unscathed from Raqqa City to Palmyra, they were also moving freely from Raqqa City to the border-city of Ras Al-‘Ayn in northern Al-Hasakah.

Then there is the talk of Deir Ezzor City: many analysts do not understand the purpose and importance behind the Syrian Army maintaining control of this old city on the Euphrates River; if they were to concede the town to ISIS, they would endanger the Syrian capital of Damascus because the highways that travel through Deir Ezzor City lead to it from the east.
Rebels Cutoff the Latakia-Aleppo Highway:

The Syrian Arab Army’s 2nd Corps are spread across the Aleppo, Idlib, and Latakia Governorates; they were relatively unused by SAA’s Central Command until the war began in Syria.

When the Syrian War spread to Aleppo in the Summer of 2012, the Central Command mobilized a number of SAA units in order to combat the latest insurgency; however, this was a little too late – the rebel forces had cutoff the main pathway to Aleppo from Latakia.

The Latakia-Aleppo Highway (also known as the M-4 Highway) was cutoff and unlikely to be recaptured quick enough to relieve the embattled soldiers trapped inside the Aleppo Governorate.

As a result of this, the rebel forces captured a number of cities and bases amid a large withdrawal of Syrian Army units to the provincial capital – the city was on the verge of falling until their breakthrough at the Khanasser front.

Syrian Army Finds an Alternative Route to Aleppo:

[my emphasis]​

In late 2013, the Syrian Arab Army finally got the break they were looking for after they captured the strategic cities of Khanasser (Hama) and Al-Safira (south Aleppo); this eventually led to the Syrian Armed Forces linking the Khanasser Highway to Aleppo City.

With the Khanasser Highway under their control, the Syrian Armed Forces were able to recover a number of sites in the Aleppo Governorate, while also expanding their primary supply route to different fronts inside the province.

Who Will Win This War?

If the war somehow does not end up in a political settlement, the winner will likely control the main highways and roads leading to Syria’s provinces and major cities; without control over these roadways, the enemy fighters can continue to resupply themselves in order to prolong peace.

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