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

delft said:

Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten

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says today the Al Tanf base of US sponsored militants that was bombed by the Russian air force in mid June was also a base of US special forces and from which UK special forces had left the day before.

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Jura said:

looking at this map (it's an overview as of June 2 by "deSyracuse"), with An Tanf highlighted, 100+ kilometers from ISIL, it could be interesting to see the Russian denial of what's described in
Russia bombs U.S.-backed Syrian rebels near Jordan border

source:

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Russian Defence Ministry comments on report of The Wall Street Journal on strikes performed by aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces against training camp of insurgents near al-Tanf inhabited area:
“It is only the military command of the anti-ISIS coalition who is responsible for the fact that its Special Task Force units are subjcted to the threat of being in the operation zone of the Russian Aerospace Foces.
We have always been appealing through all channels to our partners to present information about locations of under-controlled groups of “moderate opposition”.
However, instead of that, post factum, we hear blames and accusations that the Russian Aerospace Forces “should not have hit” some regions and targets.
Even after performing a strike on a training camp of insurgents near al-Tanf in June, our American colleagues said: “Do not strike on targets which you have just hit!”
Moreover, taking into account the report of The Wall Street Journal, our pilots have to guess from the altitude of several kilometers whether there are Special Task Force units of the Western countries according to “blocking sandbags peculiar to American and British military bases”.
We are confident that there is a simpler method of solving the problem. Our partners should move from words to deeds and start joint actions against international terrorist groupings active in Syria.
Only in this case we will be successful in preventing such incidents and endangering our servicemen, who are performing tasks aimed at fighting terrorists in the Syrian territory”.

Earlier, The Wall Street Journal referring to sources in the Pentagon and the White House reported that on June 16 the Russian combat aircraft struck a secret base of American and British elite troops in al-Tanf, inhabited area on the border with Jordan.

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Russian warplanes 'targeted US, British outpost in Syria'
Russian warplanes bombed a remote outpost in Syria used by elite US and British forces last month as well as another site linked to the CIA, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.

The Journal, which cited US officials as its source, said the previously unreported air strikes on June 16 and July 12 were part of a bid by Moscow to pressure Washington to cooperate more closely with it in the skies over Syria.

A contingent of about 20 British special forces had pulled out the day before the first attack on June 16, on a garrison about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Jordanian border at At-Tanf, the report said.

US officials and rebel commanders told the Journal that the outpost was hit with cluster munitions.

US attempts to wave off the Russians failed to prevent a second air strike on the base, the report said.

About three weeks later, on July 12, Russian warplanes hit a rebel camp used by family members of CIA-backed fighters about 50 miles west of At-Tanf, the report said.

US military and intelligence officials told the newspaper that the attacks hardened opposition at the Pentagon and the CIA to cooperating with the Russians.

But the White House and the State Department, seeking to avoid a military escalation, decided to pursue a compromise, it said.

Last week, US Secretary of State John Kerry reached a provisional agreement with the Russians to join forces in strikes on Al-Nusra, the Al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria.

Under the agreement, the Russians would halt air strikes against US-backed rebels and restrain the Syrian air force in return for Washington easing Moscow's international isolation, the Journal said.

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delft said:

I just found this Al Monitor article on the same matter,
Author AFP
Posted July 22, 2016 12:05 GMT:

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About three weeks later, on July 12, Russian warplanes hit a rebel camp used by family members of CIA-backed fighters about 50 miles west of At-Tanf, the report said.

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Jura said:

... and fierce fights have been going on since then, mainly in the area designated "Ard al-Mallah" in the map below (it's usually called Mallah Farms; I didn't look at features of that area), with the goal of the Government

1. to take over this area (massively attacking from the hills north to Aleppo, in middle-top in the map below), and then presumably
   
2. get to Khalidiyeh (middle-bottom) and other Government-held districts of Aleppo

in order to encircle non-Government non-Kurdish districts of Aleppo (which would then schematically look as the area in blue below; the Kurdish neighborhood is shown schematically in orange:

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and just north to it, there's the arc of Castello Road
https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/is...no-oped-no-policis.t6913/page-380#post-401558
visible), ...

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Jura said:

... and if you asked me who's winning, I'd answer I don't know ...

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(it's

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CAW of Charles de Gaulle takes shape

The president and the army chief announced last Friday: the Charles de Gaulle will fight Daech in September, not October, as the defense minister had originally discussed. The Navy is going to have to work extra hard.

At this point, the drivers of carrier aviation train on the aircraft carrier, off Toulon. Four new drivers will be qualified by day and eight night (the famous "owls") at the end of this period.

The air group (EAG) will be the first consisting solely Gust: twenty devices, probably 24. The Navy will therefore be as or better than the previous mandates. This deployment will also mark 15 years of commitment of Charles de Gaulle in battle: in 2001, just qualified, the Charles de Gaulle set sail to fight the Taliban, the longest mission of its history.

In 2016, EAG should also include a Cayman Marine. Three Cayman had embarked on as many frigates, during the previous mission.

Finally, it is also possible that the ship features a detachment Resco (CSAR) provided by the air force. Especially if, as is likely, the carrier remains in the Mediterranean. The shorter way to support the recapture of Mosul.

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Jura said:

this is just not to forget what's "mainly" going on: ...

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Jura said:

... as I noticed the Government had been under a heavy counter-strike toward "South Mallah Farms" yesterday in the evening

and now various sources in Twitter say the Government foiled this counterattack (shown schematically in blue below):

a major success for the Government yesterday! as a moment ago I saw, in a totally pro-Government source, pictures of the defenders (I would've considered them to be Kanonenfutter):

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Jura said:

this is just not to forget what's "mainly" going on: on Saturday, June 25, the Government began North Aleppo Offensive, and ...

Jul 1, 2016

Jul 1, 2016
... but as of now, the answer would be the Government is winning, with just one mile to go to achieve the second goal:

(it's

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Jura said:

... the Kurdish neighborhood is shown schematically in orange:

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...

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(should be "clickable"; it's

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The Syrian army said on Wednesday it had cut off all supply routes into the eastern, rebel-held part of Aleppo a day after it invited armed groups to put down their weapons and texted residents to ask them to leave the city.

Once Syria's largest city, Aleppo has been divided between rebel-controlled and government-held sectors for five years of the civil war. Taking full control of the city would be a significant victory for President Bashar al Assad.

An advance by pro-government forces around the only remaining supply route into the eastern sector this month enabled them to fire on it at close range, making the battlefront Castello road too deadly to use and putting at least 250,000 people in rebel-held districts under siege.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the eastern parts of Aleppo had been under effective siege since July 11, and advances in recent days by pro-government forces had strengthened their control of the only route in.

"Today there is no way at all to bring anything into Aleppo," Observatory Director Rami Abdulrahman said.

Fighting persists across much of Syria after the failure of diplomatic efforts to end the conflict. The United Nations says it hopes to reconvene peace talks in August.

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