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

Jura said:

Yesterday at 9:06 PM
anti-Government offensive is in progress (by the way Government has been under attack in several other areas as well) and basically I'm waiting for new map(s) to appear ...
just noticed

in "B" above, Khattab area, reportedly Government lost the base which is marked:

previously I figured the defensive perimeter of Hama was set in like arc (marked above) around Arzeh - Qomhana - Mount Zayn - Mount Kafraa (fire control of the areas in between)

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Jura said:

I spent some time figuring out north-to-Hama area in the past:
Oct 1, 2016

... the latest was Oct 29, 2016

and now I read Government lost today what's in map right above spelled Souran and Ma'ardas; I'll consider updating this

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Jura said:

...

previously I figured the defensive perimeter of Hama was set in like arc (marked above) around Arzeh - Qomhana - Mount Zayn - Mount Kafraa (fire control of the areas in between)

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Jura said:

... "Cassad"

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said according to yet unconfirmed news Government had lost

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this evening (?!) ...

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1. to the south, today Rebels took it out of Ar-Rastan Pocket and cut Homs - Salamiyah road;
2. to the east, Salamiyah - Itrya (- Khanaser - and ultimately Aleppo) road is still either cut by ISIL or clogged

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Jura said:

...

(OK OK in the morning I recalled just a part of the 'arc'), anyway the problem of Government right now is it completely lost the initiative, so less defended areas are falling quickly (mainly to the northwest from Hama)

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1. (number is in red above) Government may get encircled in Mahardah;
2. (number is in blue above) Government lost Maarzaf and Majdal yesterday, and I don't know (the ugly question mark in blue most to the left) how close the current line is to Asilah;
3. (number is in blue above) Government lost Khattab and Arzeh yesterday, and I don't know the current lines around those places (two ugly question marks in blue);
4. (number is in red above) Government is under attack in Qomhana, the part of the 'arc' (it's the inner perimeter of the defense of Hama town ... you may look at the map I quote above in this post; I put the 'arc' schematically as the red dots, and I know they don't go where they should which would be to 'Hama Airbase' more to the south);
5. (number is in blue above) Government lost Kawkab today, but reportedly is counterattacking in that area; south to Maardas, which Goverment lost yesterday in the evening, I put yet another ugly question mark in blue, as I don't know how close anti-Government forces got to the two mountains (Mount Zayn is not marked in the above map, while Mount Kafraa is)

A good friend of mine who watches Syria and Iraq through binoculars 24 x 7, wrote to me a couple of days ago that Trump is doing some incredible things out there in the neighborhood where she lives. Let me succinctly paraphrase her assessment:

• Trump has in fact prioritized the fight against terrorism. He is doing this quietly… The CIA has completely turned off the arms spigot to rebels in Syria and the US is bombing Al Qaeda and its allied groups now – something that Obama avoided (and tried to stop Russia/Syria/Iran from doing.) Equally, Trump is bombing the Al-Qaeda in Yemen too. And in Iraq, Trump is standing by while the Iran-trained Hashd ash-Shabi is annihilating ISIS in western Mosul and cutting off their route to Syria. Obama, on the contrary, had refused to let the Hashd fight in many of these battles. Trump now has not only given the go-ahead, but we have now seen the Iraqi Air Force participate in anti-ISIS bombing raids into Syria. Simply put, if the Obama administration’s policies only had led to the rise of the ISIS and Al-Qaeda in Iraq and Syria, Trump is actually fighting them and, importantly, he is allowing US’ regional foes – Iran and Iran-supported militia groups, in particular – to fight them unimpeded.

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In 1997, a U.S. Department of Defense report stated, “the data show a strong correlation between U.S. involvement abroad and an increase in terrorist attacks against the U.S.” Truth is, the only way America can win the “War On Terror” is if it stops giving terrorists the motivation and the resources to attack America. Terrorism is the symptom; American imperialism in the Middle East is the cancer. Put simply, the War on Terror is terrorism; only, it is conducted on a much larger scale by people with jets and missiles.

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