PHOTO: White Helmets rescuers help victims of Russian bombing of Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib Province on Thursday


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Analysis: Adopting “Wait and See”, US Buries Its $500 Million “Train-and-Equip” Program for Rebels


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UPDATE 1430 GMT: Rebels are claiming more successful attacks on regime tanks in Hama Province, having reportedly destroyed 17 on the first day of the regime-Russian offensive on Wednesday.

The Free Syrian Army’s Liwa Fursan al-Haqq in Ma’an village:


UPDATE 0815 GMT: Activists are accusing the Russian air force of a possible “war crime” with an attack, including cluster bombs, on a camp for displaced persons in Idlib Province in northwest Syria.

Pro-opposition activists from nearby Kafranbel said at least five people were killed and 10 injured.

Journalist Hadi al-Abdallah interviews medical staff:

Elsewhere in Idlib Province, Russian aircraft reportedly killed six people in Maasaran:

And claimed footage of an attack on Rastan in Homs Province:


UPDATE 0745 GMT: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have announced the death of their head of Syrian operations, Brigadier General Hassan Hamedani.

Iranian media issued the standard line for Iranian troops killed in action that Hamedani died defending the Sayyab Zeinab shrine in southern Damascus. However, they then said that he was slain “on the outskirts of Aleppo” by the “takfiri terrorists” of the Islamic State.

Hamedani is the eighth Iranian commander to die in the Syrian conflict.

The general was a leader of the crackdown on protesters after Iran’s disputed 2009 Presidential election.

HAMEDANI


ORIGINAL ENTRY: In its second day on Thursday, the regime-Russian offensive in western Syria added a second front in northern Hama Province and also tried to advance in the coastal Latakia Province.

The Syrian Chief of Staff, General Ali Abdullah Ayoub, announced on State TV “a vast offensive to defeat the terrorist groups”. State media later claimed 32 rebels had been killed and four armored vehicles destroyed.

Although Ayoub did not specify where the operation would take place, Syrian state TV reported that the army had targeted “terrorist positions” in the central province of Hama, killing 32 fighters and destroying four armoured vehicles.

The assault began on Wednesday with Syrian ground attacks, supported by Russian bombing, in a 20-km (13-mile) salient between the towns of Morek — on a major highway from Damascus to Aleppo — and Kafrzita in Hama Province. Yesterday Russian helicopter gunships backed a ground assault further west in the al-Ghab Plain, most of which was taken by rebels in the spring as they captured much of northwest Syria.

The Syrian military also attacked on the frontline in northeast Latakia Province, in the mountains near the al-Ghab Plain and close to the rebel-held town of Salma.

While the Assad regime and rebels are putting out conflicting claims, indications so far are that President Assad’s ground forces are struggling to advance. Having reportedly lost 17 tanks and other vehicles on Wednesday, the offensive suffered the downing of three helicopters — two in Hama Province and one in the Latakia attacks — according to rebels and pro-opposition activists.

Having briefly held some villages in the Hama salient offensive, the Syrian military was pushed to the outskirts of Athman, the last village that they retained, according to activists. Pro-regime accounts are only claiming the capture of one village so far in the al-Ghab attacks, and there are disputed reports over whether the Syrian military has been able to take hills and the town of Kafr Ajouz in northeastern Latakia.

Russian and regime warplanes continued to bomb beyond the three offensives. The town of Khan Sheikhoun was among those hit in Idlib Province. Meanwhile, a car bomb followed by regime attacks reportedly killed 20 people and injured in Hreitan in Aleppo Province.

Protesters in Aleppo Province stomp on a Russian flag:

DEMONSTRATION ALEPPO RUSSIA BOMBING


Islamic State Advances Near Aleppo City

As rebels face the regime-Russian offensive, the Islamic State appears to have taken advantage of the situation — particular the Russian airstrikes on rebel positions — by advancing to the east of Aleppo city.

Reports indicate that ISIS has moved into the Infantry Academy (see map), which had been held by rebels. The Islamic State has also reportedly taken villages (see map) near the Sheikh Najjar Industrial Area.

The militants appear also to be fighting Syrian regime forces and their allies, with the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ forces killed (see above).

The Islamic State is also said to be advancing on the long-standing front with rebels in northern Aleppo Province, taking villages near the town of Mare’.


Russia Denies Misfired Cruise Missiles Hit Iran

The Russian Defense Ministry has firmly rejected reports that four of its cruise missiles fell on Iran on Wednesday.

Two unnamed US officials claimed yesterday that four of the 26 missiles launched from the Caspian Sea towards western Syria misfired and struck Iranian soil.

“Any professional knows that during these operations we always fix the target before and after impact. All our cruise missiles hit their target,” the Defense Ministry spokesman, General Igor Konashenkov, said on Thursday.

He continued, “Unlike CNN, we don’t report quoting anonymous sources, but we show launches of our missiles and the targets they hit in real-time mode.”

Iranian media said yesterday that the story was”psychological operations by the US”.

“Since Russian began its operations in Syria, Western media and officials have launched an all-out assault against Moscow,” Fars News, the outlet of the Revolutionary Guards, said.


Islamic State Fighters Assassinated in Raqqa

Five Islamic State fighters were assassinated on Wednesday in Raqqa, the central position of ISIS in northern Syria, according to activists.

Hamoud al-Mousa, a member of the Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently media campaign, said the men were shot to death outside the al-Lazord Hotel, “a place usually reserved for IS foreign fighters”. He said a security cordon was set up around the a-Thekna district.

Syria Direct said several anonymous sources inside Raqqa city confirmed the assassinations.

Five Islamic State fighters were also killed in Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria this week, after a pause of several months in the assassinations, according to the director of Deir e-Zor is being Slaughtered Silently.

A group called the White Shroud was reportedly killing Islamic State members near and in Deir ez-Zor last year; however, the attacks were halted after the Islamic State allegedly executed about 120 men.


Russian Defense Ministry: We Are Open to Cooperation with Free Syrian Army

Russia’s Defense Ministry said again on Thursday that Moscow is ready to work with the Free Syrian Army, even though it has been called a “phantom” by Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov.

“We focused our attention on the fact that certain forces operating in Syria at present, including the Free Syrian Army, express their willingness to cooperate and get involved in the discussions on participation in the struggle against the ISIL [Islamic State],” Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday.

However, Konashenkov echoed Lavrov’s “phantom” remark to express pessimism about the cooperation, “As of today, we observe a complete deadlock provoking a conclusion – either the moderate opposition is a ghost or you just pretend you support it.”

The spokesman also complained that the Defense Ministry’s appeals to foreign counterparts for information on Islamic State positions were unanswered:
“Today we ask them: give us the coordinates of ISIL facilities. But either silence is the answer or a refusal.”