PHOTO: A Russian journalist in front of tanks at Moscow’s base in Latakia Province in western Syria


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Special: Documenting Russia’s Airstrikes


UPDATE 1220 GMT: Claimed photograph of the spreading camp for several hundred Russian troops at the equestiran complex in Hama city (see map):

RUSSIA COMPLEX HAMA

A local activist said last weekend that more than 1000 Russian soldiers are now based in or near Hama.


UPDATE 1210 GMT: The site Bellingcat has carried out geolocation on 12 Russian Ministry of Defense videos and found that none of them are of attacks on Islamic State positions:

Three videos were verified as being in locations matching the title and description of the videos. In all 3 videos the targets of Russian bombing are described as “terrorists” rather than ISIS, which is taken as a catch-all term for armed Syrian opposition groups.

Five videos gave locations that were accurate, but described the attacks as targeting ISIS when there is no known current ISIS presence in those areas.

Two videos gave the location as [the Islamic State’s center of] Raqqa, but were in fact filmed over 100 miles west of Raqqa in areas with no known ISIS presence.

One video gave no location, but was geolocated to an area where there was no known ISIS presence, despite the title of the video claiming otherwise.

One video gave a location at the entrance to [opposition-held] Ma’arat al Nu’man [in Idlib Province], but was geolocated to an area 20 km away from Ma’arat al Nu’man.

Bellingcat noted that the videos not only indicate that almost all Russian attacks have been on rebels and civilians, but raise questions over the claim that the Islamic State has been hit in Raqqa city.


UPDATE 0915 GMT: The pro-opposition site el-Dorar claims that Russian airstrikes have now assisted the Islamic State.

The site said a Russian attack in the Petra area, near the Qalamoun region in western Syria, targeted a camp of Usud al-Sharqiya, a rebel faction which has been fighting ISIS. An undisclosed number of fighters were wounded.
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UPDATE 0610 GMT: Claimed footage of a march in Idlib city on Monday night, protesting Russia’s bombing:


UPDATE 0600 GMT: US officials said on Monday — five days after the first Russian airstrikes on Syrian rebels — that they have concluded that “it is an intentional effort by Moscow”.

“On day one, you can say it was a one-time mistake,” a “senior U.S. official” said. “But on day three and day four, there’s no question it’s intentional. They know what they’re hitting.”

The Wall Street Journal writes, “The Pentagon decided against sharing any information with Moscow about the areas where U.S. allies were located because it suspected Russia would use that information to target them more directly or provide the information to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.”


ORIGINAL ENTRY: In a further escalation of Russia’s military intervention in Syria’s 4 1/2-year conflict, a leading politician has indicated that Moscow will deploy ground forces.

Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov, the head of Parliament’s Defense Committee, said Moscow could send “volunteers”, five days after it began bombing of rebels, the Islamic State, and civilians across western and northern Syria.

Komoyedov also said that “[naval] artillery strikes have not been ruled out, the ships are prepared”, supporting report of the movement of Russian warships to the eastern Mediterranean. He added, “But there is no sense in doing this yet, the terrorists are located deep [in Syrian territory], where artillery can’t reach them.”

As it expanded an airbase last month, Russia brought in several hundred additional troops, but it said the soldiers were “advisors” to President Assad’s militias. The troops were deployed close to frontlines in Latakia, Hama, and Homs Provinces, as well as Tartous Province on the Mediterranean.

The Russian announcement adds to expectation of an attempt by regime forces to move into areas of northern Homs and northern Hama Provinces, following Moscow’s airstrikes. “Two US defense officials” said the latest intelligence assessment is that Russia has moved combat weapons — including heavy artillery and four BM-30 multiple-launch rocket systems — and troops into an area between the cities of Homs and Idlib.

Several weeks ago, Russia moved about half a dozen artillery pieces into its base in Latakia Province on the Mediterranean. US intelligence originally thought that might be for defense of the port.

Areas of the possible ground assaults:

HOMS HAMA SYRIA

A local activist wrote to journalist Jenan Moussa about intensive propaganda, including leaflets, promising an attack: “The regime is trying to win a psychological media war through advertising for a new military operations in Rastan and al Houla [in Homs Province].”

The activist promised resistance: “The last time the regime tried to advance, into a small village called Aqrab, they suffered major losses. They withdrew, dragging their tale of defeat behind them.”

The Syrian military’s pamphlets called on civilians to flee:

On Sunday, rebel factions — in a statement signed by more than 100 officers — announced a Joint Operations Room to organize defenses.

Warnings to Russia Over Violations of Turkish Airspace

Both Turkey and NATO warned Russia about its aerial operations on Monday, after revelations of at least two Russian warplanes that briefly moved into Turkish airspace. NATO’s North Atlantic Council cited “the extreme danger of such irresponsible behaviour” and called on Moscow “to cease and desist, and immediately explain these violations”.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that a Russian Su-30 jet fighter flew over Hatay Province in southeastern Turkey for two minutes last Saturday, before Ankara’s scrambled aircraft brought a withdrawal. NATO said there was a second violation on Sunday by a Su-24 warplane.

However, Russia continued to defy any criticism, shifting its propaganda line again amid deception over its targets.

Moscow said last week that its airstrikes were “exclusively” on the Islamic State, but that position was soon exposed by firm evidence of Russian attacks on rebels and civilians in northwest Syria, up to 110 km (68 miles) from any ISIS forces.

Russia tried to cover this by expanding its enemy to rebel factions with the claim that all of them are “terrorists”, but Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made an exception of the Free Syrian Army, saying it might be part of the opposition brought into a political process for a resolution.

However, Lavrov erased that on Monday — even as Russia carried out more airstrikes on FSA positions, the Foreign Minister said that the group did not exist: “They tell us about the Free Syrian Army, but where is it? It remains a phantom group, nothing is known about it.”

The Foreign Minister of Iran, an essential ally of the Assad regime, added his defense of Russian operations by turning on the US. At a talk in New York, Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Moscow had been invited to act by President Assad and then addressed the US-led coalition which has been carrying out airstrikes on the Islamic State: “Why are you there?” he said. “Who gave you the right to be there?”

The Russian Defense Ministry said its jet fighters flew 15 sorties on Monday, striking 10 Islamic State targets. It claimed that 20 ISIS tanks and 3 rocket launchers were destroyed in Homs Province near Palmyra, the Roman city captured by the Islamic State in late May.

The Ministry made no reference to attacks on opposition-held territory.


More Evidence of Russian Threat to Hospitals, Ambulances, and Medical Personnel

A Syrian doctor, Ammar Martini, adds to evidence of the Russian threat to medical facilities and personnel, describing an attack on the emergency ambulance center of his organization Orient Humanitarian Relief:

They destroyed four or five of our vehicles. These attacks were specifically targeting Orient.

Last week, a Medicins Sans Frontieres hospital at a refugee camp in Latakia Province, near the Turkish border, was shut after Russian bombs hit nearby and also struck a medical facility 20 km (13 miles) away.

See Videos: Russian Attacks Hit Refugee Camp and Free Syrian Army HQ in Latakia Province

An Orient ambulance was hit as it transported casualties from the village of Ihsem, where 11 people were killed by Russian attacks last weekend. The assault also struck a medical facility maintained by the White Helmets civil defense organization.


Civil Defense Warns Civilians of Russian Cluster Bombs

Syria’s White Helmets civil defense organization has warned civilians about Russian use of cluster bombs in its aerial attacks.

The White Helmets said people should not approach areas that have been struck, as the cluster bombs explode up to 15 minutes after the initial attack.

WHITE HELMETS WARNING CLUSTER BOMBS