Still no official response from jihadist bloc Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham over Russia-Turkey agreement
LATEST
- Erdoğan: Opposition Must Be Part of Political Resolution in Idlib
- Russia Thumps Chest Over Downing of Its Surveillance Plane
A small jihadist group has opposed Syrian rebels over a demilitarized zone, agreed between Russia and Turkey, for a demilitarized zone in northwest Syria.
But the jihadist bloc Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, still has not declared its stance on the agreement. Under the terms, a zone — 15-20 km (9-12.5 mile) wide and 100 km (62 miles) long — will be established between opposition- and regime-controlled areas in Idlib and northern Hama Provinces. A Russian-Assad regime offensive to reoccupy the area has been suspended.
The Huras al-Din (Guardians of Religion) faction said the agreement is part of a plan “to eliminate the jihadist project”: “We advise our mujahideen brothers in this decisive and dangerous phase…(to) begin military operations against the enemies of religion to thwart their plans.”
Huras al-Din was formed earlier this year by fighters who split from Hayat Tahrir al-Sham when the bloc withdrew allegiance to Al Qa’eda in 2016.
A source close to Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham said Sunday, “The [battle] field concerns us more than what is going on in politics, and we will not deviate from the way we took in the fighting against the regime.”
The National Liberation Front, the rebel coalition backed by Turkey, confirmed on Saturday that it will adhere to last Monday’s agreement.
Syria Daily, Sept 23: Idlib Rebels —- We Will Cooperate With Demilitarized Zone
(Thanks to Mahmoud Abbi for information for this article.)
Erdoğan: Opposition Must Be Part of Political Resolution in Idlib
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has staked out another line against the Assad regime, saying the “moderate opposition” must be part of the political resolution of northwest Syria.
Erdoğan told Russian newspaper Kommersant, “There may be different approaches of different countries about moderate opposition. But we are thinking that the moderate opposition should remain in the political process.”
The President said the opposition’s involvement is needed to fulfil the agenda of the Geneva and Astana talks involving the UN, Turkey, Russia, and Iran. He said Turkey opposes any attempt to undermine moderate opposition by presenting them as “terrorists”.
It was unclear if Russia, which agreed a demilitarized zone in Idlib and northern Hama Provinces, supported Erdoğan’s remarks. Moscow has presented all rebels in the area as “militants”, “extremists”, and “terrorists”.
Ankara says it is trying to distance rebel factions from the jihadist bloc Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham, which took much of Idlib from rebels in 2017.
Russia Thumps Chest Over Downing of Its Surveillance Plane
Russia has returned to a tougher line over last Monday’s accidentally downing of its surveillance plane, killing 15 personnel, by Assad regime anti-aircraft fire.
Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said Monday that Moscow’s personnel in Syria will block radar and satellite signals of any planes moving on the country from the Mediterranean.
The Minister also said Russia will finally provide S-300 air defense systems to Damascus: “In 2013 on a request from the Israeli side we suspended the delivery to Assad regime of the S-300 system, which was ready to be sent with Assad’s crews trained to use it. The situation has changed, and not due to our fault.”
Shoigu said, “Delivery of Russia’s S-300 to Syria will also stop Western coalition from carrying out uncontrolled attacks on Syrian territory.”
"[Syrian command posts] will be equipped with automatic control system, which have been supplied only to the Russian Armed Forces. This will ensure the centralized management of all Syrian air defense forces and facilities, monitoring and prompt target designation."
— Tobias Schneider (@tobiaschneider) September 24, 2018
Last Monday Israeli F-16s fired missiles on regime targets in western Syria. Soon after the attack, a regime S-200 missile hit the Russian Il-20 plane, which crashed in the Mediterranean about 27 km (17 miles) off the coast.
Initially the Defense Ministry blamed the Israelis, saying the F-16s were using the Il-20 as cover and threatening retaliation. President Vladimir Putin stepped back after a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu; however, the Ministry and Russian Embassy in Israel have repeated their criticism of the Israel Defense Forces as irresponsible and even guilty of a crime.
The IDF said on Sunday that an official inquiry had concluded that the Israeli F-16s did not hide behind any plane and Israeli fighter jets were in Israeli airspace when the Assad regime fired its S-200 missiles.
The Israeli military called for the continuation of the “deconfliction” mechanism, agreed in September 2015, between the IDF and the Russian military: “[This is] a common interest when facing the different challenges in the region.
Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov emphasized that the S-300 delivery to Damascus is not a step against Israel: “Our relations are far wider. This is an important issue, of course. But it is also our right and the right of sovereign Syria.”
It should be obvious to everyone that Russia’s actions aimed at ensuring security for its troops are necessary. This is why in this case, Russia is guided solely by these interests, these actions are not directed against third countries, they are meant to protect our own troops.
Idlib just a beginning of the break up of Syria. With Americans having 15 bases in the oil rich east, the Turks with Idlib and numerous other bases deep into what was once Syria also, Russia there along the coast and Iran spread out and taking hits from Israel, there is no hope for a unified Syria with its own authority unless all Syrians can come together under a leader they believe in and demand their own unification and authority again. This is a longshot pipedream though that would need at least a decade or more. Look at Iraq post 2003 for example. They have numerous militias and the Kurds have their own federation and militias etc etc. Assad will eventually step down on his own or be removed by Russia in exchange for some other version of Syria that is more manageable. Sorry for the Syrians that things turned out this way. Really sad situation.
Since the Turks and the Persians got so involved in the “arab spring” its now gonna change to them dealing with their own “springs” The currency problem and the Kurdish areas they have are not going to be left hanging for long. Just have a look at the currencies today:
Iranian Riyal falls again. November will be interesting in terms of Iran. Oil for food program for Iran may be what’s coming. Maybe a change from the theocracy to an IRGC ruled country. I can see Qassem Suleimani taking over and renegotiating everything with Russia and the West. A gradual pullback from its over reaching in the Arab world in exchange for reducing the economic burden and getting Iran welcomed back into the global community is a possible solution. This has happened before where the army takes over, look at Egypt 1952 where Nasser and the army took over from the king. Turkey had numerous coups led by the army. Qassem may have more respect from his enemies than the Mullahs of Iran do with their extreme islamist postions. Women are still forced to be covered and sports is a no no, lashing for drinking alcohol and blocking of twitter, its not much different than an extremist sunni ideology from the muslim brotherhood or the salafis, it just has a shia persian twist sadly.
The kurdish thing will pop up again for both Erdo and Iran after that though. This whole Idlib thing just put things back into perspective as the iranian “resistence” fanboys were too high off the Daraa and Ghoutas and thus thought they really had it all figured out. It doesnt take a genius to know that Daraa was a negotiated item where Iran pulled back and Syria/Russia moved in. Ghouta was only an offshoot of the Daraa plan that the arabs let go when they renegotiated things for a bigger deal with Russia in 2015-2016 and Trump in 2016. The arabs let it be known they dont care anymore about Syria or Assad. They care more about Iran and Hezbola and Yemen. This was the change that led to the new face of the regional politics taking shape now.
Will add nothing else until November.. peace out EA
“Women are still forced to be covered and sports is a no no, lashing for drinking alcohol and blocking of twitter, its not much different than an extremist sunni ideology from the muslim brotherhood or the salafis, it just has a shia persian twist sadly.”
Wow, now I have read everything. An cheer leader for Saudi Arabia pointing the finger at conditions faced by women in Iran.
How many women doctors, economists, engineers, and surgeons etc are there in Saudi Arabia?
“Women are still forced to be covered and sports is a no no, lashing for drinking alcohol and blocking of twitter, its not much different than an extremist sunni ideology from the muslim brotherhood or the salafis, it just has a shia persian twist sadly.”
My God, now I have read everything. An apologist for Saudi Arabia pointing the finger at conditions faced by women in Iran.
How many women doctors, economists, engineers etc are there in Saudi Arabia? Unlike that medieval cesspool, half the workforce in Iran are women with close to half being professional positions based on a university degree.
https://hrcak.srce.hr/file/225179
How come the Iranian women’s volleyball team were able to defeat Taiwan if sports is forbidden for women?
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/119576/Iranian-women-volleyballers-trounce-Taiwan-3-0
” Qalaat Al Mudiq Retweeted
xxx
@markito0171
25m25 minutes ago
#Russia DM announce to hand over
S300 Air Defence System to #Syria’s
#Assad Regime in next weeks”
.
Wow! Now Assad can shoot down even more Russian planes!!
Useless system. And knowing the syrians know-how i wouldent be surprised if they down another friendly.
Why would Israel have lobbied the Russians against supplying the S300 system to Syria if it was so useless?
War of words. Its common. Its diplomacy. The US can smoke those systems from 100s of miles. No real threat.
https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/1044213843856101376
Full.Stop.
“S-300s already deployed in #Syria.”
To protect Russian bases only.
“#Israel (& US) uses encrypted radar/GPS; less vulnerable to counter-measures”
It has hardly been tested in the field of battle. The US has admitted they are far behind the Russians in terms of electronic warfare, so it remains to be seen how Israeli radar stands up.
“#Russia has been “jamming” for 2+ yrs.”
And the US has admitted this has caused them serious problems.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/military/russia-has-figured-out-how-jam-u-s-drones-syria-n863931
https://www.businessinsider.com.au/russia-military-jamming-syria-affecting-us-drones-2018-4?r=US&IR=T
– #Russia has been “jamming” for 2+ yrs.
” #Israel fires most from Med. https://t.co/KRdhj5FZAN”
S300s has a range of 160 miles and those provided to Syria will be stationed along the coast.
— Charles Lister (@Charles_Lister) September 24, 2018
” The US can smoke those systems from 100s of miles.”
S300s have a range of 160 miles. We’ll probably never find out if the US can smoke those systems. The military powers have rarely taken the risk of engaging one another militarily.
Back to sleep Andre. Enough Bs today.
If you want to troll Andre. Fine. At least try getting your user name spelling correct. Veranic Vranic and so on. Or if not finish this charade of yours…..tor lol
You’ll have to excuse the typos. Sometime the auto fill doesn’t work when replying to a comment so I am forced to type my name manually.
Who is Andre BTW?
My first thought exactly
You.
Even John Bolton has expressed concern about the supply of S300s to Syria, describing it as a significant escalation.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-usa/us-bolton-russia-missile-sale-to-syria-is-significant-escalation-idUSKCN1M41WK
That’s a lot of noise to be making for a useless system.
And to top it off, Bolton blamed…..I kid you not…Iran for the shoot down of the IL20.
Useless. Like most of your comments in here.