facility:syrian observatory

  • U.S.-led coalition kills over 3,000 civilians since 2014: war monitor - Xinhua | English.news.cn
    http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-10/24/c_137553380.htm

    DAMASCUS, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) — The U.S.-led coalition has killed as many as 3,222 civilians since its operations started in Syria in 2014, a war monitor reported Tuesday.

    A total of 768 children and 562 women were among those killed by the strikes of the U.S.-led coalition in the northern provinces of Hasakah, Raqqa, Aleppo, Idlib and the eastern province of Deir al-Zour, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

    #civils #victimes_civiles #Syrie #Etats-Unis

  •  » 9 Killed in Israeli Airstrike on Syria
    IMEMC News - July 16, 2018 9:13 PM
    http://imemc.org/article/9-killed-in-israeli-airstrike-on-syria

    Nine Syrian soldiers, on Sunday night, have been killed by an Israeli airstrike on Al-Nayrab military airbase, near Aleppo, according to Syria’s official news agency SANA.

    PNN reports that nine soldiers from among Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces—six Syrians and three others whose nationality was not made known—were reportedly killed in an attack attributed to Israel in Aleppo on Sunday night, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

    “The Zionist enemy returned in its desperate attempts to support defeated terror organizations in Daraa and in Quneitra, and it attacked using missiles one of our military outposts north of the Al-Nayrab airport. Damage was caused to property only,” a Syrian statement said.

    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack, which it too said was likely carried out by Israel, targeted a Syrian regime site.

    #Syrie #Israël

  • Syria says Israel struck Iranian airbase near Homs - Israel News - Haaretz.com
    Reports say Syrian air defenses fired at planes, coming in from Jordan, and heading towards the T4 airbase used by Iran
    Jack Khoury
    Jul 09, 2018 11:16 AM
    https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/syria-airstrike-hits-t4-airbase-near-homs-1.6248915

    Syria accused Israel on Sunday of attacking an air force base near Homs known to be housing Iranian forces. This is the third time in a year that Israel has struck the site, according to foreign reports.

    The official Syrian news agency SANA said air defenses were activated as warplanes, reportedly coming into the country from Jordan, approached the T4 base near Tiyas. The planes, which were said to be flying at low altitude to avoid detection, passed through the al-Tanaf area, where U.S. forces have a base.

    Syria’s state media said that military air defenses thwarted the act of “Israeli aggression.” An army officer in the southern Syrian desert said the air defense system shot down missiles coming from south of the Tanaf region toward the air base. Reports said that around six missiles hit near the base, causing damage, but added that no one was hurt or killed.

    The T4 airbase has been reported to have been used by Iranian forces. In April, a senior Israeli official confirmed to the New York Times that Israel had hit the base.

    #BREAKING: Reports: Israeli air strike on T4 base in Homs, Syria; Syria TV reports several air defence missiles in response pic.twitter.com/d52NzJ0YxR
    — Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) July 8, 2018

    Video of purported attack near Syria’s T4 base

    “It was the first time we attacked live Iranian targets — both facilities and people,” said the Israeli military official.

    The official said that the armed Iranian drone that entered Israeli airspace a few days prior “opened a new period,” and that “this is the first time we saw Iran do something against Israel — not by proxy." During the attack, Israel killed seven Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force members, including Colonel Mehdi Dehghan, who led the drone unit operating out of T4, east of Homs.

    Two weeks ago, two Israeli missiles struck a target near Damascus International Airport, Syrian state media said.

    The target was an arms depot belonging to the Lebanese Shi’ite movement Hezbollah, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. According to the Lebanon-based Al-Mayadeen TV, a source said Syrian air defense systems had intercepted two missiles in addition to the ones fired at the airport.

    • Ouest-France, avec AFP. | le 09/04/2018

      Frappes contre une base syrienne : la Russie et la Syrie accusent Israël

      https://www.ouest-france.fr/monde/syrie/frappes-contre-une-base-syrienne-la-russie-accuse-l-israel-5684230

      La Russie et le régime syrien estiment que l’armée israélienne est responsable des frappes menées contre une base militaire tôt ce lundi matin. Elle affirme avoir identifié deux avions F-15 de l’armée israélienne. Cette dernière, contactée par l’AFP, a indiqué « décliner tout commentaire ».

      Le bombardement de la base militaire du régime syrien T-4 entre Homs et Palmyre, perpétré tôt ce lundi, a été mené par des avions israéliens depuis l’espace aérien libanais, a affirmé l’armée russe.

      « Deux avions F-15 de l’armée israélienne ont frappé l’aérodrome entre 03 h 25 et 03 h 53 heure de Moscou (01 h 25 et 01 h 53 heure française) à l’aide de huit missiles téléguidés depuis le territoire libanais, sans pénétrer dans l’espace aérien syrien », a affirmé le ministère russe de la Défense, cité par les agences russes.

  • Russia says only Syrian army should be on country’s southern border with Israel

    Israel believes Russia may agree to withdrawing Iranian forces and allied Shi’ite militias from Israel-Syria border

    Noa Landau and Reuters May 28, 2018

    https://www.haaretz.com/middle-east-news/syria/russia-says-only-syrian-army-should-be-on-country-s-southern-border-1.61198

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday that only Syrian government troops should have a presence on the country’s southern border which is close to Jordan and Israel, the RIA news agency reported.
    Lavrov was cited as making the comments at a joint news conference in Moscow with Jose Condungua Pacheco, his counterpart from Mozambique.
    Meanwhile, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman will leave on Wednesday for a short visit to Russia. He is scheduled to meet with his counterpart, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shvigo, the ministry said in a statement on Monday. Lieberman is expected to discuss with his hosts the recent events in the Middle East, primarily the tension between Israel and Iran over the Iranian military presence in Syria.
    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the Knesset Monday, saying that “there is no room for any Iranian military presence in any part of Syria.”
    Lieberman said that “these things, of course, reflect not only our position, I can safely say that they reflect the positions of others in the Middle East and beyond the Middle East.”
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    On Sunday, Haaretz reported that Israeli political and military officials believe Russia is willing to discuss a significant distancing of Iranian forces and allied Shi’ite militias from the Israel-Syria border, according to Israeli officials.
    The change in Russia’s position has become clearer since Israel’s May 10 military clash with Iran in Syria and amid Moscow’s concerns that further Israeli moves would threaten the stability of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.
    Russia recently renewed efforts to try to get the United States involved in agreements that would stabilize Syria. The Russians might be willing to remove the Iranians from the Israeli border, though not necessarily remove the forces linked to them from the whole country.
    Last November, Russia and the United States, in coordination with Jordan, forged an agreement to decrease the possibility of friction in southern Syria, after the Assad regime defeated rebel groups in the center of the country. Israel sought to keep the Iranians and Shi’ite militias at least 60 kilometers (37 miles) from the Israeli border in the Golan Heights, east of the Damascus-Daraa road (or, according to another version, east of the Damascus-Suwayda road, about 70 kilometers from the border).

    FILE – Iran’s Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, left, in Aleppo, Syria, in photo provided October 20, 2017/AP
    According to Israeli intelligence, in Syria there are now around 2,000 Iranian officers and advisers, members of the Revolutionary Guards, around 9,000 Shi’ite militiamen from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, and around 7,000 Hezbollah fighters. Israel believes that the Americans are now in a good position to reach a more effective arrangement in Syria in coordination with the Russians under the slogan “Without Iran and without ISIS.”
    The United States warned Syria on Friday it would take “firm and appropriate measures” in response to ceasefire violations, saying it was concerned about reports of an impending military operation in a de-escalation zone in the country’s southwest.
    Washington also cautioned Assad against broadening the conflict.
    “As a guarantor of this de-escalation area with Russia and Jordan, the United States will take firm and appropriate measures in response to Assad regime violations,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement late on Friday.
    A war monitor, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, reported on Wednesday that Syrian government forces fresh from their victory this week against an Islamic State pocket in south Damascus were moving into the southern province of Deraa.
    Syrian state-run media have reported that government aircraft have dropped leaflets on rebel-held areas in Deraa urging fighters to disarm.
    The U.S. warning comes weeks after a similar attack on a de-escalation zone in northeastern Syria held by U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. U.S. ground and air forces repelled the more than four-hour attack, killing perhaps as many as 300 pro-Assad militia members, many of them Russian mercenaries.
    Backed by Russian warplanes, ground forces from Iran and allied militia, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, have helped Assad drive rebels from Syria’s biggest cities, putting him in an unassailable military position.

  • The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب: US is forming a Syrian militia: US is opposed to Arab militias—unless they are formed by it or by Israel
    http://angryarab.blogspot.com/2017/08/us-is-forming-syrian-militia-us-is.html

    So this is not of interest to Western media, but Syrian Observatory is reporting that the US is forming a militia (named it “the National Army”—the US defines nationhood in the region) in Hasakah.

    #milices des #Etats-Unis

  • Damas privée d’eau courante : gouvernement et rebelles se rejettent la faute - Moyen-Orient - RFI
    http://www.rfi.fr/moyen-orient/20161226-syrie-damas-privee-eau-courante-gouvernement-rebelles-rejettent-faute

    Damas privée d’eau courante : gouvernement et rebelles se rejettent la faute

    Quatre jours plus tard (https://seenthis.net/messages/556470), RFI (comme France-Cult au journal de 7 heures) s’interroge toujours gravement sur la responsabilité du régime dans la pollution des eaux de Damas...

    Pourtant, le Jabhat al-Nosra, par la voix de son chef sur place, un certain Qalamouni, a annoncé sa pleine responsabilité dans cette volonté d’assoiffer la population damascène. (http://www.raialyoum.com/?p=595410) Journalistes, encore un effort pour être vraiment...

    #syrie

    • Il faut dire que c’est la version de l’OSDH, une bonne “source” si l’on ose dire ! http://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=58247 : And with the continued military operations in Wadi Barada, the regime authorities continue cutting off the water of the capital Damascus for the 11th day in a row, after they closed the pipelines that feed the capital and coming from Win al-Fijah in Wadi Barada, intersecting sources confirmed to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights that a state of discontent and resentment prevail the capital, as a result of the continued cutting of water, where the prices of mineral water and the water sold in the capital insanely rose, the citizens depend on the water of wells that were drilled in streets and parks, in addition to wells in pools at the capital, while the regime authorities organize pumping water from other sources to neighborhoods and suburbs in the capital Damascus

    • The story of water cut-off in Damascus: or how Western media report war crimes by rebels
      http://angryarab.blogspot.fr/2017/01/the-story-of-water-cut-off-in-damascus.html

      This is typical of Western media reporting about Syria. There were stories two weeks ago of how the Syrian rebels poured diesel in the water going to Damascus and how they detonated the springs going go Damascus. Some Syrian rebels supporters even did not deny it on social media. Throughout that time, Western media strictly ignored the story of cut off of water to Damascus. Wait. Until that is when the K street PR firms hired by US government to propagandize for the Syrian rebels came up with a story that Syrian regime caused the water cut off, and they produced “pictures” according to this silly New York Times propaganda account. Or they hide behind: the picture is too murky for anyone to know the truth. But why is the picture always clear when Syrian regime commit war crimes, but the picture gets only conveniently murky when the rebels commit war crimes? Who will please my heart — as we say in Arabic — and teach the first course on Media and Propaganda in the Coverage of Syria war in Western media. Which university will host such a course?

  • Civilians fleeing east Aleppo turned back by gunfire
    http://www.thenational.ae/world/middle-east/civilians-fleeing-east-aleppo-turned-back-by-gunfire

    Aleppo // Hundreds of civilians trying to flee heavy regime bombardment and fighting in rebel-held east Aleppo were forced back by gunfire, a monitoring group said on Wednesday as the government pressed its offensive to control the whole city.

    “On Tuesday night, around 100 families gathered near a passage from the Bustan Al Basha district to cross to Sheikh Maqsud,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

    “But when the civilians tried to cross to the other side, gunfire broke out,” he said, without specifying who was responsible.

    Sheikh Maqsud is a northern neighbourhood controlled by Kurdish forces, allied with neither the regime nor the rebels.

    The governorate running western Aleppo city said 10 people who had managed to crossed from the east on Tuesday evening had accused rebels of preventing people from leaving, but gave no details on how or where the civilians crossed over.

    The government has long accused rebels of using residents in the east as human shields. Rebel groups deny any coercion and say the regime is lying.

    “This has nothing to do with reality,” said Yasser Al Youssef, from the rebel group Nureddine Al Zinki.

    “The regime is spreading rumours to try to undermine the resolve of the rebels and those who support them in Aleppo,” he said.

    #civils #Syrie #Alep

  • 10 Facts the Media Won’t Tell You About the War in Syria
    http://theantimedia.org/10-facts-war-syria

    Pour les détails, suivre le lien.

    (ANTIMEDIA) Corporate media regularly attempts to present Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria as solely responsible for the ongoing conflict in the region. The media does report on events that contradict this narrative — albeit sparingly — but taken together, these underreported details shine a new light on the conflict.

    10: Bashar al-Assad has a higher approval rating than Barack Obama

    9: The “moderate” opposition has been hijacked

    There is no longer such a thing as “moderate” opposition in Syria – if there ever was. The so-called Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) has been dominated by extremists for years. (...)

    8: Assad never used chemical weapons on his own people

    A U.N. investigation into the first major chemical weapons attack committed in early 2013 — an atrocity the West immediately pinned on Assad — concluded the evidence suggested the attack was more likely committed by the Syrian opposition. (...)

    7: Toppling the Syrian regime was part of a plan adopted shortly after 9/11

    According to a memo disclosed by 4-star General Wesley Clark, shortly after 9/11, the Pentagon adopted a plan to topple the governments of seven countries within five years. The countries were Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Iran. (...)

    6: Iran and Syria have a mutual defense agreement

    5: Former Apple CEO is the son of a Syrian refugee [!!!]

    4: ISIS arose out of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, not the Syrian conflict

    3: Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia wanted to build a pipeline through Syria, but Assad rejected it

    2: Leaked phone calls show Turkey provides ISIS fighters with expensive medical care

    1: Western media’s main source for the conflict is a T-shirt shop in Coventry, England

    This is not a joke. If you follow the news, you most probably have heard the mainstream media quote an entity grandiosely called the “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” (SOHR). This so-called “observatory” is run by one man in his home in Coventry, England — thousands of miles away from the Syrian conflict — yet is quoted by most respected Western media outlets (BBC, Reuters, The Guardian, and International Business Times, for example).

    *

    (...)

    Assad may be brutal — and should face trial for allegations of widespread human rights abuses — but this fact alone does not make the other circumstances untrue or irrelevant. People have the right to be properly informed before they allow themselves to be led down the road of more war in the Middle East, and consequently, more terror attacks and potential conflicts with Russia and China.

  • Conflict among U.S. allies in northern Syria clouds war on Islamic State
    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-north-insight-idUSKCN0Z8238

    On June 12, one of the many FSA groups in the Aleppo area fired a guided TOW missile at a YPG position, the first attack of its kind, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and YPG said.

    The two sides have different priorities in the war, with the FSA rebels battling to oust President Bashar al-Assad, while the YPG is trying mainly to carve out its own areas of control in northern Syria.

    Each side also accuses the other of conspiring with its enemies in a struggle with an ethnic dimension pitting groups drawn from Syria’s Arab majority against one that emerged in 2011 with the stated aim of defending the Kurdish minority.

    “There is a deepening divide between us,” the politburo chief of the Jabha Shamiya, one of the biggest FSA rebel groups in the Aleppo area. “If there is no quick political solution between the revolutionaries and the Kurds, it is heading towards escalation.”

    YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said his group did not aim to spark a battle with FSA groups. But he added: “If they want a war, they will certainly lose.”

    #Syrie

  • Syrians cut off main Daesh road to Turkey | Veterans Today
    http://www.veteranstoday.com/2016/06/10/syrians-cut-off-main-daesh-road-to-turkey

    Dans un article qui reprend des infos classiques sur l’imbroglio militaire au nord de la #Syrie, une note intéressante de l’éditeur du site :

    [ Editor’s Note: This is a bit of a strange story for Press TV, what is basically a Kurdish force being referred to as Syrian, due to the name they conveniently took. And we have the Syrian Observatory as the source, the CIA front, and then no mention of the US Special Forces widely published to be involved, and now French Special Forces.

    The reporting is turning into a circus, and at this stage of the game that is rarely an accident… but where confusion has been ordered up by someone wanting the public to stop following the war because it is too hard to follow.

    If the Observatory is being used here, that means someone is introducing that when Kurds are expanding the territory they control stating that they are Syrians, but they are really part of the dismemberment drive during the peacetalks to carve Syria up with the Kurds in Syrian sheeps’ clothing. They aren’t fighting for Syria, but for their own state, despite the absence of long roots there.

    This would be a state where imports and exports do not have a direct sea access or an air bridge, really. They must travel by ground through Turkey or Syria. The endless claims for the sanctity of “territorial integrity” in places like the UN seem to be more flexible for Syria. Much plotting continues in this long fought over land… Jim W. Dean ]

  • Selon une dépêche d’AP, s’appuyant sur l’Observatoire syrien des droits de l’homme (pro-opposition), les rebelles de la poche d’Azaz auraient donné aux SDF (les kurdes du YPG principalement) le contrôle d’un village proche de la ville de Marea, menacée par l’offensive récente de Da’ich, en échange du passage de civils à travers le canton d’Afrin :
    http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2016/05/30/world/syrian-rebels-retake-two-villages-earlier-overrun-surprise-islamic-sta

    The Islamic State advance prompted a rare deal between the SDF and rebels Saturday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group. It said that the rebels surrendered control of a village near Marea to an SDF division in exchange for allowing 6,000 civilians to evacuate to areas under Kurdish control.

  • Comme le note angry arab, tandis que les médias rapportent à juste titre que les bombardements aériens des forces du régime tuent des civils, notamment à Alep sous contrôle rebelle, les médias occultent complètement les morts civils dans la zone d’Alep tenue par le régime, où les rebelles bombardent au mortier et avec les « canons de l’enfer », et qui ont fait une vingtaine de morts depuis quelques jours :
    http://angryarab.blogspot.fr/2016/04/like-i-have-been-telling-you-syrian.html

    Like i have been telling you, Syrian rebels have been bombing the shit out of Aleppo residents but not a word about that
    Only when Syrian regime forces kills civilians it is news. Killing of civilians in the territories under the control of the regime does not warrant coverage.

    Lien vers article NYT en exemple :
    http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/29/world/middleeast/aleppo-syria-strikes.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

    • Selon le SOHR (pro-opposition) le nombre de victimes civiles à Alep s’élève à environ 200 depuis une semaine :
      http://www.syriahr.com/en/2016/04/28/about-200-civilians-including-50-women-and-children-killed-in-7-days-of-tar
      – 122 dans les zones rebelles

      Among the total documented number of casualties there are 122 persons, including 18 children and 9 citizen women killed in the airstrikes carried out by warplanes on areas in several neighborhoods of Aleppo, which also resulted in the destruction of tens of homes and buildings in the targeted neighborhoods, and injured tens of people, including children and citizen women.

      – 67 dans les zones gouvernementales

      Also the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of 67 civilians, including 13 under the age of eighteen and 10 citizen women over the age of eighteen, they were killed when tens of shells, homemade rockets and explosive cylinders on places controlled by the regime forces in Aleppo, in addition to injuring tens of other people including citizen women and children and damaged propriety.

    • Juan Cole note aussi ce biais des médias occidentaux qui consiste à ne mentionner et ne s’émouvoir que des civils qui meurent dans les zones rebelles et à occulter les morts de civils en zones gouvernementales :
      http://www.juancole.com/2016/04/monstrous-violence-in-aleppo-as-regime-of-calm-begins-in-rest-of-syria.htm

      Clashes and bombardments continued on Friday, but note that AFP thought that the death totals were similar in the rebel and regime-held areas:

      “Bombardment of the city killed 17 people in rebel-held districts and 13 people in the government-controlled western neighbourhoods . . .”

      A lot of Western reporting is neglecting to mention that al-Qaeda and other rebel units are subjecting West Aleppo to heavy mortar bombardment that is killing a dozen or more people every day.

      At the same time, it is true that the regime is flying fighter jets to bombard East Aleppo indiscriminately, which is producing high civilian casualties, in what the UN called a a “monstrous disregard for civilian lives.”

  • Un point assez complet sur les combats actuels en Syrie et la pause dans les pourparlers :
    Syrian rebels launch new assaults as opposition seeks peace talks ’pause’
    MEE / 18.04.16
    http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/rebels-launch-new-offensives-syrian-opposition-seeks-pause-peace-talk
    Relevé des points saillants :
    A Lattaquieh :

    Among the groups involved in the Latakia offensive are Kataib Ansar al-Sham, the al-Qaeda-linked Turkistan Islamic Party, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaish al-Islam and the First Coastal Division.

    A Hama :

    There were also reports of a new opposition offensive against government targets in Hama.
    According to the pro-Assad al-Masdar news site, fighters from the al-Qaeda splinter group Jund al-Aqsa launched a major assault on the al-Ghaab Plains near the Hama-Latakia axis, in an attempt to capture the village of Khirbat al-Naqous.

    A Alep :

    On Sunday, government jets carried out air strikes in Aleppo province that killed at least 11 civilians, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.

    Formation d’une nouvelle chambre d’opération commune Ahrar al-Cham/ Jaysh al-Islam et groupes labellisés ASL - sans qu’al-Nousra qui participe aux combats, avec d’autres organisations classées terroristes (Parti Islamique du Turkestan), n’en fassent formellement partie :

    A number of groups, including the powerful Ahrar al-Sham group, also announced on Monday the “formation of a joint operations room to begin the battle...in response to violations by the army of Assad”.

    Toujours la question d’Assad sur laquelle les négociations achoppent :

    Negotiations between the opposition and the government have stalled over the government’s refusal to discuss the opposition’s call for Assad to step aside as part of any peace deal and some have suggested that rebels on the ground have pushed for the opposition negotiators to withdraw from talks altogether.

    Les tweets de Mohammed Allouche, négociateur du HCN (opposition de Ryadh) appellant à frapper le régime partout - et donc à mettre fin à la cessation des hostilités :

    On Sunday, Mohammed Alloush, senior negotiator for the HNC, called in a tweet for the resumption of attacks on Syrian government targets.
    “Don’t trust the regime and don’t wait for their pity,” Alloush wrote on Twitter.
    “Strike them at their necks [kill them]. Strike them everywhere,” he said, reciting a passage from the Quran dealing with war.

    En bonus de jolies photos/vidéos récentes de rebelles avec des missiles anti-tanks américains TOW et des missiles sol-air portatifs (chinois)...

    #option_Stinger

  • Un Sukhoï 22 de l’aviation syrienne abattu par un missile sol-air portatif dans le sud d’Alep.
    Info confirmée par l’agence syrienne SANA : http://sana.sy/en/?p=73719
    Le pilote aurait été capturé vivant selon des photos circulant sur les réseaux sociaux et amené au quartier d’al-Nousra :
    Article d’al-arabiya :
    http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2016/04/05/Syrian-rebels-shoot-down-war-plane-near-Aleppo-.html

    Syria militants shot down a warplane on Tuesday in an area south of the city of Aleppo where insurgents are battling the Syrian army and allied militias, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
    The monitor said a plume of smoke was seen as the plane caught fire before it fell in the Talat al-Iss highland, where al Qaeda-affiliated militants have come under heavy bombardment by Syrian and Russian planes since they captured the area this week.
    Syrian state TV confirmed that the jet was shot down by a surface-to-air missile in Aleppo province and the pilot ejected.
    However according to the monitor and a militant source said that the pilot of downed plane has been taken by al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra front to one of its headquarters.

    Par ailleurs Ahrar al-Cham revendique avoir abattu l’avion :
    https://twitter.com/thomasjoscelyn/status/717346096205447169

    A noter que si l’on en croit les déclarations du ministère de la défense russe du 13 mars 2016, un avion syrien avait déjà été abattu par un missile sol-air le 12 mars dernier :
    http://www.janes.com/article/58762/russia-says-syrian-mig-21-downed-by-manpads

    A Syrian MiG-21 fighter-bomber has been shot down by rebels using a man-portable air defence system (MANPADS), the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

    When it released its daily summary of breaches of the current ceasefire agreement on 13 March, the Russian MoD said the aircraft was shot down by a MANPADS near the town of Kafr Nabudah at 14.41 on 12 March. Kafr Nabudah is on the border of Hamah and Idlib provinces.

    The MoD added that the MiG-21 “was performing airspace control tasks” when it was hit.

    #option_Stinger

  • On nous abreuve de jolies photos.

    SITE, le site de la très louche Rita Katz a reproduit cette photo présentée comme un « Wanted » émis par Da’ich contre le chef syrien d’al-Nousra, Abou Mohammed al-Joulani :


    La précédente photo qui a circulé de « lui », d’origine inconnue n’est pas incompatible avec celle-ci : https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/newsandpolitics/527415-meet-abu-mohamad-al-jawlani
    Le joli drapeau derrière lui est celui de l’Etat islamique en Iraq, devenu Daech puis EI. Histoire de rappeler avec qui certains groupes rebelles combattent...

    Une photo plus intéressante circule aussi en ce moment alors qu’une réunion où se trouvait le porte-parole d’al-Nousra, un certain Abou Firas al-Souri, historique d’al-Qaïda, vient d’être bombardée et que celui-ci vient d’y trouver la mort.
    Elle montre ce Abou Firas (à droite) en compagnie d’Abou Khaled al-Souri (à gauche), autre historique d’al-Qaïda, et d’Hassan Aboud (au centre) fondateur du groupe Ahrar al-Cham al-islamiya :
    https://counterjihadnews.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/abu-firas-al-suri-with-abu-khalid-and-hassan-abbou
    Aboud et Abou Khaled al-Souri ayant été tués vers la mi-2014, cette photo date d’avant.
    Mais plus intéressant, le bombardement aérien dans la région d’Idlib qui vient de tuer Abou Firas et d’autres membres d’al-Nousra n’a pour l’instant été revendiqué par personne et l’on se demande - que ce soit chez le SOHR pro-opposition où l’on subodore la Russie, ou chez les pro-régime d’al-Masdar où l’on déclare que l’on ne sait pas - qui des Russes ou des Américains en est à l’origine :
    https://www.yahoo.com/news/syrias-qaeda-spokesman-20-jihadists-dead-strikes-monitor-200452734.html

    The spokesman for Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, Al-Nusra Front, his son and 20 other jihadists were killed in air strikes in the northeast of the country, a monitor said.
    Abu Firas al-Suri was meeting with other leading Islamist fighters in a Nusra stronghold in Kafar Jales when the raids struck, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
    “Abu Firas al-Suri, his son and at least 20 jihadists of Al-Nusra and Jund al-Aqsa and jihadists from Uzbekistan were killed in strikes on positions in Idlib province,” its chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
    It was not immediately clear if the raids were carried out by Syrian regime warplanes or their Russian allies.
    Two other targets belonging to Al-Nusra and allied jihadist group Jund al-Aqsa in the north of Idlib province were also attacked, Abdel Rahman said, leaving many seriously wounded.
    Syrian Suri, real name Radwan Nammous, fought against the Soviet forces in Afghanistan where he met Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his mentor Abdullah Azzam before returning to Syria in 2011, according to supporters on Twitter.

  • Escalade au sud d’Alep où un ensemble de groupes avec notamment les groupes salafistes al-Nousra, Ahrar al-Cham et Jound al-Aqsa attaquent plusieurs villages constituant des positions prises par l’armée syrienne fin 2015 lorsqu’elle avait, avec l’appui de l’aviation russe, établi une zone sécurisant l’autoroute Damas-Alep. Le village de Tall al-’Eiss vient semble-t-il d’être pris par al-Nousra. L’attaque est présentée par ces groupes comme une réponse aux violations du cessez-le-feu par le régime.
    2 remarques sur cette escalade :
    1° - al-Nousra pourrait être en train d’essayer d’entraîner plusieurs groupes à rendre caduque la cessation des hostilités - même si la zone concernée ne fait pas partie de cet accord. Voir ici l’analyse d’E.J. Magnier sur la menace que cet accord fait peser sur al-Nousra : http://seenthis.net/messages/475052
    Sujet déjà abordé à plusieurs reprises sur seen this (voir #liste_blanche / #liste_noire)
    2° - la Division 13 (ASL), récemment boutée hors de son QG de Maraat al-Nouman par al-Nousra (voir : http://seenthis.net/messages/469485), ce qui avait déclenché des manifestations pro-ASL et anti-alNousra dans la ville, combat désormais au cours de cette offensive aux côtés de cette branche syrienne d’al-Qaïda.
    Ceci attesté sur son compte twitter où est publiée la photo d’un de ses combattants mort dans la bataille pour la prise du village de « Khalidyah dans le rif sud d’alep » : https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ce-9m7KWQAAhLDC

  • La policía turca mata a tiros a sirios, entre ellos niños, que intentan cruzar su frontera

    Fuerzas fronterizas turcas están disparando los refugiados cuando escapan de la guerra civil en Siria, según ha confirmado el periódico británico The Times. Dieciséis personas, entre ellas tres niños, han sido asesinadas por los guardias turcos mientras trataban de cruzar la frontera durante los últimos cuatro meses, según el Observatorio Sirio para los Derechos Humanos.

    http://www.eldiario.es/desalambre/Turquia-dispara-refugiados-intentan-frontera_0_500450171.html
    #réfugiés_syriens #mourir_aux_frontières #Turquie #assassinat #frontière

  • Turkey shoots dead Syrian refugees crossing the border as they flee civil war - Mirror Online
    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/turkey-shoots-dead-syrian-refugees-7659394

    Border forces in Turkey are shooting refugees dead as they cross over into the country fleeing civil war in Syria, it has been reported.

    Guards have killed sixteen refugees including three children as they crossed into Turkey, the Times reports.

    Monitoring organisation the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims border forces have shot dead the sixteen refugees over the past four months.

    An officer in the British-backed Free Syrian Police and a Syrian smuggler, living in Turkey, claimed that the true number was higher.

    The newspaper reports on February 6 a man and his child were killed in Ras alAin on the eastern stretch of the Syrian-Turkish border.

  • al-Nousra vient d’attaquer et de prendre le QG de la division 13 de l’ASL (groupe soutenu par la CIA) à Idlib, sur fond de manifestations pro-opposition réprimées par al-Nousra : http://seenthis.net/messages/468132
    Accusations réciproques sur qui a attaqué l’autre en premier :

    Combats rapportés également entre les deux groupes à Maarat al-Nouman qui ont tourné à l’avantage d’al-Nousra.

    Via twitter Hassan Ridha
    https://twitter.com/sayed_ridha/status/708794171830571009

    #c'est_qui_l'patron ?

  • Les Kurdes du YPG et leurs alliés des SDF ont mené une offensive à partir du quartier kurde d’Alep de Sheikh Maqsoud sous leur contrôle. Ce faisant ils ont coupé la dernière route d’approvisionnement menant d’Alep-est (sous contrôle de la rébellion) à la Turquie par le poste-frontière de Bab al-Hawa (province d’Idlib). Avec la coupure de la route du nord (par Azaz et le poste-frontière de Bab al-Salam), il y a une semaine par le régime, Alep-est qui compterait encore 20 000 habitants voit donc toutes ses routes d’approvisionnement par la Turquie coupées.


    Je n’ai pour l’instant pas trouvé d’annonce de la nouvelle à part cet article de Now Media (?) qui évoque un peu plus tôt dans la journée les combats entre le YPG et les SDF contre les groupes armés à Alep pour le contrôle de cette route, dite « Castello Highway » (route de la Citadelle) :
    https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566621-syria-kurds-ally-declares-aleppo-military-zone

    Vital rebel supply line in the balance
    Fierce clashes continued to rage overnight Tuesday around Aleppo’s Sheikh Maqsood, with fighting spreading through the outskirts of the district while the Castello Highway north of the city came under heavy fire.
    Also known as “Death Road,” the Castello Highway spans the northern edges of Aleppo. Since regime forces cut off rebel supply lines leading southward into the city from Turkey, the dangerous thoroughfare has served as the only supply line into its rebel-held western sectors.
    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Wednesday that clashes were raging in Bustan al-Pasha to the east of Sheikh Maqsood, as well as Bani Zayed to the southeast of the district and Castello to the north.

    Certains sur les réseaux sociaux y voient la revanche du YPG aux bombardements turcs contre eux dans la poche d’Azaz. On peut aussi se demander si ce n’est pas le début du siège d’Alep-est.

    • Je viens de trouver cet article du Times (sous paywall) qui évoque la chose. Sinon ... nada.
      C’est tout de même assez déconcertant. Après la coupure de la route du nord par le régime, une bonne partie de la presse mainstream nous présentait tout Alep sous siège et complètement coupée de ses routes d’approvisionnement, alors qu’il restait la route de la Citadelle pour partir ensuite vers la Turquie à l’ouest).
      Maintenant que cette dernière route est effectivement coupée par le YPG et les SDF - probablement en coordination indirecte avec le régime - personne n’en parle !
      http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/middleeast/article4693074.ece

      Aleppo under siege as Kurds fall in with Assad
      Syria’s biggest city faced total siege last night for the first time in five years of conflict after Kurdish forces cut off the last road into rebel-held districts.
      The Kurdish YPG is reported to have advanced from the north of Aleppo to take the Castello road — the last lifeline for the 300,000 people who remain in the city’s rebel-controlled eastern neighbourhoods. Rebel fighters and activists said that the Kurdish forces and an allied Arab group, the al-Thwar army were bombarding the road and had rendered it unnusable during daylight.

  • Local al-Qaeda leader latest opposition figure assassinated in Syria | Middle East Eye
    http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/local-al-qaeda-leader-latest-opposition-figure-assassinated-syria-183

    A local leader of al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate was assassinated by unknown gunmen on Wednesday, the latest in a string of killings of hardline rebels, a monitor said.

    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Iyad al-Adl, “emir” for the town of Ariha in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province, was shot dead along with a second member of al-Nusra Front.

    The Britain-based monitor said unidentified gunmen opened fire on the car in which the men were driving in a western neighbourhood of Ariha.

    The assassination is the latest in a series of targeted killings over the past few weeks of senior rebels, including from the al-Qaeda affiliate Nusra and its ally Ahrar al-Sham.

    Analysts say the killings could be the work of the government or the Islamic State group, which considers all factions that have not pledged allegiance to it to be its rivals.

    At least 20 rebel commanders have been killed in the assassinations since early December in several parts of Syria, including central Homs province, southern Daraa and elsewhere in Idlib.

    Idlib province is held by the powerful “Army of Conquest” coalition of rebels including Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham.

    Rebel groups have regularly accused IS of having sleeper cells in their territory, but the militant group has not openly claimed the assassinations.

    More than 260,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with anti-government protests.
    – See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/local-al-qaeda-leader-latest-opposition-figure-assassinated-syria-183

  • Selon le site d’al-Jazeera, le porte-parle des SDF, Syrian Democratic Forces (principalement les forces kurdes du YPG), leur a confirmé que l’armée américaine a bien pris le contrôle d’une base aérienne en Syrie. Ceci à la suite d’un accord avec le YPG qu’elle appuie, concomitamment avec les Russes, l’armée US se voit donc octroyer la base de Rmeilan, au nord-est, en zone kurde syrienne, aux confins de la Turquie et de l’Irak.
    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/takes-control-rmeilan-airfield-syria-160119141331681.html

    US troops have taken control of Rmeilan airfield in Syria’s northern province of Hasakah to support Kurdish fighters against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), a spokesperson for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) told Al Jazeera.
    The airfield near the city of Rmeilan, which will become the first US-controlled airbase in Syria, was previously controlled by the US-backed Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
    The airfield is close to Syria’s borders with Iraq and Turkey.
    ISIL in Syria confronted by new alliance of opposition groups
    “Under a deal with the YPG, the US was given control of the airport. The purpose of this deal is to back up the SDF, by providing weapons and an airbase for US warplanes,” Taj Kordsh, a media activist from the SDF told Al Jazeera on Tuesday.
    "This airport was previously controlled by the YPG for over two years now. This strategic airport is close to several oil bases - one of the biggest in this area.
    “Rmeilan airport was previously used for agricultural purposes by the Syrian government,” he said.
    Previous reports published by the Syrian Local Coordination Committees say that the US has been preparing and expanding Rmeilan airport for a while now.
    When asked by Al Jazeera, a US CENTCOM media operations officer did not confirm or deny the reports.
    [...]
    The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor also reported on Monday that the US had taken control of the airbase.
    Sourcing activists, the Observatory said the airfield is still being prepared for use by the US.

    Avec la base de Bashiqa en Irak, occupée par les forces armées turques et ce malgré l’opposition déclarée de Baghdad, mais avec l’aval du Gouvernement Régional du Kurdistan irakien et l’appui de la milice de l’ex-gouverneur de Mossoul, Nujaïfi, c’est donc la deuxième base militaire étrangère à s’implanter récemment dans la région et ce en violant clairement la souveraineté des Etats syrien et irakien - ou de ce qu’il en reste...

  • Comment écrire pour Al Jazeera ?
    1. Innover dans les concepts en écrivant « massacre » entre guillemets.
    2. Préciser, dans le premier paragraphe, que le massacre a eu lieu dans un « quartier tenu par le gouvernement syrien ».
    3. Bien préciser, dans le second paragraphe « qu’au moins 80 des tués étaient des miliciens pro-gouvernement ».
    4. Ne pas oublier de préciser, dans le quatrième paragraphe au sujet des 400 civils enlevés, « y compris des familles des combattants pro-gouvernementaux ».

    ISIL ’massacre’ reported in Syria’s Deir Az Zor
    http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/isil-massacre-reported-syria-deir-ez-zor-160116192050214.html#

    The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group has been accused of carrying out a massacre in Syrian government-held districts in the eastern city of Deir Az Zor with a monitoring group saying more than 130 people were killed.

    The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday that at least 80 of those killed were pro-government militiamen and the rest were civilians, as the armed group captured the northern suburb of al-Baghaliyeh.

    The Observatory added that at least 400 civilians, including families of pro-government fighters, were abducted.

  • Des limites de la grille d’analyse confessionnelle à Deïr az-Zour :
    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/17/isis-fighters-abduct-400-civilians-major-attack-deir-ez-zor?CMP=twt_gu

    Islamic State fighters have abducted more than 400 civilians after capturing new ground in a major assault on the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor that left dozens dead, according to reports.
    The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Isis killed at least 135 people in the multi-front attack that began on Saturday.
    The dead included 85 civilians and 50 regime fighters, according to the human rights monitor, which said on Sunday that Isis also kidnapped more than 400 civilians from captured territory.
    Dozens killed by Islamic State in ’massacre’ in Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor
    Read more
    Those abducted, all of whom are Sunnis , include women, children and family members of pro-regime fighters,” said the director of the Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman.

    #sunnites_humiliés ?