Sirija

[Prospero]

Syria exclusive: Kurdish forces dig in just outside ISIS headquarters in Raqqa

By Nick Paton Walsh, CNN

 

 

 

When Bahoz heard the blasts, he guessed they must have come from French jets. There were 14 of them, all around the time that President Francois Hollande said France had started bombing Raqqa.

 

The capital of ISIS's self-declared caliphate is eerily close to Bahoz's position. A fighter with the Kurdish YPG units, he sits on a series of outposts along a lengthy earth trench that is essentially the front line with Raqqa -- about 20 miles away, across flat, hostile ground.

 

"Three days ago we saw 14 airstrikes suddenly hit just nearby, and then the French said they'd started bombing," he told CNN, when we were given rare access to his position near the town of Ayn al Issa.

 

"We will do our best to avenge Paris," he vowed.

 

Raqqa is now firmly in the sights not only of the U.S.-led coalition, but also the French and Russian militaries. And in a few hours along the front line, you can periodically hear distant thuds.

On the day CNN was at the front, they could have come from some of the four Russian missiles activists' group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently reported hit the town, or the four homemade Katyusha rockets they also reported were fired by ISIS.

The Kurdish fighters here are the defensive line put in place in case a ground invasion begins; there are anti-ISIS militia massing, CNN has repeatedly been told by Kurdish officials with the YPG fighting units, but the operation has yet to begin earnest.

 

So for now these young men, who say they consider fighting ISIS a duty for humanity rather than a task of vengeance for the friends they have lost, are on the front line in a global battle.

And they have very little in the way of weaponry. Mostly old AK-47s; one fighter told us his used to belong to a friend who died eight months ago.

 

 

The terror group down the road

 

ISIS are just in the next village, visible under a mile away, and regularly fire mortars at one position we visited.

 

Yet the Kurdish morale is high, lifted by a sense that their fight -- which for months has been about protecting the territory they want to see become a Kurdish homeland called Rojava -- has now taken on an international tone.

 

"If French, Russian or American fighters come here to fight we will cooperate with them, as we are all fighting to clean the area of ISIS for humanity," one commander there, Sarhad, told us.

 

Graffiti on the base walls mocks ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a crude caricature, and a plastic skeleton sits at the base entrance, a cigarette in its mouth.

 

The move towards Raqqa will be difficult, given the open terrain between them and ISIS, but airstrikes will likely assist, if the Kurds ever decide to begin their advance.

 

Fighting with the YPG is a new alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces, a collection of Kurdish fighters and other Sunni Arab Syrian armed units.

 

Many see the alliance as an American idea to try and secure Sunni Arabs as allies for the Kurdish units, so their advance into the predominantly Sunni areas ISIS currently holds is not seen as a land grab by Kurdish forces seeking to create their own homeland.

 

These forces are the recipients of Pentagon training and equipment and are said to be where the 50 American special forces are applying their training efforts.

 

A YPG commander in the Syrian Democratic Forces said coordination with the American special forces had begun, but would not confirm their presence in the area.

 

 

Where will the manpower come from?

 

Another commander, one with the Sunni Arab group the Revolutionary Army of Raqqa, said that the preparation for the attack on Raqqa had secured a major victory because many of the local Sunni tribesmen had agreed to rise up against ISIS when the assault began.

 

The commander, who did not want to be named, said: "We were not expecting this large number to join, but the numbers are now up to 4,000 tribesmen. When we want to move, all of them are ready and we've already managed to sneak weapons to them. We're moving forwards."

 

CNN could not independently corroborate his claim, but if true it would answer one key question about the assault on Raqqa: where will they get the manpower?

 

The Kurdish forces are strong and motivated, but lack the numbers and weaponry to take and hold an entire city, and the force that enters that Sunni Arab city will need local Syrian Arab support in order not to be seen as outsiders or risk being rejected by the population.

 

[Eraserhead]

Je li ovo neka exit strategija ili se meni cini:

 

Putin says Russian air strikes to last until plane bombers are punished

[Bane5]

 

Je li ovo neka exit strategija ili se meni cini:

 

Putin says Russian air strikes to last until plane bombers are punished

 

 

ne, ne, pregovori u becu su bili neka vrsta pocetka izlazne strategije rusa.

oni ce nastaviti da pritiskaju i na toj liniji (uz bombardovanje).

[Muwan]

Je li ovo neka exit strategija ili se meni cini:

 

Putin says Russian air strikes to last until plane bombers are punished

Ne znam šta je rekao u ruskom originalu ali ovaj prevod može glatko da se tumači i kao: "Trajaće koliko god bude bilo potrebno i koliko mi budemo smatrali da treba da traje".

[Marcus Wulffings]

to znači, dok ne istresu sav svoj arsenal zajedno sa francuzima

[Prospero]

Podnaslov je ovo:

 

Россия будет бороться с терроризмом после теракта на A321 до тех пор, пока посчитает нужным, чтобы наказать виновных в трагедии, заявил президент РФ Владимир Путин.

 

A u tekstu zapravo piše ovo:

 

Президент РФ Владимир Путин на встрече с президентом Туркменистана Гурбангулы Бердымухамедовым обсудил вопросы безопасности воздушного пространства над Каспийским морем; также глава российского государства заявил, что Россия будет использовать воздушное пространство над Каспием для борьбы с "Исламским государством" до тех пор, пока не будут наказаны виновные в терактах.

Pričao je sa Turkmenistancima o bezbednosti Kaspijskog mora, ne bih tu učitavao neu naznaku strategije u Siriji.

[apostata]

Jel' ovo bilo (neka moderacija obriše ako jeste):

 

Inside ISIS’s Torture Brigades   (by Michael Weiss)

Part Three: Ministries of Fear

ISTANBUL — “They have a cage in this square,” Abu Khaled said, describing the place where ISIS justice is meted out in al-Bab, the Syrian town in which, until recently, he’d served with the state security apparatus of the so-called Islamic State. This is the same place where beheadings take place from time to time. But the cage is always there, and there’s almost always someone inside.

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/17/inside-isis-torture-brigades.html

 

(...)

 

“I rented a house, which was paid for by ISIS,” Abu Khaled told me. “It cost $50 per month. They paid for the house, the electricity. Plus, I was married, so I got an additional $50 per month for my wife. If you have kids, you get $35 for each. If you have parents, they pay $50 for each parent. This is a welfare state.”

“This is why a lot of people are joining,” said Abu Khaled. “I knew a mason who worked construction. He used to get 1,000 lira per day. That’s nothing. Now he’s joined ISIS and gets 35,000 lira—$100 for himself, $50 for his wife, $35 for his kids. He makes $600 to $700 per month. He gave up masonry. He’s just a fighter now, but he joined for the income.”

 

(...)

 

Oil, naturally, is a big source of revenue. ISIS controls of all of Syria’s eastern oil fields, making it the premier energy supplier for the country and a racketeer for fuel. The Bab al-Salameh crossing, which is now ISIS’s only means of entry into northern Syria, is responsible for feeding the entire caliphate, from Aleppo to Fallujah. “So imagine how many trucks are crossing every day,” Abu Khaled said.

Yet Bab al-Salameh is controlled on the Syrian side by the non-ISIS rebels, and of course on the Turkish side by the government in Ankara. Why can’t either simply shut down the crossing and deprive ISIS of its revenue stream? “Because there is no choice. ISIS has the diesel, the oil. Last time, a little bit before Ramadan, the rebels closed ISIS’s crossing.” ISIS responded by turning off the tap. “The price of oil in Syria went up. The bakeries stopped because there was no diesel. The cars, the hospitals, everything shut down.”

 

(...)

 

ISIS also, famously, sells Assad’s oil back to him. “In Aleppo, people have electricity for maybe three or four hours per day. The electricity station is in Asfireh, ISIS-controlled territory, near Kweris airport. So the regime pays for the fuel to run the station. It pays the salaries for the workers because they’re specialized and can’t be replaced. And ISIS takes 52 percent of the electricity and the regime takes 48 percent. That’s the deal they have with Assad.”

 

(...)

 

So Abu Khaled went back to see the emir and told him that he must come and see for himself. The emir agreed. He told Abu Khaled to get in his car—his BMW X5, to be exact—and he drove them both to the agrarian mausoleum.

 

The emir of al-Bab drives a BMW? I asked.

“Yes,” Abu Khaled said. “I told him, ‘Man, you have a nice car.’” He answered me: ‘Alhamdulillah, the Islamic State is very rich!’”

 

(...)

 

Edited November 23, 2015 by apostata

[Muwan]

Ako su ovo turske lire malo mu ne valja matematika. Hiljadu lira je zakonski minimalac u turskoj (oko 350$) ali nema šanse da je zidaru to dnevna zarada, pre će biti mesečna. I nema boga koji će kod glavoseča da mu da 35 hiljada mesečno, to je više od 10 hiljada dolara. Ovo što kaže da dobija 600-700 dolara otkako je postao glavoseča, to zvuči još i najrealnije ali to je 2000 lira. Za toliko se prodao sotoni, za dupli minimalac.

[hazard]

Misli na sirijske lire. Mi bi to po engleskom nazivu zvali sirijska funta ali na arapskom se to zove al-lira. Zašto bi uopšte u Siriji zarađivali u turskim lirama

[Muwan]

Pa ako je taj lik došao iz Turske. Ovaj dosta priča o turskoj logistici i dobrovoljcima pa rekoh, možda misli na nekog od njih.

[Marcus Wulffings]

 

 

Turska: Oboren vojni avion na granici sa Sirijom

Neidentifikovani vojni avion srušio se u Siriji blizu granice sa Turskom, javili su turski mediji, a za sada nije poznato kome letelica pripada.

 

 

[Ayatollah]

Navodno je u pitanju ruski Su-24, koga su oborili turski lovci F-16. Takođe javljaju da su se oba pilota katapultirala i da je jednog zarobila turkmenska milicija koja kontroliše taj deo granice sa Turskom.

 

Evo, javlja i FOX :

 

 Follow

Fox NewsVerified account‏@FoxNews

BREAKING: Turkish F-16 jet shoots down plane believed to be Russian along border with Syria, senior US official tells @JenGriffinFNC

[Prospero]

https://twitter.com/JenGriffinFNC/status/669073288224575488

 

TT via LG G3

[Ayatollah]

Conflict News ‏@Conflicts  33s33 seconds ago

Conflict News Retweeted Bloomberg Business

BREAKING: Reports Turkish Presidency has claimed that the shot down jet was Russian.

 

Šta li je sad tačno, videćemo

 

 

EDIT : Izgleda da je ipak ruski

 

CNN Türk ENG ‏@CNNTURK_ENG  40s40 seconds ago

#BREAKING Russian Defense Ministry says warplane supposedly downed in Syria

Edited November 24, 2015 by Ayatollah

[Prospero]

Videcemo

 

Sad ovo

 

https://twitter.com/yurybarmin/status/669074769552257024

 

TT via LG G3