Consolidated Syria Conflict Thread

Started by Mr. Bigglesworth, September 19, 2015, 04:08:26 PM

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mirth

"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus

OJsDad

A Reuters story;

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/israel-launches-heavy-syria-strikes-after-f-16-crashes/ar-BBIWAi2?ocid=spartanntp

QuoteIsrael launches heavy Syria strikes after F-16 crashes

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT, Feb 10 (Reuters) - Israel launched heavy air strikes in Syria on Saturday, saying it hit air defenses and Iranian targets, and the Syrian army claimed to have brought down an Israeli F-16 that crashed in northern Israel in a major escalation of tension.

The Israeli military said early assessments indicated the jet had been shot down by Syrian fire, but this was still unconfirmed.

It marked the most serious confrontation yet in Syria between Israel and Iranian and Iran-backed forces that have established a major foothold in the country while fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad in the civil war.

Israel said the F-16 crashed during a mission to strike Iranian drone installations in Syria. It said it sent its jets into Syria after shooting down an Iranian drone over Israeli territory earlier on Saturday.

The military alliance fighting in support of Assad denied any of its drones had entered Israeli air space. In a statement, it said Israel had targeted an air base in the Homs desert that is being used to fly drones in missions against Islamic State.

Such "terrorist action" by Israel would be met with a "severe and serious response," it said.

The Israeli military spokesman said Israel did not seek escalation in the region, calling its action a "defensive effort triggered by an Iranian act of aggression."

Iran's expanding clout during Syria's nearly seven-year-long war, including deployments of Iran-backed forces near the Golan frontier, has raised alarm in Israel, which has said it would act against any threat from its regional arch-enemy Tehran.

Iranian and Iran-backed Shi'ite forces, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, have deployed widely in support of Assad. Iran's military chief warned Israel last October against breaching Syrian airspace and territory.

Israel's air force has targeted Syrian military and Hezbollah targets in Syria on an almost regular basis, but its attacks on Saturday appeared to be the most intense yet.

Referring to the downed Israeli F-16, an official in the pro-Assad alliance said a "message" had been delivered to Israel. "I do not believe matters will develop to a regional war," the official said.

U.S. HAWKISH ON IRAN

In Washington, President Donald Trump's administration has backed Israel's hawkish stance on Iran, and declared containing Tehran's influence an objective of its Syria policy. On a visit to Israel last month, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence called Iran the world's "leading state sponsor of terror."

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is also expected to visit the region in the coming week to discuss the crisis in Syria and other issues, and is scheduled to visit Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and other countries.

Hezbollah and Israel last fought a major conflict in 2006.

Tensions have also spiked across the frontier between Israel and Lebanon over Israeli plans for border wall, and Lebanese plans to exploit an offshore energy block which is partly located in disputed waters.

The Israeli military said 12 targets, including three aerial defense batteries and four Iranian targets that are part of Iran's military establishment in Syria were attacked.
"During the attack, anti-aircraft missiles were fired towards Israel, triggering alarms that were heard in Northern Israel," the military said.

Syrian state media reported two separate Israeli attacks.

In the first one, a military source said Syrian air defenses had opened fire in response to an Israeli act of "aggression" against a military base, hitting "more than one plane."

Later, state media said air defenses were responding to a new Israeli assault and air defenses had thwarted attacks on military positions in southern Syria.

Israel said one of its attack helicopters shot down an Iranian drone at around 4.30am (0230 GMT) that had come from Syria into Israel. "In response, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) targeted Iranian targets in Syria," the military said.

"MASSIVE" ANTI-AIRCRAFT FIRE

Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus said a "substantial" number of Israeli warplanes on the mission had come under "massive Syrian anti-air fire," and only one Israeli jet was harmed.

The F-16 came down in a field near the northern Israeli village of Harduf, television footage showed, and one of the pilots was injured as they ejected, the military said.

David Ivry, a former Israeli Air Force chief, told Reuters he believed it was the first time an Israeli F-16 was brought down since Israel began using the jets in the 1980s.

"We don't know if the pilots ejected because of the (Syrian)fire," Conricus said. It was also unclear at what stage of the mission they ejected, he said, "but it is of extreme concern to us if they were shot down."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Israel had targeted areas in the countryside southwest of Damascus, near the Syrian-Lebanon border west of Damascus and in the eastern countryside of Homs province for several hours since dawn.

It said another set of raids hit southwest of Damascus, and another struck around the Damascus-Beirut highway near the border with Lebanon.

In Israel, uniformed military personnel could be seen gathered around the burnt and tangled metal in Harduf by mid-morning, with what appeared to be white foam on the surrounding grass. Others knelt in the grass, inspecting pieces of the jet.

Rocket alert sirens sounded in the Israeli-held Golan Heights and in northern Israel. There were no reports of casualties.

Flights in to Israel's main airport near Tel Aviv were suspended for about 15 minutes and take-offs were held for about 20 minutes on Saturday morning. "Ben Gurion Airport is now operating as usual," Israeli Airport Authority spokesman Ofer Lefler said.

The airport's online live flight schedule showed flights were departing and landing.

(Reporting by Maayan Lubell; Additional reporting by Tom Perry in Beirut and Stephen Farrell in Jerusalem; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Richard Balmforth)
'Here at NASA we all pee the same color.'  Al Harrison from the movie Hidden Figures.

mirth

"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus

airboy

Quote from: mirth on February 10, 2018, 12:35:40 PM
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/18389/flurry-of-aircraft-shoot-downs-and-counter-strikes-erupt-across-israel-and-syria

Now that was an interesting story.

My wife and I want to go to the Holy Land when we are 80+ and it does not make any difference if we get blown up or not.

mirth

"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus

GDS_Starfury

fucking with the US and Israel at the same time is probably the worst idea a country could have.
Toonces - Don't ask me, I just close my eyes and take it.

Gus - I use sweatpants with flannel shorts to soak up my crotch sweat.

Banzai Cat - There is no "partial credit" in grammar. Like anal sex. It's either in, or it's not.

Mirth - We learned long ago that they key isn't to outrun Star, it's to outrun Gus.

Martok - I don't know if it's possible to have an "anti-boner"...but I now have one.

Gus - Celery is vile and has no reason to exist. Like underwear on Star.


mirth

"45 minutes of pooping Tribbles being juggled by a drunken Horta would be better than Season 1 of TNG." - SirAndrewD

"you don't look at the mantelpiece when you're poking the fire" - Bawb

"Can't 'un' until you 'pre', son." - Gus

Sir Slash

Looks like there's going to be some positions opening up.  ::)
"Take a look at that". Sgt. Wilkerson-- CMBN. His last words after spotting a German tank on the other side of a hedgerow.

GDS_Starfury

From what I've heard it was B52s, Strike Eagles, Predators and arty that did the work.
Toonces - Don't ask me, I just close my eyes and take it.

Gus - I use sweatpants with flannel shorts to soak up my crotch sweat.

Banzai Cat - There is no "partial credit" in grammar. Like anal sex. It's either in, or it's not.

Mirth - We learned long ago that they key isn't to outrun Star, it's to outrun Gus.

Martok - I don't know if it's possible to have an "anti-boner"...but I now have one.

Gus - Celery is vile and has no reason to exist. Like underwear on Star.


bayonetbrant

not 100% sure how accurate this all is, but if even half of it is, it's kinda hilarious for us

QuoteFurther reporting, such as it is, on the Dair Ezzor Turkey Shoot.

1. Sov... err... Russians built a bridge over the Euphrates which was the designated 'deconfliction line'. Why? Reasons. 'Commite of Nations' or something.

2. 'Hybrid' force of mixed Russian contractors including multiple non-ethnic Russians (Serbs, Kossack, other non Slavics) as well as local Syrian Army 'commandos' attacked across temporary bridge. The 'Russian' side were 'Blackwater' equivalent mercenaries from a company generally called 'Wagner' which is the nom de plume of the boss. (Like if you called Blackwater 'Prince'.)

3. Unit was partially mechanized, battalion strength. (One thing everyone agrees upon is 'about 600-700 personnel.') Had some towed artillery as well as 't-55 and T-72 MBT as well as armored personnel carriers.' (Type unknown.) Full on 'we're taking that position and you're not stopping us' full court press.

4. Unit crossed bridge, arty deployed.

5. Arty opened fire while most of unit was still in approach column formation. (Normal) One portion moved to flanking positions.

5A. Minute the arty opened fire SHIT GOT REAL REAL QUICK.

6. Reapers took out artillery and most of armor with Hellfire. From the few videos, pretty much before they knew what hit them. There had to be quite a few Reaper drones up or they were feeding guidance to Hellfire from Apaches (see below.)

7. F-15E Eagles came in for clean-up and to check for anti-air defenses.

8. Warthogs showed up just to go BRRRRRRT!

9. AC-130 Spectre started fucking up their day for the hell of it.

10. To add insult to injury, B-52s which, you know, just HAPPENED to be in the area, just minding our own business, just passing by from Diego Garcia which is a few thousand miles away, on our way to... somewhere... nothing to see here... decided to prove they could drop their entire load as precision guided weapons and just more or less DID A JDAM ARCLIGHT ON THEIR ASS. At that point, more or less because CENTCOM said 'Why not? ARCLIGHT is always pretty to watch...'

11. The whole thing being so over it was ridiculous, AH-64 Apaches basically did 'hostile Bomb Damage Assessment' and complained there were no targets left.

12. Oh, and then the Kurds, to just really FUCK with these guys, released water from a dam upstream and broke their bridge. So they had to ford back with their wounded.

13. Nobody knows how many dead and wounded. Russians are saying 'only 8 Russian citizens' but that doesn't quite cover the whole of who may have been involved. One repeated number is 200 dead (remember, mixed Syrians, Russians and other ethnics) as well as pretty much the rest of the force wounded. (Not to mention pretty thoroughly demoralized.) One Kurd wounded. Probably fell off a stool laughing to tell truth.

14. Military hospitals in Russia are reliably reported 'overflowing.'

This was much less a 'battle' than a message. Towards the end we had to just be pounding ground to make sure they got it.

Messages, really.

A. Don't fucking cross that river.
B. Hey, North Korea! LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!
C. Hey, Putin, about Donbas... This is what we can do to your 'freedom fighters' (AKA: mercenaries) at any time.
D. To everyone in general: You need to remember who's boss.

Mattis is playing dumb. 'What Russians? There were Russians? Really? I'm seeing that in the media but I got no briefing on there being Russians in that column. Our bad. Sorry about that.'

Then there's the fact that the strike was NOT approved by the President.

Because he gave CENTOM the approval on things like that.

And CENTCOM handled it like a BOSS.

Oh, and when the forces crossed the river the Russians were informed and informed that we intended to take 'self-defense' actions.

So they can't even say they weren't warned.

I'm not sure we warned them we'd be using BUFF.

This is more the sort of thing I'd expect in late summer.

'Shit! We haven't expended our budget! Are there any Russians we can fuck up very badly with all these unexpended munitions?'

Last thought: It had to be shitty being on the receiving end of that.
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

GDS_Starfury

Toonces - Don't ask me, I just close my eyes and take it.

Gus - I use sweatpants with flannel shorts to soak up my crotch sweat.

Banzai Cat - There is no "partial credit" in grammar. Like anal sex. It's either in, or it's not.

Mirth - We learned long ago that they key isn't to outrun Star, it's to outrun Gus.

Martok - I don't know if it's possible to have an "anti-boner"...but I now have one.

Gus - Celery is vile and has no reason to exist. Like underwear on Star.


JasonPratt

#1286
Quote from: bayonetbrant on February 19, 2018, 06:01:28 AM
not 100% sure how accurate this all is, but if even half of it is, it's kinda hilarious for us

I did not understand I was missing something from my life, until now!  :D :notworthy:


...um, link?
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OJsDad

That was a hilarious read. 


This part is critical on the outcome.  If this had been under Obama, the Russians would have rolled over the opposition, and there's a good chance Putin would have gotten his end goal of getting American out of Syria.  If not this battle, then the next couple.  But with CENTCOMM not having to call home and ask permission to stay out past curfew, it's a whole new game.

QuoteThen there's the fact that the strike was NOT approved by the President.

Because he gave CENTOM the approval on things like that.

And CENTCOM handled it like a BOSS.
'Here at NASA we all pee the same color.'  Al Harrison from the movie Hidden Figures.

bayonetbrant

Quote from: JasonPratt on February 19, 2018, 09:30:45 AM
...um, link?

it was a FB post a friend shared, so limited vis outside of that audience
The key to surviving this site is to not say something which ends up as someone's tag line - Steelgrave

"their citizens (all of them counted as such) glorified their mythology of 'rights'...and lost track of their duties. No nation, so constituted, can endure." Robert Heinlein, Starship Troopers

Gusington

'One Kurd wounded. Probably fell off a stool laughing to tell truth.'

O0


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