Consolidated Syria Conflict Thread

[Boggit]

Good article with some equally good points. I think the idea that Muslims in general all secretly desire Western Style Democracy and are just waiting to be liberated from their Islamo-Facist bondage or local Dictators has been greatly over sold, especially in Liberal circles. Some surely do, but I think most, or at least the most vocal, do not and see OUR system of government as chaotic and degenerate. Try telling them they'll be much better-off when their children can all use the same bathroom or dressing rooms and their Imams must marry persons of the same sex and see how quickly they line-up for 'Western Values'. My 2 cents.

:DD

Despite the comic suggestion towards the end, I think you draw the right conclusions.

[bayonetbrant]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/thanks-to-no-drama-obama-american-leadership-is-gone/2016/12/26/672481e8-cb9c-11e6-a747-d03044780a02_story.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/last-remaining-rebels-and-civilians-await-aleppo-evacuation/2016/12/20/915fded2-c686-11e6-acda-59924caa2450_story.html

[Gusington]

Dare I even mention the latest UN resolution dealing with Israel? Nah I better not.

[Sir Slash]

Let me guess. They have to move again right?

[Gusington]

Pretty much, and every neighborhood they are looking at sucks.

[Sir Slash]

I am certain the good folks at the EU would open their borders for the Jews and welcome them without reservation just like they have done for the Syrians. Oh, I also believe in Peter Pan, the Tooth Fairy, Bigfoot, and aliens. But only the grey ones.  8)

[OJsDad]

Israel is quietly helping Syrian wounded that make it to their boarder in the Golan Heights. 

Link has a video and photos.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/under-cover-of-night-syrian-wounded-seek-help-from-enemy-israel/ar-AAmcVbC?li=AA4Zpp&ocid=spartanntp#image=9

It happens nearly every night. After dark, the Syrian wounded come to known locations on the Israel-Syria front in the Golan Heights, driven by desperation to seek help from an enemy army.

Israeli soldiers on lookout or patrol spot them waiting by the fence and whisk them away to a rear position where army medics soon arrive, according to army officials operating in the area that was seized by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.

Israel refuses to accept refugees fleeing the nearly six-year conflict in Syria, a country with which it remains technically at war. But it has allowed in more than 2,600 Syrians for medical care.

On one bitterly cold January night, gunfire and explosions could be heard in the near distance as Israeli medics dressed the injuries of two Syrian men, one suffering a head wound.

"We're doing everything we can to save their lives, to stabilize them and evacuate them to hospital," said Captain Aviad Camisa, deputy chief medical officer of the Golan brigade.

The medics lift the wounded men onto an army ambulance which slowly drives off down a dirt road.

A Syrian family -- two grandparents, a mother, father and a child aided by a walker -- pass by as they prepare to cross back into Syria in the dead of night.

"Some of the stories stir your emotions. When children come, as a father, it touches me personally," Camisa said.

Millions have fled and hundreds of thousands have been killed in Syria's conflict, which shows only fitful signs of being resolved.

The trail to Israel is full of risks.

Those who spoke to Reuters at Ziv medical Center in Safed, northern Israel, did so freely but asked not to be identified by name or have their faces photographed or filmed for fear of retribution back home.

The Israeli army helped facilitate access to the hospital, perhaps concerned to counter the negative image it has in most of the Arab world.

One man, his legs pierced by shrapnel, survived a bomb attack in his village in which 23 people were killed.

"In the past we used to know Israel as our enemy. That's what the regime used to tell us," he said. "When we came to Israel we changed our minds, there is no enmity between us.

"In the end we discovered that our regime is the enemy of us all," he said, referring to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

In a nearby room sits a seven-year-old Syrian girl, her mother by her side. She was hit by shrapnel from a mortar shell about two months ago and suffered life-threatening injuries; her internal organs and three of her limbs were badly hurt.  
 
"In the first weeks we try not to ask them many questions because we are afraid that it will be more stress," said Issa Fares, an Israeli Arab Christian social worker at the hospital, where many of the staff are native Arabic speakers.

Israel has not formally taken sides in the Syrian conflict. It opposes the presence of Iranian forces and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah ranged alongside Assad, but is also alarmed by the hardline Islamist groups fighting against him.

(Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

[OJsDad]

The Admiral Kuznetsov is heading home.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russian-ship-of-shame-returning-from-syria-uk/ar-AAmeysz?li=AA4Zpp&ocid=spartanntp

Russian 'ship of shame' returning from Syria: UK

A Russian aircraft carrier used to wage a massive offensive on the Syrian city of Aleppo is on its way back to Russia, Britain's defence minister said Wednesday, calling it a "ship of shame".

"We will keep a close eye on the Admiral Kuznetsov as it skulks back to Russia," Defence Minister Michael Fallon said in a statement.

The Russian warship travelled through the North Sea to Syria last year, to help Moscow ally President Bashar al-Assad's troops recapture rebel areas of Aleppo city after four years of fighting there.

The offensive forced thousands of civilians and rebels to flee the city, after years of intense bombing and clashes that ravaged swathes of Syria's former economic capital.
Fallon called the aircraft carrier "a ship of shame whose mission has only extended the suffering of the Syrian people".

"We are man-marking these vessels every step of the way around the UK as part of our steadfast commitment to keep Britain safe," he said.

Britain is deploying Typhoon jets and a frigate to shadow the Admiral Kuznetsov, which is accompanied by a Russian cruiser and salvage tug, the ministry said.

Russia's military said earlier this month that it had begun scaling down its deployment in Syria under a drawdown ordered by President Vladimir Putin on December 29.

Aircraft from the carrier hit 1,252 "terrorist" targets during a two-month mission, Russia's main commander in Syria, Andrei Kartapolov, was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.

The Syrian regime and its allies have consistently referred to all of Assad's opponents -- jihadist or otherwise -- as "terrorist" since a conflict erupted in 2011.
The fall of Aleppo in December last year was the regime's biggest victory since the war began with anti-Assad protests.

[Gusington]

Was a coal tender unavailable for refueling?

[Staggerwing]

They're trying to avoid Admiral Togo.

[Gusington]

  Contrary winds?

[Sir Slash]

She has to be in the Gulf of Mexico in a week to enforce Putin's decision on who to make the winner in Super Bowl LI in Houston.  L:-)

[Gusington]

That's so sad and ridiculous it's probably half true.

[Sir Slash]

I hear Putin wants to overthrow both teams and install the Vanderbilt Commodores as Super Bowl Champs. Because he said the commodore was the very first computer he ever hacked. And he thinks commodore is commissar in English. Oh, and Steven Sagal for NFL Commissar. 

[JasonPratt]

  Contrary winds?

I'm going to guess "too much water".