Syria Sitrep - Cleanup Around Damascus - WMD Rumors Prepare For New U.S. Attack
20
April, 2018
After
the Syrian army liberated Douma, the next Takfiri held areas near the
capital Damascus fell in short order. The Jaish al-Islam militants in
Dumayr, north-east of Damascus, gave up without a fight. As usual by
now the Takfiris were transferred to the north-western Idleb
governorate held by al-Qaeda and other Turkish supported forces. The
town of Dumayr controls the Damascus Baghdad highway. Capitulation
negotiations in the nearby Eastern Qalamoun are ongoing.
The
former Palestinian refugee camp Yarmouk is an upbuild suburb south of
Damascus. One part is in the hands of al-Qaeda and another was
controlled by an Islamic State group. Offers to evacuate the groups
were made but rejected. Yesterday the Syrian army launched a massive
artillery barrage and the Russian and Syrian air force dropped bombs
onto the quarter. Today, just twenty-four hours later, the
Takfiris gave
up.
The al-Qaeda aligned militants will be evacuated to Idleb, the
Islamic State aligned group to the eastern Syrian desert.
With
each elimination of a 'rebel' pockets Syrian army is gaining
strength. Ten-thousands of soldiers who were needed to hold the
Takfiri held areas around Damascus surrounded and under control are
now free to attack elsewhere. Some of the militants who did not
evacuate also joined the government forces.
The
evacuation of many militants to the north-west might later turn up to
be problematic. They will eventually come under Turkish control and
could be used in another Turkish attempt to take Aleppo. But for now
they are infighting. Al-Qaeda in Syria, now renamed to Hay'at Tahrir
al-Sham (HTS) is fighting with other groups over control of the area.
Over the last months about one thousand of the militants have killed
each other, 3,000 were wounded and many of their heavy arms were
destroyed. The Syrian government hopes that such infighting will
continue for a while.
When
all the surrounded areas within the government realm are consolidated
the Syrian army will move towards the borders in the south. The area
around Deraa up to the Israeli occupied Golan heights and the Jordan
border is in the hands of various groups of militants. Like in the
north rebel infighting is a frequent occurrence. Two days ago an
Islamic State aligned group tried to wrest control over some villages
east of Deraa from some other local militant group. Fighting has been
ongoing since and both sides are losing strength. One wonders how
many of these fights between rebels are instigated by undercover
Syrian intelligence agents.
The
greatest difficulty for the Syrian army operation in the south is the
Israeli supply and support for a number terrorist groups in that
area. Should Israel intervene in any form in the Syrian operation to
liberate the area the fight can easily escalate into a larger war.
The
destroyed city of Raqqa in the east is becoming
a headache for
the U.S. occupation force. The U.S. used unwilling Kurdish ground
troops to attack the city. It was not much of an infantry fight.
Anything that moved was simply bombed from the air or ground. The one
U.S. artillery battalion that covered the city fired more
than 35,000 155mmm rounds during the five month operation. Now some
80% of the buildings in Raqqa are completely destroyed. The rest is
inhabitable.
The
city has no water and no electricity. The U.S. claimed that
2,500 ISIS militants were in the city when the fighting started. In
the end the U.S. let at least 500 of those leave the city and move
further east to fight the Syrian army. It also said that only 30
civilians were killed in its attack. That is of course nonsense. At
least 2,000 dead bodies have been recovered so far and 6,000 more
dead are recorded as still lying under the ruins. There will be more.
The city administration has no equipment and money to recover them.
The U.S. is unwilling to spend any money for the city it destroyed
and the Kurdish warlords who now occupy the city are incompetent and
have no interest to help its Arab inhabitants. The population that
has returned is hostile towards the U.S. and the Kurds. It wants to
get back under Syrian government control.
Further
east at the Syrian Iraqi border and north of the Euphrates some
3-5,000 ISIS fighters live unmolested by U.S. air or ground attacks.
The U.S. prevented Syrian government troops who control the area
south of Euphrates from attacking the ISIS forces. But neither Syria
nor Iraq can allow that ISIS pocket to survive. Yesterday a high
level meeting was held in the operation room in Baghdad where
Russian, Iranian, Syrian and Iraqi commanders arrange common
operations against ISIS. Shortly thereafter an Iraqi jet attacked a
ISIS command meeting near Hajin in Syria. The strike had Syrian
government approval. Syrian government forces have rebuild a military
bridge that will allow them to cross the Euphrates in a future
operation. Several battalions, including auxiliary troops under
Iranian command, are ready to attack. Will the U.S. bomb them when
they cross the river? Or will it hold back and allow Iraqi air
support for the Syrian troops?
The
neo-conservatives are busy insinuating that
Syria still has chemical weapon program and that it is distributed
throughout the country.
U.S. assessments following the U.S., British and French missile strikes on Syria show they had only a limited impact on President Bashar al-Assad’s ability to carry out chemical weapons attacks, four U.S. officials told Reuters.
...
U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the available intelligence indicated that Assad’s stock of chemicals and precursors was believed to be scattered far beyond the three targets.
This
is of course just nonsense. Syria gave up its chemical weapons in
2013 and the OPCW confirmed that all weapon and precursor stocks were
destroyed and all laboratories and production facilities dismantled.
This
new fairytale of Assad's chemical weapons is designed to create a
pretext for a another, more extensive bombing campaign against
Syria. A
fake pretext build on fake 'chemical attack' in Douma.
There
is no evidence that any 'chemical attack' occurred in Douma. All the
U.S., French and British government have are some videos created by
known propagandists like the White Helmets who work for those
governments. The State Department's spokesperson finally acknowledged
that:
MS NAUERT: Yeah. ... We recognize and appreciate and are very grateful for all the work that the White Helmets continues to do on behalf of the people of their country and on behalf of the U.S. Government and all the coalition forces.
...
I’ve just exchanged emails with him the other day. My understanding is that their work is still going on, and we’re proud to work with them.
Republican
Representative Massie remarked today:
Thomas Massie @RepThomasMassie - 14:03 UTC- 19 Apr 2018
In briefing to Congress, DNI, SecDef, and SecState provided zero real evidence. Referenced info circulating online. Which means either they chose not to provide proof to Congress or they don’t have conclusive proof that Assad carried out gas attack. Either way, not good.
After being
stalled for
five days the OPCW fact finding mission finally reached the
area in Douma where the alleged 'chemical attack happened. It entered
under protection of Russian military police.
The
scientific research service of the German Bundestag published a
report (pdf,
German) today which concludes that the U.S. led attack on Syria on
April 13 was evidently in violation of international law.
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