By Peter Ford
Source: 21st Century Wire
Syria in Perspective: 38th Human Rights Council : side event organised by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Geneva 27 June 2018

Statement by Peter Ford, British Ambassador to Syria, 2003-6, Representative of the Commissioner General of UNRWA, 2006-14

The objective of this meeting is to show Syria in perspective. That is, Syria as she really is after eight years of war, not as she is almost universally portrayed in the West.

A brave stand by the Commission of Inquiry on Syria over alleged use of chemical weapons in Douma

I shall look at the broad picture, but I want to zero in by dealing with the report presented yesterday by the Commission on Syria.

I am not going to endorse that report but I want to begin by congratulating the Commission for standing firm and refusing to make premature pronouncements about the alleged use of prohibited weapons in Douma.

In doing so the Commission obviously angered those in the US administration and elsewhere who are impatient to see the West bombing its way to regime change in Syria. Hence the petulant leaks to the New York Times of a rejected earlier draft of the Commission report, and hysterical accusations against the Commission.

The body which actually has prime responsibility for determining what occurred or did not occur in Douma is the OPCW. Its investigations are not yet complete. Perhaps worried that the outcome might not be what Washington wants, the US administration had clearly been pinning high hopes on the Commission for producing a report which would suit the administration’s purpose of retrospectively justifying the illegal US/UK/French bombing of Syria in April – and more importantly, of conditioning opinion for the next, bigger aggression.

Conditioning Western opinion for the next aggression

Make no mistake, conditioning opinion for the next Western air strikes is crucial for the coming phase of the Syria conflict.

Imagine that today you are a leader of one of the armed groups, in Deraa, say. You have seen how gullible Western governments and media are.

You have seen how easy it is to fabricate incidents to incriminate the Syrian government. You don’t even need to stage a false flag operation, that is one where you yourself use chemical weapons in order to pin the blame on Assad. You did that in 2013 only the former Commissioner, Carla Del Ponte, to veer off message by stating that there was strong and concrete evidence that the rebels had stocks of sarin and had used it.

The UN hierarchy intervened quickly to row back on what Carla Del Ponte had blurted out. So you, the jihadi leader, felt confident in staging more false flag incidents, as with the Khan Sheykhoun incident in April 2017. You knew that the OPCW inspectors would not actually visit the site, because your jihadi forces made sure it was unsafe. You knew that that – incredible as it may seem – would not stand in the way of the inspectors, in violation of their own protocols, accepting as genuine ground samples, photographs and other evidence provided by your auxiliaries, the White Helmets. You knew the inspectors would not demand biological samples.

You were worried when some of your coached witnesses in an excess of zeal presented themselves to hospitals too early and were logged as being treated even before Asad’s planes had left Sheyrat air base. The inspectors, however, relegated this killer fact to an appendix to their report. It was of course ignored.

Douma was a bigger challenge because you, the jihadi leader, left it so late that the inspectors were actually able to visit the site. But you were confident that your Western paymasters would bomb Asad without waiting for the investigation. And then when the investigation, delayed by the bombing, was finally about to get under way it was a simple matter to engineer more delay and deterioration of evidence by having your sleeper cells left behind fire a few shots. You knew the West would blame Russia and Asad. You knew also that even though the Russians found the people seen in the key video of the incident and had them recount here in Europe the true story of what happened, the Western media would prefer to believe you, the accomplice of Al Qaida.

Pentagon acting as Al Qaida air wing

You really cannot believe your luck. You have lost the war but here is the Pentagon willing to act as Al Qaida’s air wing as long as you just provide them with a credible staged incident.

To get the US, UK and France to go to war, a lower standard of evidence is needed than it takes to get a conviction for a parking ticket.

After Douma Western leaders swore that next time the gloves would be off, and reports emerged that Plan A for Douma had been to target Asad himself and his command centres, though the Russians nixed that. So what do you, the jihadi commander, do now? Well obviously you start planning the next fake attack. You would be a fool not to.

Thus , my friends, a repeat of Douma is fated to occur. Unless, that is, sufficient doubt emerges about the Douma charade, the Douma hoax, to give Western governments pause in assuming that their public opinions will swallow a repeat dose and allow them to risk a much more serious confrontation with Russia and Iran.

Against the background of that likely scenario, we see what a crucial service the Commission has performed by refusing to join in the conditioning of opinion by pronouncing on Douma.

Siege warfare is not the unique vice of the Syrian government

Enough praise for the Commission. Now for some caveats

I quote:

‘we visited 44 sites and interviewed 112 civilian residents’

‘[they] launched air strikes on buildings full of civilians using wide area effect munitions…’

‘we found no information indicating that fighters were present’

‘they used unguided mortars and unguided artillery’

‘there is strong evidence that the attacks violated international law’

‘they fired projectiles above houses… photos showed burning elements coming into contact with civilian buildings’.

‘people hiding in basements were terrified’ ‘hundreds were killed and thousands injured’

Horrendous, yes? Shocking, yes?

These are quotes not from the Commission report but from the Amnesty International reporton the siege of Raqqa by the Coalition. They put into its right context the Commission’s report on the siege of Douma.

But while the Commission apparently want to indict Syrian leaders for war crimes, those who conducted the siege of Raqqa, reported on by the Commission in an earlier report, are just gently admonished for not taking enough precautions.

It is remarkable that the Commission have ignored the Amnesty International report in their latest offering, even though Amnesty International called for international investigation and action.

Crimes of aggression

Other issues are also ignored.

The Commission is mandated to investigate not only human rights law but also ‘abuses and violations of international law (HRC 21/26)’. The crime of aggression is such a violation, indictable under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The Commission cannot trespass on the territory of the OPCW, as it has done, damagingly, in earlier reports, producing the endlessly cited factoid that there have been 34 chemical weapons attacks since 2013, while on the other hand timidly ignoring issues arising under the purview of the Rome Statute.

The unprovoked attacks by the US, UK and France on Syria following the liberation of Douma are barely given a mention in the latest report.

Other acts of illegality are ignored.

Is it not a violation of international law to give immense military, financial and propaganda support to armed groups operating in the territory of a member state of the UN?

Is it not a violation to establish without permission military bases on the territory of a member state? The US has several thousand troops in Syria, and does not even attempt to justify their presence in terms of international law. British forces are present too, and the British government ludicrously tries to justify their presence on the far fetched grounds that they are protecting Iraq against ISIS.

Is it not a violation to use military force to prevent the forces or allied forces of a member state from taking control of state oil assets, and to kill scores if not hundreds in the process, as occurred in the vicinity of Deir Ez Zor?

Is it not a violation of international law to occupy a pocket of a state’s territory, 55 kilometres deep, as at Al Tanf on Syria’s border with Iraq, and shamelessly proclaim a readiness to use military force to prevent that state’s forces’ from entering in order to root out jihadis being rebadged, equipped and trained behind American shields?

Is it not a violation of international law to invade Syrian territory as Turkey has done, and to establish a de facto occupation authority?

Is it not a violation of international law to dispose of part of a state’s territory as Turkey and the US have purported to do over the district of Manbij, and to connive at keeping out the forces of the lawful government?

Is it not a violation to bomb alleged sites of chemical weapons which had been recently inspected by OPCW inspectors and found to give no grounds for concern?

Is it not a violation to direct unilateral coercive measures against a state without any international mandate to do so?

And finally, is it not a breach of international law for Israel to launch more than a hundred unprovoked bombing raids on Syria, some hundreds of kilometres away from Israel?

The Commission pass over in embarrassed silence all these very serious violations.

Forced displacement

The Commission’s report makes much of alleged forced displacement. This is a classic example of misleading framing.

What the Syrian government has done in terms of negotiating terms for local surrenders could equally be framed as humane treatment of a vanquished foe, offering them a choice between staying in the locality and accepting government jurisdiction, or leaving with their families for another destination controlled by their fellow insurgents. So excellent was this choice that the Coalition used the same procedure at the end of the siege of Raqqa, allowing thousands of ISIS fighters to escape.

I am afraid that on this count the Commission have been dupes of opposition propaganda.

Two possible futures for Syria

I shall conclude by taking a forward look at where Syria is heading.

There are basically two possible futures for Syria.

Spoiler strategy of the West

First there is the future as the Western powers are trying to shape it.

At the moment the US and its satellites realise that Asad has the military upper hand and will be hard to dislodge just by military means. They have therefore a multi-pronged spoiler strategy:

Prevent Asad regaining control of the North East, with its important oil and gas assets.

Try to hamper trade and communications across the border with Iraq, by actions which include refraining from crushing ISIS in its remaining redoubts, from where it can remain a thorn in the Syrian government’s side

Use sanctions to keep the Syrian economy weak

Prevent international aid for reconstruction from reaching Syria

Keep Syria depopulated by discouraging return of refugees to Syria

Use the Geneva negotiations and the fiction of ‘transition’ to claw back in the negotiating chamber what has been lost on the battlefield

Weaken Syria militarily by securing with Israeli assistance withdrawal of Iran and its allies

Stand by ready to cripple government forces using the pretext of a chemical weapon attack

This future has no vision for what might occur if the strategy succeeds. No conception of what would fill the void if Asad was toppled. As with Iraq, the West wreaks destruction and hopes for the best.

A military solution

The second future is this:

The gradual recovery of the entirety of Syrian territory under the present government. A major step forward is being made currently in the South. That will leave just the North and North East. Talks are already under way with the Kurds. The status quo in these areas is unsustainable and the Kurds know it. The Kurds need Syrian government protection against Turkey. Some changes in the constitution will bring the Kurds on board.

The Idlib campaign to bring that area under the government control may be brutal but can only have one outcome.

Essentially what we shall see is a military solution. With the recovery of the South the Syrian government will control areas where 80% of Syrians live. All the pious talk about there only possibly being a political solution is just that, pious talk . Essentially what we shall see is a return to the status quo ante, with some modification for the Kurds.

This is the perspective I think is the most likely to prevail for Syria, and the one desired by most, war weary Syrians. The war will have been waged on Syria, primarily from outside, for nothing.

Western powers, get used to it.

Stop trying to delay the inevitable and prolonging the agony.

***

Peter Ford is a retired British Diplomat who was Ambassador to Bahrain from 1999-2003 and Syria from 2003-2006.

Source: 21st Century Wire
Once again, the US appears to be baiting the Syrian Army and Russia into a shooting war, and it wouldn’t be the first time.

Back on September 17 2016, the US-led Coalition led airstrikes near the Deir ez-Zor Airport in eastern Syria lasting one hour and killing between 90 and 106 Syrian Army soldiers and wounded 110 more. The US claimed they were aiming at an ISIS target, but in reality that US strike allowed ISIS to move in from the surrounding hills and retake a key position which they held for another year.

UPDATE 6PM ET: More confusion surrounds this recent event, as a US official told CNN that it was Israel who are behind the attack on Syrian forces near Deir ez-Zor.

In total there have been at least 12 such attacks by the US against Syria, and if confirmed, this latest incident will no doubt escalate tensions between the two countries, and is sure to raise further concerns from Syria’s strategic partners about the continued illegal US occupation in Syria.

Al-Masdar News reports….

BEIRUT, LEBANON (3:00 P.M.) – A Syrian military source in Damascus informed Al-Masdar News this afternoon that the death toll from the alleged U.S. attack on the army’s positions in Albukamal’s countryside has risen significantly.

According to the source, at least 40 soldiers from the Syrian Arab Army and Iraqi paramilitary forces were killed as a result of these airstrikes.

The source said the majority of the dead were Syrian Arab Army soldiers that were deployed to the Al-Harri front to protect against any potential Islamic State (ISIS) assault.

Furthermore, the source said the Syrian military believes the attack was carried out by the U.S. Coalition due to the location from where the aircraft came from in eastern Syria.

In response to these allegations, the Pentagon has denied carrying out this deadly attack in eastern Syria.

This is the second time in three weeks that the Syrian Army has accused the U.S. Coalition of bombing their troops in southeast Syria.

The Syrian Army has not responded to the attack and will not likely attack the US-backed forces in the region, as this would only escalate the situation and lead to violent confrontation.

Furthermore, it is not necessarily clear that the U.S. Coalition carried out the attack, a some pro-government activists have accused the Israeli Air Force of carrying out the airstrikes.

Albukamal is a long distance from the Israeli border, but it would be a viable target for their military, given the large presence of Iranian-backed forces near the Iraqi-Syrian border.

Israel has also never attacked the Syrian military this far from their border, so if they were behind this – this would be the first time they have ever bombed the Deir Ezzor Governorate.

Though, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did vow to attack the Iranian-backed forces anywhere inside Syria during his weekly cabinet meeting.

This is a threat that he and his Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman have made on several occasions in the past.

Source: Fars News
The Syrian Army Forces pounded ISIL’s movements and strongholds in Eastern Badiyeh (desert) of Homs province, inflicting major losses on the terrorists on Friday.

The army soldiers engaged in fierce clashes with ISIL near Humeimeh and T2 Oil Pumping Station in Eastern Badiyeh, killing and wounding a number of terrorists.

In the meantime, the army aircraft pounded ISIL’s positions and movements in a region between Homs and Deir Ezzur provinces, destroying several positions and military vehicles and killing or wounding a large number of terrorists.

Major General Alexei Tsygankov, the chief of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria said on Wednesday that officers of the Center found an ammo cache in the village of Um-Sharshuh, Homs province.

“Thanks to intelligence obtained by the Syrian security agencies, an ammo cache was recovered in the Eastern part of the populated locality of Um-Sharshuh. An anti-tank guided missile, three reactive shaped charge mines, 52 hand anti-tank grenade launchers and over 8,500 pieces of ammunition were handed over to the government forces,” the Russian commander said.

Over the past 24 hours, Russian observers registered some ceasefire violations in Aleppo, Deir Ezzur, Lattakia and Dara’a provinces.

Syrian field engineers trained by Russian specialists have searched 20 buildings in the town of Douma and Eastern Ghouta and destroyed three mines, four shells and 17 improvised explosive devices. At least 35 mines and 21 improvised explosive devices were found in East Kafr Laha, Homs province.

Source: Mint Press
Independent journalist Sarah Abed speaks with Aramean Christians about the systematic discrimination and human rights violations they often face in the Kurdish enclaves of northern Syria.

AL QAMISHLI, SYRIA (War Report) — Over the past few weeks, multiple independent on-the-ground sources have provided and corroborated information regarding disturbing events taking place in and around the Al Hassakah governorate in northeastern Syria.

One of the most startling allegations made is that the People’s Protection Units (YPG) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been arresting and kidnapping men aged 18 to 40 in the Al Hassakah governorate, which includes Al Qamishli and other towns under their control. They are taking these men against their will to Kurdish militia training camps, where they will stay for some time and receive training before being forced to fight in the so-called “New Syrian Army” or “North Syrian Army.” I was told that some of these men are being taken to the front lines to fight in Afrin as well.

According to RT, in late December:
Russia’s Reconciliation Center for Syria issued a statement accusing the U.S.-led coalition of creating the so-called ‘New Syrian Army.’ The group comprises remnants of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), the Al-Nusra Front and others, and is based at a refugee camp in north-east Syria, which is located 20 kilometers from Al-Shaddadah town. Local refugees, returning to areas freed from IS, say the refugee camp has been used by the coalition as a training ground for militants for over six months.”

Surge in kidnapping by Kurdish YPG and Asayesh
Eddie Gaboro Hanna — founder of Patriarchal Relief Care Australia, a group that provides aid to Christian families impacted by wars in Syria and Iraq — stated on January 20th, that a few days prior:

The Kurds started a new operation [whereby] they are taking young Christian boys by force to sign them up for the Kurdish military & send them to the front line at Afrin where a new battle has just commenced with Turkey on the border. … I’m with Sootoro now. That’s who I stay with — the good Sootoro of course, not the Kurdish one (Sutoro). Pretty much the Christians are treated as second-class citizens [here] in their own land. … Just like how ISIS has the Islamic tax they have their own Kurdish one. They’ve replaced ISIS.”

In late January I was able to question Eddie in detail about his role and his view of these events:

Sarah Abed (SA): Can you tell me about yourself, your mission, and why you are in Syria?

Eddie Gaboro Hanna (EGH): I’m the founder of Patriarchal Relief Care Australia. For the past five years I’ve been organizing fundraising events and sending funds to our Patriarchal diocese in Damascus, to be dispersed to the most needy Christians suffering in war zones in Syria and Iraq.

I’m now on my second aid mission to Syria and am working on projects such as repairing damaged and bombed homes of displaced families, in hopes they can return to their homes. I’m also aiding over 400 orphans and over 160 widows, as well as purchasing and supplying medical equipment, allowances and supplies to ill and disabled children.

I made a documentary called “Tears of Another Genocide” to help raise awareness and show the world the persecution and genocide against Christians in the Syrian war.

SA: How long have you been in Syria during this trip?

EGH: I’ve been in Syria for exactly five weeks now.

SA: What areas have you visited during your trip thus far?

EGH: I visited Damascus, Saydnaya, Maloula, Homs and villages in the province of Homs, Sadad, Aleppo, Qamishli, Hassakeh, and Khabour.

SA: Did you receive protection from Sootoro or the SAA? If so in what areas? What type of protection?

EGH: Sootoro, as in the Christian Sootoro not the pro-Kurdish fake Sutoro, picked me up and accommodated me for a week in northern Syria. In every other part of Syria I was in, which were all under the control of the SAA (Syrian Arab Army), I didn’t need any protection — only in the Kurdish (controlled) areas of Northern Syria I needed protection.

SA: Have you received any threats while in Syria?

EGH: No, I haven’t received any threats.

SA: Has your life ever been in danger while in Syria? If so where, why, and by whom?

EGH: Yes, my life was in serious danger New Year’s Eve in the Christian town of Bab Toma. I was outside among thousands in a crowd celebrating New Year’s Eve and at exactly 12:02, just past midnight, the Free Syrian Army started firing mortar shells and one landed approximately 30 to 50 meters from me killing two Christians that night.

SA: What do Syrians want foreigners to know about the war in Syria?

EGH: Syrians want the foreigners to know that it was never a revolution nor a peaceful protest, because in 2009, two years before the war, the terrorists started digging tunnels and stashing massive arms preparing for this brutal war.

SA: What are some of the complaints you’ve heard from Syrians?

EGH: Non-Kurds are treated as second-class citizens by the Kurds. They are forced to pay special taxes simply because they are non-Kurds. Christian homes have been confiscated. Kurds write on the homes that this property now belongs to the Kurds, exactly like how ISIS writes on homes they take. Syrians complain more about America and the Kurds than anything else. America funded the opposition who started the war and destroyed over a hundred thousand Christian homes, and they’ve also funded the Kurds, who are oppressing the non-Kurds and even some Kurds who disagree with their political ambitions.

Eddie told me that he had “recorded a video of the writing they wrote on the wall of an Armenian home, exactly like how ISIS writes on the properties of Christians when they confiscate them.”

In a more official rendering of the experiences Eddie recounted a World Council of Arameans press release, titled “Kurdish YPG / Asayesh Forces Kidnapped More Aramean Christians in Northeast Syria,” which states:

Local Christian sources, fearing for their lives and speaking on condition of anonymity to the World Council of Arameans (WCA), report that they are facing more and more harassments from the Kurdish YPG and Asayesh (security forces).

On Friday, 19 January, the first grave human rights violations of the new year included the abduction of seven Christians — four Armenians and three Arameans (otherwise known as Syriacs). Nevertheless, following intense negotiations, all of them were released except for the 20-year young Aramean, Saliba A., who was snatched in daylight out of his shop in Qamishli by the Asayesh.

After the threat of ISIS, the current wish of the Arameans is for the nationalist Kurds to leave them, their organizations, schools, churches and their self-defense of Sootoro in peace. The Aramean-led Sootoro even includes Arabs, who are also being seized by the Asayesh and enrolled by the YPG.”

Eddie and Qamishli resident Samer, a reliable local source, provided me with further insight into on-the-ground conditions and human rights violations they witnessed in Syria. These included soaring real-estate prices as wealthy Kurds buy up as much property that they can get their hands on, often paying the owners double the property’s value.

Kurds are able to offer more for these properties due to illegal control of Syrian industry – including the oil, transportation, financial sectors — imposing unlawful taxes, and charging fees for everyday things such as renewing licenses or carrying out normal business activities. If one wants to sell a certain good, they are directed to a Kurd who is in charge of collecting a tax on that particular good. They are doing this for almost everything and the local population is suffering as a result.

Eddie went on to say:
YPG, PYD, SDF, MSF, they are all the same. The SDF have aligned themselves with the Free Syrian Army who openly work side by side with Jabhat Al Nusra [Al Qaeda]. The Kurd[ish militias] have recruited ex-ISIS members.”

I explained that when I had written about the connections between Daesh/ISIS and Kurdish militias, some people were shocked by the association, he responded: “It’s not shocking when you remember the Kurds were the ISIS of 1915, except they slaughtered Christians on a much larger scale then.”

Much of Kurdish culture is borrowed from Assyrians, Armenians, and Aramean culture. In fact, much of the land in Eastern Turkey that the Kurds now claim once belonged to Armenians. It is hardly surprising, then, that the Kurds assisted in the Turkish genocide of Assyrians and the 1915 genocide of Armenians.

Eddie told me that the taxes being charged are similar to what ISIS was forcing civilians to pay in areas it controlled. Samer stated that the prices of food, clothing, etc., are about 25 percent higher than in other governorates in the country, such as in Damascus. Electricity is scarce; people are using generators and have noticed a lot of cars without licence plates. He said it has become a “military society.” Education is also being negatively affected. Samer went on to say “guns are everywhere; people are buying guns like it’s food.”
Eddie Gaboro Hanna told me: “They [the Kurdish militias] are still taking land and property from Christians by force and charging the Christian businesses a tax.” They are also destroying historical sites and claiming Assyrian artifacts to be Kurdish in origin. Historical revisionism is taking place, and the indigenous people are crying out for the world to stop these violations.

An article by reporter Paul Antonopoulos, originally published by the website Fort Russ and republished by AINA, states:

Reports of ethnic cleansing have been consistent in areas controlled by the SDF/YPG, with Arab villages entirely evacuated and re-inhabited by Kurdish settlers.

In the most recent case, … Tabqa, a city made up primarily of Arab Sunnis and a small Christian Assyrian minority, has seen SDF tyranny continue since they captured the site from ISIS in May 2017. Houses that were emptied by people escaping the fighting and SDF rule have seen their houses confiscated and taken over by the SDF-controlled Tabqa Council.
The Tabqa Council says that the newly vacant homes are to be given to the families of SDF fighters who have died in battle.”

Kurdish independence has been falsely portrayed as an ethno-religious, democratic, feminist, revolutionary cause by mainstream and even some alternative media outlets. However, these media sources completely ignore facts and realities that contradict the romanticized version being publicly displayed. A point they often disregard is that the Kurds are not the original inhabitants of the lands that they now claim. Assyrians, Aramaeans, Armenians and other Christian minority groups are indigenous to the Levant. Aramaic, the language spoken by Arameans, dates back 3,000 years and is the language that Jesus Christ spoke. Many members of the Syriac Orthodox church still speak Aramaic and it’s an important component of their religious liturgy.

Sarah Abed is an independent journalist and political commentator. She covers a broad range of issues relating to the Syrian war, Kurdish issues in Iraq and Syria, as well as U.S policy in the Middle East. The following is an account of Sarah’s conversations with Aramean Christians living under Kurdish rule in occupied northern Syria, as well as her personal take on the issues surrounding those conversations. MintPress News could not independently verify the information given by Sarah’s sources.

Source: SANA
The Syrian Arab Army has declared the entire Deir Ezzor city fully liberated after the last positions of ISIS in it were eliminated.

“Units of the Syrian Arab Army, in cooperation with the allied and supporting forces, have accomplished the mission of fully liberating Deir Ezzor city from ISIS terrorist organization,” a military source said on Friday.

Large numbers of ISIS terrorists, including leaders, were killed and their weapons and equipment were destroyed, the source affirmed, noting that the army units and supporting forces have seized ISIS munitions depots in the city.

After assuming full control of the city, the army’s engineering units embarked on sweeping the streets, roads, squares and buildings in the liberated neighborhoods to remove unexploded ordnance (bombs, mines and explosive devices) left behind by ISIS terrorists in the area.

The army’s new achievement came as a result of month-long special military operations against ISIS terrorists’ hotbeds that took into consideration protecting the citizens’ houses in the residential areas.

The full liberation of the eastern city of Deir Ezzor is an important step made by the Syrian Arab Army towards fully eliminating of ISIS from all the Syrian territory and foiling all the attempts of the US-led international coalition that are aimed at prolonging the existence of the terrorist organization to implement its anti –Syrian agenda.

Hama

An army unit established control over al-Shakosya village and the farms surrounding it in the northeastern countryside of Hama.

SANA reporter said that an army unit, in cooperation with allied forces, carried out intensive operation against the gatherings of Jabhat al-Nusra in al-Shakosya village which ended up with restoring security and stability to it.

A number of terrorists were killed during the operation while the rest of them fled away, leaving the bodies of their dead and their weapons and ammunition.

By Mikhail Alaeddin
Source: RT
A furious assault on Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) positions in Deir ez-Zor province and the regional capital by Syrian government forces continues, as Damascus hopes to clear the remaining pockets of terrorists from the city within days.

After the siege of Deir ez-Zor province was breached during the first week of September, the Syrian army supported by the Russian Air Force have encountered stubborn IS resistance in the surrounding neighborhoods of the city.

“Every day there is combat. They’ll use heavy weapons from range, or they’ll try to infiltrate in the middle of the night. They attack with suicide vests and car bombs. The battle goes on everyday,” Syrian Army officer, Ibrahim, told RT’s Murad Gazdiev shortly before he and his crew came under heavy shelling from ISIS positions.

The RT crew also came under fire while reporting from Syrian artillery position overlooking the industrial part of Deir ez-Zor, the same spot where a Russian lieutenant-general, Valery Asapov, was fatally wounded by an exploding shell in a sudden mortar attack by IS terrorists.

Terrorists are throwing everything they have in a desperate attempt to hold their positions, using the Euphrates River to replenish their numbers and supplies. On Wednesday, the army targeted ISIS fighters in the Hweijet al-Saker area, the neighborhoods of al-Hweiqa, al-Arddi, Khassarat and Kanamat as well as al-Husseinia village to the northeast of the city, SANA reported.

According to reports, Syrian forces also managed to repel a terrorist attack on the village of Hatlah Tahtani which is vital to control Saqr Island east of Deir ez-Zor city. The island serves as a key position for control of the northern part of the city.

Despite the IS resistance, the army hopes to clear the city within days.

“The city of Deir ez-Zor will be liberated in a week, at the most. And we’ll free some of the suburbs too. The cost will undoubtedly be high… it’s a challenging battleground. From dense urban areas – to lush river banks and even trenches,” Ibrahim noted.

Syrian forces are also successfully pushing IS to the east of Euphrates River, a report by Al-Masdar News said. Syrian forces are using the specially constructed bridge, erected by Russian engineers, to move military hardware and additional troops between the banks of the river.

Securing the rest of Deir ez-Zor province might prove to be more difficult, as Moscow and Damascus fear that while Washington claims it is focused on fighting Islamic State terrorists, on the ground, the US-led forces act in a different manner.

On Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defense published aerial images which they say show US Army special forces equipment located north of Deir ez-Zor, where pockets of IS terrorists are holding their ground.

The US troops do not face any “resistance from the ISIS militants,” while their positions have no screening patrol, which could indicate that they “feel absolutely safe” in the area, the ministry said.

While Washington has denied the accusations, troops of the Syrian Democratic Force (SDF), a predominantly Kurdish militia backed by the US military, have recently attacked positions of the Syrian Arab Army in the Deir ez-Zor governorate, aiming to assert control over the oil and gas rich region of eastern Syria.

Despite this, Damascus hopes to clear all the terrorists from Syria by the end of the year. At the start of the week, the Russian military said Syrian armed forces had regained control of some 87.4 percent of the country’s territory.

“I say that the main battles in Syria are coming to an end, and, therefore, we are completing the last chapter in the history of the crisis,” Syria’s foreign minister, Walid Muallem told RT Arabic in an exclusive interview. “The Syrian state intends to liberate every inch of our country from terrorists. If we manage to do this before the end of this year, then we will only be happy about it.”