By David MacIlwain
Source: Russian Insider
Salma, which has recently been captured by Syria army was a heavily fortified town, had been occupied by rebels leaning on Turkey which is only a stone’s throw away and had been constantly fought over for years – pro-government Syrians will breathe a sight of collective relief this particular story of the war appears to have ended.

Moreover the town has a connection to dark attrocity which may now come closer to being resolved

As the Western world was worked up into a lather of outrage over stories of the ‘starving children of Madaya, kept under siege by the Syrian army’, another siege was taking place in Syria which failed to interest the Western press.

Unlike the stories of Madaya, where gruesome images were hawked around the world like paparazzi shots of semi-naked celebrities, but valued for their emotive power rather than their authenticity, the story of Salma was too real to need such ‘publicity’, and word rapidly spread around Syria of the town’s liberation from terrorist forces.

Perhaps at some time in the future, some Western historians, or aging journalists, will try to find out what really happened in Syria when the West’s fabric of lies has finally collapsed under the weight of its irreconcilable contradictions. At that time they will need to know what happened in Salma, a small village near the Turkish border north of Latakia, long occupied by ‘rebels’.

So this is the story of Salma, relayed to us by a friend we can call ‘Leila’ who lives in Latakia.

“The local, native population of Salma numbered in the dozens. They were mainly Syrian citizens of Kurdish ancestry. They were not Turkman. Salma was strictly Sunni Muslim. Salma was not a famous place, or even a pretty place, or even a scenic place. Salma’s claim to fame was the fact it got cool evening breezes, coming in from the North and East during the hot and humid summers in Latakia province.

There is a village close to Salma called Slounfa. Slounfa is a higher elevation, and is even colder, but the native population are Alawi. Slounfa was never in the hands of the rebels. Slounfa is a mountain resort, of the type that you find in Lebanon. Stone houses, oak trees, cedar trees, church and mosque. Slounfa’s claim to fame was also the cold evening air temperature all summer, and snow in winter, because of the high elevation. But Slounfa is pretty, scenic and every panorama is a beautiful picture postcard scene.

Salma was the ‘ugly sister’ to Slounfa. However, during the period of 1990 to 2011 a steady real estate development went on there. People from Aleppo and Latakia and other places (including Saudi Arabians and Qataris) built homes, apartments and palaces there. Salma, just like Slounfa is full to capacity in summer, and deserted in winter. Both places were ‘summer-use only’.

When the terrorists became mobilised and organised in 2011, they quickly set up headquarters in Salma. They were Syrians, and many foreigners. The terrorists were able to hold Salma and use it as a strategic location because of the tunnels they dug to connect them with the Turkish military, who were over the border, and officially supporting the terrorists in Salma.”

So what happened, that has caused such celebration and particularly in Latakia, whose loyal population has long been a target of the violent insurgency? Leila explains:

“Here in Latakia, we all could not believe that a tiny, tiny place like Salma would be so difficult to take control of. For almost 5 years we have only heard about “The Battles in Salma”. It became a story of epic proportions, like the legendary “never-ending story”. Finally, after so many years, and so many martyred Syrian Arab Army soldiers, and civilians, we have victory.

It is a huge blow to the Syrian Opposition, their armed wing the Free Syrian Army, and all their allied Al Qaeda type terrorists. The fall of Salma is a huge event.”

And she is unreserved in her praise for Russia and the crucial role played by the Russian air-force in helping the Syrian armed forces kill and drive out the terrorist groups from this key bridgehead:

“It cannot be underestimated the value of the Russian Air Force. The ‘boots on the ground’ are still mainly Syrian men, but the air power is Russian. The Russian intervention in late September, early October, has changed the course of the Syrian war.”

In August, just before Russia came to the aid of the beleaguered Syrian Arab Army, which had been fighting a losing battle against the ‘Army of Conquest’ in this area north of Latakia, Leila had spent a month in the village of Slounfa, overlooking the ongoing battles around Salma from a safe distance. But the terrorist groups were advancing and she escaped back to Latakia:

“I left Slounfa and returned home to Latakia prepared to evacuate at any moment, because the Army was losing ground, and there was real panic in the air, among the civilians up there. We had one evening in Slounfa when the residents all came up onto their roofs with hunting rifles, used for shooting birds and rabbits.

When I saw I was faced with real possibility of being overrun by the terrorists, who were very close, I had to calculate how I and my guests could evacuate in the night, without any car available. We passed that night and were not attacked, but we will never forget the look on the local residents up there who were prepared to fight to the death and stand their ground.

After I returned home to Latakia, it was just days later the Russians arrived. Since then, everything changed here. Latakia breathed a collective sigh of relief, and now we can see real progress and hope that an end to the war is possible.”

Details on the final assault on Salma have come from another contact in Latakia who witnessed the battle, noting both the ‘merciless’ bombardment by Russian Su-25s, as well as the participation amongst the Syrian army of both NDF (National Defence Forces) and former FSA units. These fighters it seems have now realised they were tricked into fighting for a false ‘Syrian revolution’, and may be expected to fight even harder against the foreign tricksters. This contact described the battle:

“The destruction inside Salma is limited, but in Salma suburbs it is huge. The main battle took place on the hill tops and in Salma suburb and nearby towns, inside Salma the army did not have to fight, the Nusra fled their positions.

I have seen a warehouse full of food from Saudi and medicine from Turkey – it seems that the Nusra was planning to stay longer but the army and the Russians did not give them a chance. More than 800 air-strikes were conducted in 5 days I have been told. After Salma was liberated the next strategic hills fell one by one into the hands of the SAA and the supporting NDF units easily.”

He continued: “Everyone is very happy around here after the huge victory in Salma and some other towns and villages – Jisr al Shughour is the next goal..” (and then Idlib, Aleppo and Raqqa, Leila notes)

But this is only the story of the final conquest of Salma, and the expulsion of the terrorist groups from this area near the Turkish border – the very same area incidentally where the Russian SU24 was shot down by Turkey last November.

Salma has a particularly dark secret, connected with probably the most horrific single crime committed by ‘Opposition forces’ in Syria – the massacre of the villagers of Ballouta.

A couple of weeks before the ‘Sarin gas attack’ in Ghouta of August 21st 2013, a large group of ‘Free Syrian Army rebels’ went into Ballouta, which is not far from Salma, and slaughtered 220 of its Alawite villagers, killing them brutally and barbarically in their homes.

The ‘FSA’ at that time included extremist factions and ‘moderates’ and the attack was condoned by the ‘Syrian National Coalition’ in Istanbul. The only Australian member of the SNC, Sheik Fedaa Majzoub, who was resident in Salma and whose brother had been killed there a year earlier, allegedly also played a role in this unspeakable crime.

News of the massacre came first from some villagers who managed to escape to the safety of Latakia, and described seeing their relatives cut open and hung from trees, as well as the theft of their children. We can only speculate on the intentions of these barbarian forces when they kidnapped the young children of Ballouta, taking a hundred of them back to Salma and holding them hostage in an underground prison. (45 children were released 9 months later following negotiations to end the ‘rebel’ siege of Homs’ Old city). Perhaps the intention was simply to use them in trades for captured insurgents, but something else happened that suggests a far more evil intent.

Two weeks after the massacre and abductions, when videos were released showing rooms full of children allegedly gassed with Sarin in Ghouta, east of Damascus, some of the distraught parents who survived the massacre in Ballouta recognised their own kidnapped children in the videos.

We know now that the ‘Sarin attack’ was a fabrication, with substantial evidence of Turkish planning and involvement of Al Nusra. And close analysis of the videos at the time had already raised questions about their authenticity, as the same children appeared ‘dead’ in different positions and places. Perhaps access to the torture rooms of Salma will now tell us what became of the unaccounted 55 children of Ballouta.

While some of those directly responsible for their incarceration may have received swift justice from the Russian air-force and Syrian patriots, the fight for the liberation of Syria from the suffocating pall of Western propaganda seems to have barely started. But liberating the truth of what happened in Salma ‘from her bodyguard of lies’ would be a good beginning.

Source: South Front
Abu Walid al-Shishani, leader of Jund al-Sham terrorist group has stated that his fighters can no more block the Syrian Arab Army’s advances.

In a video message released on Wednesday, Abu Walid al-Shishani, leader of Jund al-Sham referred to the dire situation of his forces in Syria, and noted that they are no more able to oppose the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in the Latakia province. Shishani also noted that the number of his forces have decreased.

The statement was released after the SAA and its allies liberated over more than 300 square kilometers of lands in North Latakia.

We remember, on Jan.12, the SAA took control of the strategic town of Salma Northeast of Lattakia province.

By Leith Fadel
Source: The Arab Source
It is hard to determine what has been the Syrian Arab Army’s most successful offensive since the genesis of Russian airstrikes inside the country; however, one could argue that the significant progress in southern Aleppo has given hope to the people of Aleppo City.

Then again, one might argue that the southern Aleppo offensive is mixed with Iraqi paramilitary units and Hezbollah, but the eastern Aleppo front is different, they are purely SAA and this same group lifted the 3 year long siege of the Kuweires Military Airport.

Regardless of preference, the most imperative offensive taking place in Syria is the northern Latakia offensive that is being conducted by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and their allies from the National Defense Forces (NDF) and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP).

Why is this the most important offensive?

It is rather simple: the Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade of the Republican Guard and their allies are advancing along 3 different fronts in northern Latakia and they are doing so in a very rapid, but efficient manner.

In a matter of 2 and a half months, the Syrian Arab Army’s 103rd Brigade and their allies have seized several kilometers of territory inside Jabal Al-Turkmen (Turkmen Mountains) and Jabal Al-Akrad (Kurdish Mountains), while the Turkish-backed Islamist rebels retreat along several axes.

Yesterday, the Syrian Armed Forces imposed full control over Jabal Al-Nuba (Nuba Mountains); this strategic site was almost untouchable just three months ago and now, it is under the control of the Syrian state government.

In addition to their advance towards the Turkish border, the Syrian Armed Forces are pushing east along the Latakia-Turkish border after capturing Jabal Al-Zahiyah and large parts of the Firlalaq Forests in Jabal Al-Turkmen.

And lastly, the Latakia Governorate is the key to the Syrian government’s maritime shipping industry and the gateway to both the Idlib and Aleppo Governorate’s.

Without sealing Latakia, the strategic city of Jisr Al-Shughour in Idlib would be impregnable and a lost cause for the Syrian Armed Forces; but with the Latakia Governorate sealed off, they will be in prime position to launch an attack.

Source: The Arab Source
Moscow plans to suspend military cooperation with Ankara after the downing of a Russian bomber by Turkish air forces, Russian General Staff representatives said on Tuesday.

“Further measures to beef up Russian air base security in Syria will also be taken.”

Sergey Rudskoy, a top official with the Russian General Staff, condemned the attack on the Russian bomber in Syrian airspace by a Turkish fighter jet as “a severe violation of international law”. He stressed that the Su-24 was downed over the Syrian territory. The crash site was four kilometers away from the Turkish border, he said.

Rudskoy said the Russian warplane did not violate Turkish airspace. Additionally, according to the Hmeymim airfield radar, it was the Turkish fighter jet that actually entered Syrian airspace as it attacked the Russian bomber.

The Turkish fighter jet made no attempts to contact Russian pilots before attacking the bomber, Rudskoy added.

“We assume the strike was carried out with a close range missile with an infra-red seeker,” Rudskoy said. “The Turkish jet made no attempts to communicate or establish visual contact with our crew that our equipment would have registered. The Su-24 was hit by a missile over Syria’s territory.”

Russia now plans to implement new measures aimed at strengthening the security of the country’s air base in Syria and in particular to bolster air defense.

Russian guided missile cruiser Moskva, equipped with the ‘Fort’ air defense system, similar to the S-300, will be deployed off Latakia province’s coast.

“We warn that every target posing a potential threat will be destroyed,” lieutenant general Sergey Rudskoy said during the briefing.

“All military contacts with Turkey will be suspended,” he added.

From a Latakia resident
On the morning of Tuesday November 24, 2015 at 9:40 am local time, the Turkish military shot down a Russian military plane. The plane was flying on the border of Syria and Turkey, about a one hour drive North of Latakia. The area had been prior to 2011 inhabited by a mixed community of Turkoman ethnic Syrian citizens, and Syrians of the Alowi Muslim sect. The Turkoman people are not Turkish. Turkmanistan is located in Central Asia, and that ethnic group is closely related in appearance to Chinese people. However, the Turkoman do speak a form of Turkish language, which resembles the present day Turkish language spoken in Turkey.

These Turkoman people are full Syrian citizens, and have all the same rights by law as all other Syrian citizens. The rural mountain community had no ethnic or religious strife, and the Turkoman were not abused or oppressed in any way. They had homes, farms, businesses and many were in fact Syrian government employees. However, these Turkoman decided to throw the dice, and bet on Turkey winning the war in Syria. From 2011, the Turkoman both in the rural mountainous areas North of Latakia, and those city dwellers from their community in Latakia, all picked up and left to Turkey. Perhaps the Turkish government had promised them certain benefits if they came to Turkey and worked against Syria in the war which began just after March 2011.

When the Turkish military shot the Russian plane down, the two pilots ejected safely. Their parachutes brought them down slowly in an area just north of Latakia, which is occupied by the Free Syrian Army. This rebel group is fighting a war against the Syrian civilians and the Syrian government. They are fully supported by USA, UK, France, Germany, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The American media call them rebels, fighting in a civil war in Syria. However, the Syrian government and the Syrian civilians of the Latakia area call them Radical Islamic terrorists. The FSA have aligned with Al Qaeda, and on many occasions have pledged allegiance to ISIS. Even though President Obama and all others know that the FSA is a Radical Islamic terrorist group, having committed war crimes and atrocities across Syria, and massacred Christians and unarmed civilians in their homes, still USA continues to support them and defend them.

As the Russian pilots descended, the FSA, which includes Turkoman men, shot at these pilots while they were in the air. This action constitutes a war crime, by American and international rules of war. One pilot died from the bullets of the FSA. The FSA proudly advertised their war crime, by videoing the dead Russian pilot, while they screamed “Allah Akbar”, and kicked the dead body and hit him with their guns. This video is being shown around the world on YouTube as well as all news channels.

The second pilot descended safely, without being killed or captured, and he went into hiding. The Russian military in Syria sent a helicopter to rescue their pilot. As the helicopter approached the area, it was shot at by the FSA. One Russian soldier aboard was killed. The helicopter then left the area and went back to its base. The Syrian Arab Army brought in a special team of commandos, who went behind enemy lines and searched for 6 hours until they found the pilot alive and rescued him to the safety of the Russian military group at Jeblah, just south of Latakia.

Russia and France had prior to this incident concluded an agreement of cooperation in the fight against ISIS. The Russian headquarters for Syrian operations is on the coast just south of Latakia. The French aircraft carrier, “Charles DE Gaul”, had arrived and was working alongside the Russian air force in coordination and cooperation. It is unknown what this incident will do to this new alliance.

The facts have not fully immerged in this incident. The surviving pilot will have to give his report, and the satellite images will need to be studied for the story that will reveal. The Russian’s claim the Russian plane was always inside Syria, and was shot down inside Syria and the pilots ejected and landed inside Syria. At this point, everything physically can be confirmed to match with the Russian claim. It will be upon the Turkish government to produce proof which can be internationally verified that counters the Russian claim.

The Turkish government and their military have supported and defended the Radical Islamic terrorists inside Syria for almost 5 years. During this time period, the Turkish government has been under a transformation process, of going from a strictly and historically secular form of government, to a Radical Islamic leaning ideology. The Turkish citizens have complained and street protests were met by a brutal police crackdown, including deaths and injuries. The Turkish media has also complained, and many journalists have been arrested, even though Turkey claims they have democracy and freedom. President Erdogan of Turkey has long dreamed of engineering an incident in which Turkey would be in a position to ask NATO for military intervention in Syria. Several such plans have been uncovered by the Turkish media and members of the Turkish Parliament. These plans were publicly exposed in order to prevent their execution. The Turkish government assisted the FSA, enabling the massacre of Christians in Kassab, Syria in 2014, and in 2013 the Sarin gas attack in East Ghouta, near Damascus, has been proven by evidence uncovered and exposed publically by members of the Turkish Parliament, to have been the work of the Turkish government, under direct orders of Erdogan.

Just prior to the plane going down, a news crew from Russia Today (RT) was attacked by the FSA at Selma. One journalist was wounded, but will recover. Selma has been occupied by the FSA for more than 4 years. Selma sits on the Turkish border, and is due east of the area in which the plane was shot down. Selma is about a 40 minute drive North East of Latakia. The terrorists there are fully supported by Turkey and USA. The terrorists there have created an extensive system of tunnels, which allow them to be protected even from the heavy air force attacks. They are able to pass over to Turkey easily and have constant source of supplies, men and weapons. Currently, the Syrian Arab Army is in fierce battles to clear Selma and the area of all terrorists. The FSA terrorists in Selma had held a group of 100 very young children that they had kidnapped from Ballouta in August 2013. They held these very young children for 9 months underground, until they released 44 of them in May 2014, as part of a deal brokered between the Syrian government and the FSA, which included releasing terrorists and civilians in the Old City section of Homs. The fate of the remaining children kidnapped is unknown.

Source: RT News
The Russian military has launched cruise missiles against Islamic State positions in Syria from both the Mediterranean and Caspian seas, one of which killed over 600 terrorists in the Deir Ex-Zor [Deir Ezzor] Province, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has said.

“On November 20, the warships of the Caspian Fleet launched 18 cruise missiles at seven targets in the provinces of Raqqa, Idlib and Aleppo. All targets were hit successfully,” he reported to President Vladimir Putin.

Overall, there are 10 warships taking part in the operation, six of which are in the Mediterranean.

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) have been suffering huge losses as a result of the Russian offensive, Shoigu said, adding that data on the ground shows that the flow of terrorists arriving in Syria has decreased, while more and more militants are fleeing the warzone to head north and south-west.

Over the past four days, Russian air forces have conducted 522 sorties, deploying more than 100 cruise missiles and 1,400 tons of bombs of various types, the minister stated.

He added that a strike on a target in Deir ez-Zor utilizing multiple cruise missiles had killed more than 600 militants.

Shoigu stressed that the number of aircraft taking part in the operation has been doubled, and now consists of 69 jets conducting 143 sorties on a daily basis.

The minister pointed out that Russia is focused on destroying the terrorists’ economic base, having targeted 15 oil storage and refinery facilities as well as 525 oil trucks.

“We stopped supplies of 60,000 tons of oil per day to the black market and terrorists are losing $1.5 million daily,” Shoigu said.

Russia has also destroyed 23 jihadists training camps, 19 plants producing explosives, 47 ammunition depots, as well as many other targets, according to the minister.

In addition, Russia’s air campaign has provided significant support for Syrian government troops near Aleppo, Idlib, Latakia and Palmyra, he noted.

He also added that the Russian military has begun cooperating with its French counterparts, as ordered by President Putin.

The Defense Ministry has published a video showing Russian servicemen at the Khmeimim airbase in Syria writing ‘For our people’ and ‘For Paris’ on bombs that were later dropped on the terrorists.

“We have a lot of evidence that Russian airstrikes are effective,” Syrian Brigadier General Ali Maihub told Interfax.

“Russian mass airstrikes did irreparable damage to international terrorist organizations in Syria, disrupted their administration and financing systems and destroyed their bases and depots,” he added.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov still maintains that Russia will not engage in a ground operation against the IS in Syria.

“There has been no discussion about a ground operation and there is still no discussion,” Peskov told reporters.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry have discussed in a phone conversation the need for a joint effort to combat Islamic State in Syria, as well as the necessity of launching talks between Damascus and the Syrian opposition, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

A US official said on Friday that Russia has given the US advance notice before airstrikes at least three times since the attacks in Paris, Reuters reports.