How many GPM?And the brits send a destroyer late to the show and BL thinks it is actually making a contribution.
The Syria Thread: Everything you wanted to know or say about it
- Thread starter Tecumsehsbones
- Start date
Six "antiquated" Tornados that have been massively upgraded with all the latest weaponry, including a missile that is massively sought after by the Yanks and many other countries.
Also, remember that in Libya in 2011 the RAF sent 20 Tornados, during an operation which the US played little part in.
It's not the British who have a habit of turning up years late for wars after a lot of the hard work and graft has been done and much blood spilt and then claiming years later that we won those wars singlehandedly.
So why is HMS Defender currently providing protection for USS George HW Bush? Why is a Royal Navy destroyer escorting a US carrier?
That's an ignorant article which knows nothing about the British military.
The Tornados have been massively upgraded with all the latest weaponry, including Brimstone missiles which are heavily sought after by the US and other nations.
In fact, the state of the art Eurofighter Typhoons, which are supposed to be replacing the Tornados, cannot even match the weapons capability of the Tornados.
The Tornados are about the best fighters jets there are - and I daresay they are far superior to the F-22s, which are currently suffering from a lot of technical problems.
And the F-22s don't have the Brimstone missile - so heavily sought after by the Yanks.
And the fact that the French Air Force has 15 combat-capable air squadrons compared to the RAF's seven means nothing. The RAF is still a larger and more potent airforce than the French Air Force and still has more fighter jets.
'If there is an air force in the world that can carry out this task while minimising the risk of civilian casualties and the risk of collateral damage, the RAF is the air force,' Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said.
'There is nobody who knows anything about air power who is suggesting that the French air force is a more formidable force than the RAF.
'It is not just about how many formations you have, it is about the training of your people, it is about the capability of your equipment, it is about the structure and the organisation.'
I never saw the US Navy when I served in the Royal Navy. We saw plenty of French ships, and even Chinese and Spanish ships, but I never saw a US NAvy ship.
If the US aircraft carrier George HW Bush doesn't need HMS Defender, the world's most powerful destroyer, guarding it than what has it called upon HMS Defender for?
That "rust bucket" is actually the world's most technologically advanced warship and the world's most powerful air defence destroyer.
Analysis: "Firepower of Brimstone missiles gives RAF an edge" says Elizabeth Quintana of defence think-tank The Royal United Services Institute
27 September 2014
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Precise: The RAF's Brimstone missile allows Tornados to bomb targets other air forces are reluctant to strike.
Tornados bring a unique weapon to the battle against ISIS.
RAF crews still have a vital role to play despite joining the US-led coalition after the French and Arab states. The RAF’s Brimstone missile allows Tornados to bomb targets other air forces are reluctant to strike. It will provide a different capability.
Brimstone’s very precise. It’s a low-collateral weapon which means you can hit targets without creating too much of a blast radius, minimising civilian casualties. It was the “deciding factor” in the battle for Misrata in 2011 when the RAF blitzed Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.
RAF Tornados at RAF Marham. Tornados bring a unique weapon to the battle against ISIS
The only way to prosecute it was because they had this particular weapon. The Americans weren’t going to touch it; they thought there would be too many casualties.
There is a British appetite for action after seeing the grisly beheading videos filmed by ISIS as they murdered two American journalists and British aid worker David Haines. It’s about the British people and British politicians feeling that we need to do something.
We were in Iraq before and it is our job to clean up our mess, to some extent.
ISIS air strikes: MI6 in secret talks with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s regime - Mirror Online
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Follow us: @DailyMirror on Twitter | DailyMirror on Facebook
More Tornados to join Iraq mission says Cameron on visit to Cyprus airbase
British PM flies to Cyprus in move that reveals extent to which he recognises Isis campaign is likely to take time
Patrick Wintour in Akrotiri and Richard Norton-Taylor
The Guardian
Thursday 2 October 2014
An RAF Tornado GR4 returning to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus. Photograph: Cpl Neil Bryden/RAF/Mod/Crown Co/PA
David Cameron has flown to the RAF base in Akrotiri, Cyprus, from which British pilots are launching air strikes against Islamic State (Isis) targets in Iraq, announcing that he was to send a further two Tornado GR4 planes to supplement the six currently operating.
The prime minister also disclosed that, as the Guardian revealed on Thursday, the 102 year old No II Squadron, which operates Tornados and which is based in Cyprus, is to operate for longer than April next year, the date the Tornados were due to be replaced by Typhoons. The decision represents a minor triumph for the air force, which has been arguing about the importance of air power in conflicts in the Middle East.
Tornados brought into service in 1991 during the first Gulf War are due to be disbanded by 2019 in a staged process, but some squadrons due to be taken out of service earlier are now to be reprieved.
The Tornados, which are more than 30 years old, were to have been replaced by state of the art Typhoons but incredibly they cannot match the weapons capability currently of the Tornado – a capability needed for what Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has warned could be a three year operation against IS.
A new class of Eurofighter Typhoon is to replace the current fleet, but the new class is not yet able to load Brimstone missiles effective against small- and medium-sized targets such as Isis vehicles.
Britain is believed to be considering whether to help train the moderate Syrian opposition, a plan proposed by former chief of defence staff Lord Richards before he retired last year but previously rejected by ministers.
Strengthening Syrian forces allied to the moderate opposition, as well as Iraqi troops, is seen as a vital step towards defeating Isis, and to this end the government is planning to send British troops to train the Iraqi army. It is unclear whether they will be trained in Iraq or neighbouring countries such as Jordan, or the Gulf states.
A small number of British military personnel are already on the ground in northern Iraq supporting Kurdish peshmerga.
Cameron’s decision to fly to the airbase suggests he believes the campaign is not likely to end soon. He said he had come to Cyprus to thank the pilots personally for the dangerous work they were undertaking, and went on: “Less than a week into combat operations in Iraq, I wanted to come here to thank our troops for the vital work they’re doing to defeat these barbaric Isil terrorists who threaten security not just in Iraq, Syria and the region, but on the streets of Britain too.”
The air strikes by US and UK aircraft are understood to have forced a change of behaviour in Isis fighters, who now have much less freedom of movement. However, intelligence gathering on Isis has shown they are extremely well-organised, with their own shura – or councils of elders – regional governors, and welfare networks.
Britain currently has seven combat capable air squadrons. The RAF had 33 combat squadrons at the time of the first Gulf war, and for years has been protesting its contribution to military conflicts in uncontested air space is invaluable.
The ageing Tornados – some older than 30 years – have flown as many as 30 surveillance operations over Iraq since mid-August, but were only given political clearance to launch air strikes against Isis forces, mainly in northern Iraq, after MPs voted a week ago for the use of force so long as it does not extend to Syria.
The RAF has so far launched strikes on four sorties against Isis assets such as pickup trucks, normally on the advice of Kurdish forces on the ground. The planes may be old, but they are equipped with modern radar and infra-red sights capable of giving highly detailed information on targets.
Government sources said the dispatch of the extra Tornados did not signify an increase in the tempo of attacks, but was a move to build the overall resilience of the strike force now that it is clear that the air campaign may be a long one. The prime minister added: “Obviously, these operations are just one element of our strategy. We are also working hard to deliver a training package for Iraqi forces with advisers in Iraq now to assess their needs.”
The RAF has argued that the precision of the Brimstone missile is unique as it is capable of hitting a car moving at 70mph from seven miles away.
RAF Akrotiri is the UK’s Permanent Joint Operating Base that supports ongoing operations in Afghanistan and has been in service 30 years, used as a forward mounting base for overseas operations in the Middle East and for modern radar infrared sights jet training.
Cameron has visited Akrotiri before during RAF operations to enforce a no-fly zone in Libya three years ago. As many as 20 Tornados were operating during the Libya campaign where the US took a more backward role and focussed on air surveillance.
Britain and Saudi Arabia are the only two countries that operate Brimstones, that are thought to cost £100,000 each.
No II Squadron is normally based at RAF Marham, Norfolk. It has 12 crews based there.
Pressure: The Prime Minister said RAF jets had taken part in a dozen sorties, and had carried out strikes on four of those missions - hitting eight targets and helping push back Islamic State militants
More Tornados to join Iraq mission says Cameron on visit to Cyprus airbase | UK news | The Guardian
RAF Tornado aircraft in 60 seconds
Tornado jets, currently taking part in the international military campaign in Iraq, have been flying vital missions for the RAF for 30 years
By Myles Burke, and Ben Farmer
03 Oct 2014
VIDEO
RAF Tornado Aircraft In 60 Seconds - YouTube
David Cameron has announced that II Squadron, comprising 16 Tornados, will no longer be disbanded in March as it will help with air strikes in Iraq.
The squadron was due to be broken down in March as Britain withdraws from operations in Afghanistan and replaced by a new squadron of advanced Typhoon fighters.
The Tornado aircraft was jointly developed in the 1970s by the UK, Germany and Italy, as a multirole, twin-engined aircraft to combat threats from invading forces of the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War.
The first 228 Tornados entered service in 1980 and since then the aircraft has been upgraded several times.
It is designed for low level penetration of hostile airspace and remains one of the few aircraft able to fly low, day or night, in poor weather.
II Squadron was formed in 1912, making it the world’s oldest fixed wing squadron. Pilots know it as 'Shiny Two'. It is normally based at RAF Marham in Norfolk.
Since parliament approved combat operations last Friday, Tornados flying in pairs, have been attacking Isil vehicles and weapons systems with Paveway IV guided bombs and Brimstone missiles.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11137491/RAF-Tornado-aircraft-in-60-seconds.html
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The brits show up late with six tornadoes and one ship. Oh that's a big help. Even the Brits are laughing and mocking their lack luster effort.
LMAO... In your dreams
The United States deployed a naval force of 11 ships, including the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce, the guided-missile destroyers USS Barry and USS Stout, the nuclear attack submarines USS Providence and USS Scranton, the cruise missile submarine USS Florida and the amphibious command ship USS Mount Whitney.[140][141][142] Additionally, A-10 ground-attack aircraft, B-2 stealth bombers, AV-8B Harrier II jump-jets, EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, and both F-15E[143] and F-16 fighters were involved in action over Libya.[144] U-2 reconnaissance aircraft were stationed on Cyprus.[145] On 18 March, two AC-130Us arrived at RAF Mildenhall as well as additional tanker aircraft.[citation needed] On 24 March 2 E-8Cs operated from Naval Station Rota Spain, which indicated an increase of ground attacks.[citation needed] An undisclosed number of CIA operatives were said to be in Libya to gather intelligence for airstrikes and make contacts with rebels.[146] The US also used MQ-1 Predator UAVs to strike targets in Libya on 23 April
LMAO... In your dreams
The United States deployed a naval force of 11 ships, including the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, the amphibious transport dock USS Ponce, the guided-missile destroyers USS Barry and USS Stout, the nuclear attack submarines USS Providence and USS Scranton, the cruise missile submarine USS Florida and the amphibious command ship USS Mount Whitney.[140][141][142] Additionally, A-10 ground-attack aircraft, B-2 stealth bombers, AV-8B Harrier II jump-jets, EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, and both F-15E[143] and F-16 fighters were involved in action over Libya.[144] U-2 reconnaissance aircraft were stationed on Cyprus.[145] On 18 March, two AC-130Us arrived at RAF Mildenhall as well as additional tanker aircraft.[citation needed] On 24 March 2 E-8Cs operated from Naval Station Rota Spain, which indicated an increase of ground attacks.[citation needed] An undisclosed number of CIA operatives were said to be in Libya to gather intelligence for airstrikes and make contacts with rebels.[146] The US also used MQ-1 Predator UAVs to strike targets in Libya on 23 April
BBC crew come under attack near Kobane
5 October 2014
BBC News
VIDEO
BBC crew come under attack near Kobane - YouTube
Turkish police have fired two tear gas canisters at a vehicle carrying a BBC reporting team as it was leaving the border area near Kobane, Syria.
The second round was fired at point blank range though the rear window, filling the van with tear gas and briefly setting fire to the vehicle.
Correspondent Paul Adams was being filmed shortly before the attack, and the camera kept rolling during the next few minutes.
The team is on the Turkey-Syria border to cover Islamic State's siege of the nearby town. Nobody was injured in the incident.
The incident happened in the Syrian town of Kobane near the Turkish border
BBC News - BBC crew come under attack near Kobane
I'm afraid the US was a bit-part player in Libya.
5 October 2014
BBC News
VIDEO
BBC crew come under attack near Kobane - YouTube
Turkish police have fired two tear gas canisters at a vehicle carrying a BBC reporting team as it was leaving the border area near Kobane, Syria.
The second round was fired at point blank range though the rear window, filling the van with tear gas and briefly setting fire to the vehicle.
Correspondent Paul Adams was being filmed shortly before the attack, and the camera kept rolling during the next few minutes.
The team is on the Turkey-Syria border to cover Islamic State's siege of the nearby town. Nobody was injured in the incident.
The incident happened in the Syrian town of Kobane near the Turkish border
BBC News - BBC crew come under attack near Kobane
I'm afraid the US was a bit-part player in Libya.
As a bit-part player you should limit your foreign contacts to that as well. For as long as your Nation has been doing it they haven't even concluded that the people they encounter have a right to be where they are rather than being something that has to be killed off because they are on your land.
The US played a far bigger role than the brits that is for sure and is a fact.
The US took a back seat in Libya. Most of the bombing was done by Britain and France.
This is something which occurred just three years ago. It's one thing the Americans trying to change history to make it pro-American when it comes to WWII or the the War of 1812, but to do it in a conflict which occurred just three years ago when the vast majority of people can remember it is just plain silly.
The facts are the facts. In Libya the brits took a back seat to Canada, the US, and France. That is becoming the norm.
The US brought more firepower and under Canadian leadership led the assault. The brits played a support role to Canada and the U.S.
And the briddish can't do a thing about it.
The US brought more firepower and under Canadian leadership led the assault. The brits played a support role to Canada and the U.S.
And the briddish can't do a thing about it.
Say it ain't so. . . damn it is so
Washington Admits: FSA Equals Fictitious Syrian Army | Veterans News Now
Washington Admits: FSA Equals Fictitious Syrian Army
http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2014...on-admits-fsa-equals-fictitious-syrian-army/#Hold on a minute. Congress has approved $500 million to train a new cohort of the supposedly moderate and secular Free Syrian Army; and Saudi Arabia and Turkey are providing bases for that undertaking. But at Obama’s seminal war council on «coordinating» plans there was not one representative from the much-vaunted moderate rebels who are assigned this crucial military role.
Obama’s presumed military authority was something of an achievement, considering that he is, by profession, a community activist, a professor of constitutional lawyer, and a former senator. The 53-year-old politician has never served a single day of his life in the US military, let alone seen combat action or having been awarded medals for bravery.
But that’s not the only anomaly that sprung to mind about Obama’s war council in Washington. Together with the usual Western allies of Britain, France, Canada and Australia, there were military top brass from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Yet, all these Middle Eastern «partners» are documented as having deep logistical links with the Islamic State and other related jihadist terror groups marauding in Syria and Iraq.
Joe Biden, the US vice president, admitted this terror connection between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the other Arab oil monarchies in a public debate at Harvard University earlier this month. Although Biden was later forced into making cringing apologies to the said offender countries, his initial blundering confirms the paradox that the US-led anti-terror coalition is comprised of, well, state-sponsoring terrorists.
The terror sponsors include the US and Britain, who together spawned the Al Qaeda-linked network in their laboratory of illegal occupation of Iraq from 2003 onwards. Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) later mutated into Islamic State (IS, ISIL or ISIS) during the West’s covert war for regime change in Syria, which has been raging since March 2011, with a death toll of nearly 200,000, more than six million people displaced, and half of Syria’s 23 million total population living in dire humanitarian conditions, according to the United Nations.
The open secret of weapons supplies to extremists from the US, coordinated by its Central Intelligence Agency and routed through Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan, is not even a matter of controversy in the Western media. It has already been reported with mundane indifference by mainstream Western media outlets, such as the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph.
A further striking anomaly from Obama’s war council in Washington – scarcely reported in the Western media, not surprisingly – was the complete absence of military representatives from the much-heralded «moderate Syrian rebels».
Bear in mind that Obama’s strategy for allegedly eradicating the IS extremists is based on two fronts. The first is the coordinated aerial bombardment of militants, involving warplanes from the US, Britain, France, Australia and all of the above Arab states; the second is the purported training of «moderate» Syrian rebels, who will take the fight to the Jihadists on the ground. With the anticipated defeat of IS and related extremist Islamist groups, such as Jabhat al Nusra and Ansar al Sham, the Western-backed «moderate» rebels will then be empowered to pursue their noble rebellion against the «despotic» Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad – or at least so goes the theory.
President Obama has already won the backing of the US Congress to train vetted, moderate Syrian rebels with a budget of $500 million – in a revamp of the Free Syrian Army. The American military training is to take place in undisclosed camps located in Saudi Arabia, as well as now Turkey belatedly offering its territory for that same purpose following top-level negotiations in Ankara last week with US former marine General John Allen.
Hold on a minute. Congress has approved $500 million to train a new cohort of the supposedly moderate and secular Free Syrian Army; and Saudi Arabia and Turkey are providing bases for that undertaking. But at Obama’s seminal war council on «coordinating» plans there was not one representative from the much-vaunted moderate rebels who are assigned this crucial military role.
A US official attempted to explain the absence of Syrian rebels at the Washington summit by saying that such a participation was «not ready at this stage, and there is still a lot of training to do».
In other words, the so-called moderate rebels that the US is touting do not actually exist. It’s therefore less a case of Free Syrian Army and more a case of Fictitious Syrian Army.
This conceptual void has long been pointed out by many observers of the Syrian conflict. The notion of a moderate Free Syrian Army fighting a virtuous fight against a tyrannical regime is but a figment of Western government and media imagination, aimed at giving the Western powers a political and moral cover to indulge in its criminal regime change machinations against Syria.
Many of the supposed FSA brigades are in fact integrated with the extremist networks of IS, al Nusra and Ansar al Sham. Not only fighters, but also weapons and funding are recycled in a revolving-door relationship between these groups. Yes, there have been feuds, but this infighting is borne out of turf wars over criminal booty, not anything to do with ideological ethics.
However, Western governments and their dutiful media cannot admit this reality because that would leave them open to public vilification. Hence, they have projected the illusion, with Western media assistance, that there is a «moderate» legitimate Syrian opposition, whom the West supports and whom the West is concerned to elevate over «rogue» terror groups.
This fiction was apparent from the resounding absence of any such nominated moderate group at the Washington anti-IS summit.
It was also confirmed in a subsequent report from the McClatchy Washington Bureau, published Wednesday, the day after Obama’s war council. Under the headline ‘It’s official: US will build new Syrian rebel force to battle Islamic State’ the newspaper reported that «the United States is ditching the old Free Syrian Army and building its own local ground force to use primarily in the fight against the Islamist extremists».
Forget about the misnomer of the «old Free Syrian Army». There was never one to begin with. The point to take away is that the US is in effect admitting that there isn’t a force worth talking about.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaXo3aYOUxg
Washington Admits: FSA Equals Fictitious Syrian Army | Veterans News Now
Washington Admits: FSA Equals Fictitious Syrian Army
http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2014...on-admits-fsa-equals-fictitious-syrian-army/#Hold on a minute. Congress has approved $500 million to train a new cohort of the supposedly moderate and secular Free Syrian Army; and Saudi Arabia and Turkey are providing bases for that undertaking. But at Obama’s seminal war council on «coordinating» plans there was not one representative from the much-vaunted moderate rebels who are assigned this crucial military role.
Obama’s presumed military authority was something of an achievement, considering that he is, by profession, a community activist, a professor of constitutional lawyer, and a former senator. The 53-year-old politician has never served a single day of his life in the US military, let alone seen combat action or having been awarded medals for bravery.
But that’s not the only anomaly that sprung to mind about Obama’s war council in Washington. Together with the usual Western allies of Britain, France, Canada and Australia, there were military top brass from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Yet, all these Middle Eastern «partners» are documented as having deep logistical links with the Islamic State and other related jihadist terror groups marauding in Syria and Iraq.
Joe Biden, the US vice president, admitted this terror connection between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the other Arab oil monarchies in a public debate at Harvard University earlier this month. Although Biden was later forced into making cringing apologies to the said offender countries, his initial blundering confirms the paradox that the US-led anti-terror coalition is comprised of, well, state-sponsoring terrorists.
The terror sponsors include the US and Britain, who together spawned the Al Qaeda-linked network in their laboratory of illegal occupation of Iraq from 2003 onwards. Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) later mutated into Islamic State (IS, ISIL or ISIS) during the West’s covert war for regime change in Syria, which has been raging since March 2011, with a death toll of nearly 200,000, more than six million people displaced, and half of Syria’s 23 million total population living in dire humanitarian conditions, according to the United Nations.
The open secret of weapons supplies to extremists from the US, coordinated by its Central Intelligence Agency and routed through Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan, is not even a matter of controversy in the Western media. It has already been reported with mundane indifference by mainstream Western media outlets, such as the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph.
A further striking anomaly from Obama’s war council in Washington – scarcely reported in the Western media, not surprisingly – was the complete absence of military representatives from the much-heralded «moderate Syrian rebels».
Bear in mind that Obama’s strategy for allegedly eradicating the IS extremists is based on two fronts. The first is the coordinated aerial bombardment of militants, involving warplanes from the US, Britain, France, Australia and all of the above Arab states; the second is the purported training of «moderate» Syrian rebels, who will take the fight to the Jihadists on the ground. With the anticipated defeat of IS and related extremist Islamist groups, such as Jabhat al Nusra and Ansar al Sham, the Western-backed «moderate» rebels will then be empowered to pursue their noble rebellion against the «despotic» Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad – or at least so goes the theory.
President Obama has already won the backing of the US Congress to train vetted, moderate Syrian rebels with a budget of $500 million – in a revamp of the Free Syrian Army. The American military training is to take place in undisclosed camps located in Saudi Arabia, as well as now Turkey belatedly offering its territory for that same purpose following top-level negotiations in Ankara last week with US former marine General John Allen.
Hold on a minute. Congress has approved $500 million to train a new cohort of the supposedly moderate and secular Free Syrian Army; and Saudi Arabia and Turkey are providing bases for that undertaking. But at Obama’s seminal war council on «coordinating» plans there was not one representative from the much-vaunted moderate rebels who are assigned this crucial military role.
A US official attempted to explain the absence of Syrian rebels at the Washington summit by saying that such a participation was «not ready at this stage, and there is still a lot of training to do».
In other words, the so-called moderate rebels that the US is touting do not actually exist. It’s therefore less a case of Free Syrian Army and more a case of Fictitious Syrian Army.
This conceptual void has long been pointed out by many observers of the Syrian conflict. The notion of a moderate Free Syrian Army fighting a virtuous fight against a tyrannical regime is but a figment of Western government and media imagination, aimed at giving the Western powers a political and moral cover to indulge in its criminal regime change machinations against Syria.
Many of the supposed FSA brigades are in fact integrated with the extremist networks of IS, al Nusra and Ansar al Sham. Not only fighters, but also weapons and funding are recycled in a revolving-door relationship between these groups. Yes, there have been feuds, but this infighting is borne out of turf wars over criminal booty, not anything to do with ideological ethics.
However, Western governments and their dutiful media cannot admit this reality because that would leave them open to public vilification. Hence, they have projected the illusion, with Western media assistance, that there is a «moderate» legitimate Syrian opposition, whom the West supports and whom the West is concerned to elevate over «rogue» terror groups.
This fiction was apparent from the resounding absence of any such nominated moderate group at the Washington anti-IS summit.
It was also confirmed in a subsequent report from the McClatchy Washington Bureau, published Wednesday, the day after Obama’s war council. Under the headline ‘It’s official: US will build new Syrian rebel force to battle Islamic State’ the newspaper reported that «the United States is ditching the old Free Syrian Army and building its own local ground force to use primarily in the fight against the Islamist extremists».
Forget about the misnomer of the «old Free Syrian Army». There was never one to begin with. The point to take away is that the US is in effect admitting that there isn’t a force worth talking about.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaXo3aYOUxg
Activists report that militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have captured the last oil field under control of the government of President Bashar Assad.
ISIS captures last oil field under Syrian government control - CBS News
ISIS captures last oil field under Syrian government control - CBS News
Thats good news. Why haven't you responded to your claim of no help from the west for the free Syrian army being flat out bullsh-t?
The FSA is going to be the hamburger given to ISIS to make them a feared name in the region, unless they start having a lot of 'accidents' and friendly fire incidents.
Lavrov: Russian Instructors in Syria Have Never Been a Secret
Obama Warns Russia: Backing Syria Against ISIS 'Doomed to Failure'
Russian Shipments of Air Defense Systems to Syria Rile Israel
And the best one of all.
Reuters 'Uncovers' Russian Plan to Build Base in Russia
Lavrov: Russian Instructors in Syria Have Never Been a Secret
Obama Warns Russia: Backing Syria Against ISIS 'Doomed to Failure'
Russian Shipments of Air Defense Systems to Syria Rile Israel
And the best one of all.
Reuters 'Uncovers' Russian Plan to Build Base in Russia
Re: "The U.S. Should Act"
Damn prophetic of you. To bad you weren't in the State Dept then........
Former Finnish president and Nobel peace prize laureate, Martti Ahtissari says Russia came up with a deal in 2012 whereby Bashar Assad would step down as president of Syria as part of a comprehensive peace plan (link is external).
Ahtissari says that France, Britain and the US turned their backs on the proposal, confident that Assad would soon be deposed anyway.
Former Finnish president and Nobel peace prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari said western powers failed to seize (link is external) on the proposal. Since it was made, in 2012, tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions uprooted, causing the world’s gravest refugee crisis since the second world war.
“It was an opportunity lost in 2012,” Ahtisaari said in an interview.
Officially, Russia has staunchly backed Assad through the four-and-half-year Syrian war, insisting that his removal cannot be part of any peace settlement. Assad has said that Russia will never abandon him. Moscow has recently begun sending troops, tanks and aircraft (link is external) in an effort to stabilise the Assad regime and fight Islamic State extremists.
Ahtisaari won the Nobel prize in 2008 (link is external) “for his efforts on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts”, including in Namibia, Aceh in Indonesia, Kosovo and Iraq.
On 22 February 2012 he was sent to meet the missions of the permanent five nations (the US, Russia, UK, France and China) at UN headquarters in New York by The Elders (link is external), a group of former world leaders advocating peace and human rights that has included Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
...Ahtisaari said he passed on the message to the American, British and French missions at the UN, but he said: “Nothing happened because I think all these, and many others, were convinced that Assad would be thrown out of office in a few weeks so there was no need to do anything.”
Damn prophetic of you. To bad you weren't in the State Dept then........
Former Finnish president and Nobel peace prize laureate, Martti Ahtissari says Russia came up with a deal in 2012 whereby Bashar Assad would step down as president of Syria as part of a comprehensive peace plan (link is external).
Ahtissari says that France, Britain and the US turned their backs on the proposal, confident that Assad would soon be deposed anyway.
Former Finnish president and Nobel peace prize laureate Martti Ahtisaari said western powers failed to seize (link is external) on the proposal. Since it was made, in 2012, tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions uprooted, causing the world’s gravest refugee crisis since the second world war.
“It was an opportunity lost in 2012,” Ahtisaari said in an interview.
Officially, Russia has staunchly backed Assad through the four-and-half-year Syrian war, insisting that his removal cannot be part of any peace settlement. Assad has said that Russia will never abandon him. Moscow has recently begun sending troops, tanks and aircraft (link is external) in an effort to stabilise the Assad regime and fight Islamic State extremists.
Ahtisaari won the Nobel prize in 2008 (link is external) “for his efforts on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts”, including in Namibia, Aceh in Indonesia, Kosovo and Iraq.
On 22 February 2012 he was sent to meet the missions of the permanent five nations (the US, Russia, UK, France and China) at UN headquarters in New York by The Elders (link is external), a group of former world leaders advocating peace and human rights that has included Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
...Ahtisaari said he passed on the message to the American, British and French missions at the UN, but he said: “Nothing happened because I think all these, and many others, were convinced that Assad would be thrown out of office in a few weeks so there was no need to do anything.”
