Military Events in Syria and Iraq Thread #4

[Schmelzer]

Why does the UN security team think it's not safe to visit Douma, when it's clearly safe for all the people who come and tell the Assad regime's side of the story? Why is it only the UN that gets shot at after Assad claims to have full control of the area, and no barrel bombs were dropped on terrorists in response?
It would not be hard for the OPCW to safely obtain samples from the hospital and its patients, if Assad was interested in having them do that. Clearly he is not.

See http://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/04/syria-who-holds-up-the-opcw-investigation-in-douma.html

Barrel bombs are anyway the past, and, moreover, quite irrelevant - they are simply quite cheap bombs used some time when they had no others, and there was nothing horrible in comparison with other bombs. The decision not to visit, in a situation when everybody else is free to visit, is a decision of the UN security staff (UNDSS). Of course, those in the UNDSS may not be interested at all in destroying Western propaganda lies.

No, they hire paid actors to tell the stories you want to hear (and threaten others with murder and torture if they don't cooperate on camera), while keeping the OPCW from doing the work they claim they want it to do.

Wow, against such professional child actors of the Assad studios from Damascus, Hollywood is doomed.

 

[CptBork]

Obviously there's been an attempted coverup, hopefully not good enough to stop the OPCW from finding what it's looking for. Who wants to place bets that Russia will shut the investigation down if it finds anything incriminating against Assad?

 

[CptBork]

Wow, against such professional child actors of the Assad studios from Damascus, Hollywood is doomed.

Maybe Hollywood actors should be threatened with the rape and murder of their entire families unless they put in outstanding performances.

 

[sculptor]

Does the petrodollar still benefit the United States of America?

 

[Schmelzer]

Some progress has been reached in the South of Damascus against Daesh (IS):

Maybe Hollywood actors should be threatened with the rape and murder of their entire families unless they put in outstanding performances.

Try to make a successful film with such methods.

Does the petrodollar still benefit the United States of America?

Of course. Why not? Printing paper is cheap. Creating electronic money is even cheaper. Whenever other people accept the dollar, using it to pay for something, this is some income for those who create the money.

 

[sculptor]

Does the petrodollar still benefit the United States of America?

...
Of course. Why not? Printing paper is cheap. Creating electronic money is even cheaper. Whenever other people accept the dollar, using it to pay for something, this is some income for those who create the money.

Is that why we are still there, destabilizing the region for our masters?

 

[CptBork]

Try to make a successful film with such methods.

It wouldn't work in America, because ordinary people there have rights, unlike Syria which is basically under a fascist occupation.

 

[Schmelzer]

The pocket East Qalamoun seems finished, the Syrian army has gotten a large amount of weapons, lots of tanks, TOWs, some have commented that all this would be sufficient for a whole average Third World army.

There is only small but steady progress in Yarmouk. Different sources show quite different pictures, but a common point seems to be the main direction from North and South to split the pocket. Which makes sense, one can make a ceasefire with one part but continuing fight with the other part.

It wouldn't work in America, because ordinary people there have rights, unlike Syria which is basically under a fascist occupation.

It works nowhere, because average children are bad actors.

 

[CptBork]

It works nowhere, because average children are bad actors.

No, you're just a bad liar. Threaten a child with the murder, torture and rape of their entire family, film the same coerced statement 100 times over to pick the best take, and you'll have something more than good enough for average Russian audience to believe, given how easily they fall for all the other crap your kind throws at them.

 

[Schmelzer]

East Qalamoun is now officially under full control of Syrian army. There is some progress in South Damascus:

I see no reason to care if CptBrk thinks the boy in

has been threatened with the murder, torture and rape of their entire family or not. If he wants to believe the Western story, he will continue to believe it, whatever the evidence.

 

[CptBork]

Well, Russia has invested a lot of propaganda in the idea that there was no chemical attack at all, that the whole thing was faked. Their inspectors were on site, so they would have had the means to know. If the OPCW does find proof of a chemical attack, even though Russia has stripped them of a mandate to pinpoint the perpetrator, it would clearly demonstrate Russia's lies and propaganda efforts on behalf of their Syrian puppets.

 

[Schmelzer]

Today the advance in South Damascus was quite serious, first from the South-West Al Madaniya was taken:

Then essentially the whole of Al Kadam was liberated:

There has been heavy rain in Damascus, creating serious damage at some places:

One can guess that a possible consequence is that some terrorist tunnels filled with water too, which would damage terrorist defenses. But there is no information about such a connection.

Well, Russia has invested a lot of propaganda in the idea that there was no chemical attack at all, that the whole thing was faked.

Essentially there was not much investment. They went to the hospital - which was easy, because there was only one - and asked the people there what happened. Big deal. Then asked the people who knows somebody on shown on the video. Not that difficult. So, the video appeared to be faked.

That does not mean that there was nothing gas-related at all. Of course, inside that balloon in the bed there may be some gas, and in the room with that bed too. We will see.

 

[CptBork]

Essentially there was not much investment. They went to the hospital - which was easy, because there was only one - and asked the people there what happened. Big deal. Then asked the people who knows somebody on shown on the video. Not that difficult. So, the video appeared to be faked.

That does not mean that there was nothing gas-related at all. Of course, inside that balloon in the bed there may be some gas, and in the room with that bed too. We will see.

The hospital is under Syrian military control. You think doctors there would be stupid enough to contradict the government's narrative and get sent off to be tortured to death? The kid in the video you linked to was apparently interviewed at a Syrian military special forces base where Russian officers were also present- why do you suppose he needed to be whisked away to a military base instead of just conducting the interview at his home or in a school? Russian state TV has been using footage from a 2016 Syrian film called "Revolution Man", taken straight off its Facebook page, to prove that Syrian rebels faked the attack on Douma- not to claim that they have the capability, but to claim that the footage from that movie was shot recently in Douma, which is an easily detectable falsehood indicative of either lies or Russian media retardation.

France claims it detected Syrian helicopters taking off and heading to Douma 30 minutes before the reported attack, so the rebels must have been operating satellite surveillance in order to know the 'copters were coming and have their fakery ready in time, according to your view. I'd say at this point, it would be much more difficult for the rebels to fake this kind of attack as opposed to Assad committing a real one and covering it up. There's a perfectly logical reason for Assad to use gas, since his army can't win its own battles by any other means, and he has to make painful concessions to Russia and Iran every time he wants them to win battles on his behalf. He profited in the latest attack as well, since the last rebels in Douma surrendered immediately afterward.

Lastly, your assertion that an attack on Assad's chemical weapons would be illegal even if he really did use them in Douma, shows that you're not 100% confident in your viewpoint and are seeking to cover your bases in the event that the attack is authenticated.

 

[Schmelzer]

It seems, one reason for the Syrian success yesterday in South Damascus was that after taking the Southern part (Al Madaniya) they have reached fire control over the connection between two parts, so that the Western part simply became indefensible and was given up:

If tunnel connections were flouded or if there simply were no tunnels is not clear, it is also possible that there were none, because ISIS has taken over the Al Qadom village only recently, most of the time it was controlled by another terrorist faction. This faction made a peace agreement with the Syrian army, but the Syrian army did not succeed to take over the region, it was, instead, taken over by ISIS. So, quite probable the time after this was not long enough to build tunnel connections between the parts.

In a surprise action, the Syrian army has taken a few villages North of Deir Ezzor, on the Eastern side of the Euphrat:

It is said that this was not an action against SDF, but that the Kurds have left this area and given the control to some local gang. At least there is up to now no information about battles with SDF.

The kid in the video you linked to was apparently interviewed at a Syrian military special forces base where Russian officers were also present- why do you suppose he needed to be whisked away to a military base instead of just conducting the interview at his home or in a school?

The best place to talk with a witness of how a fake video was made is, you guess, the place where the fake video was made. So, the witness can show the places. Therefore the video above was made in that hospital.

Russian state TV has been using footage from a 2016 Syrian film called "Revolution Man", taken straight off its Facebook page, to prove that Syrian rebels faked the attack on Douma- not to claim that they have the capability, but to claim that the footage from that movie was shot recently in Douma, which is an easily detectable falsehood indicative of either lies or Russian media retardation.

Any links to support your stories?

France claims it detected Syrian helicopters taking off and heading to Douma 30 minutes before the reported attack, so the rebels must have been operating satellite surveillance in order to know the 'copters were coming and have their fakery ready in time, according to your view.

LOL. The terrorist had simply shot some rockets into Damascus, and some retaliation was expected. This was all they needed. Some retaliation came, they walked into the hospital to make the fake video by crying "gas attack" and using a lot of water, and then have tried to find some house damaged by the retaliation and transported the gas canister into the bed. For Western media completely sufficient. And they know it is sufficient.

There's a perfectly logical reason for Assad to use gas, since his army can't win its own battles by any other means, and he has to make painful concessions to Russia and Iran every time he wants them to win battles on his behalf.

ROTFL

Lastly, your assertion that an attack on Assad's chemical weapons would be illegal even if he really did use them in Douma, shows that you're not 100% confident in your viewpoint and are seeking to cover your bases in the event that the attack is authenticated.

I have no need to cover anything. I simply present the stupidity and inconsistency of Western propaganda, which accuses itself of warcrimes, and nobody even cares.

 

[CptBork]

The best place to talk with a witness of how a fake video was made is, you guess, the place where the fake video was made. So, the witness can show the places. Therefore the video above was made in that hospital.

Here is the starting location for the boy's interview.

Notice the dumbass uniformed rapists in the background. Those are your boys. The location is the Syrian Arab Army Officer's Club in Damascus, which the boy was obviously taken to in order to be threatened together with his family. You're a big fat liar.

Any links to support your stories?

Since you're incapable of using Google: https://theintercept.com/2018/04/23...-syrian-boy-secretly-conducted-army-facility/
That link discusses the lies you're trying to spread here about Hassan Diab (pictured above), one of the alleged gas attack victims.

Here's a discussion of the fake news you watch back home: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/04/13/doumafakenews/
In which Russia-1 TV channel is shown using footage from a 2016 film's Facebook page in order to "prove" that the Douma attack was faked.

LOL. The terrorist had simply shot some rockets into Damascus, and some retaliation was expected. This was all they needed. Some retaliation came, they walked into the hospital to make the fake video by crying "gas attack" and using a lot of water, and then have tried to find some house damaged by the retaliation and transported the gas canister into the bed. For Western media completely sufficient. And they know it is sufficient.

How come it didn't draw swarms of Syrian helicopters dropping gas canisters on previous occasions?

I have no need to cover anything. I simply present the stupidity and inconsistency of Western propaganda, which accuses itself of warcrimes, and nobody even cares.

There are a few people who evidently care, namely Russians desperate to be told that they're not losers over on your end, and Ku Klux Klansmen who want to bring down America's pluralistic democracy here on our side.

 

[Schmelzer]

Here is the starting location for the boy's interview. ... The location is the Syrian Arab Army Officer's Club in Damascus, which the boy was obviously taken to in order to be threatened together with his family. You're a big fat liar.

There have been several interviews with the boy. The one in the hospital is the one above. Your picture is from another interview. If the place was the "Syrian Arab Army Officer's Club in Damascus", which is according to your source "near the Dama Rose hotel", fine, what is the problem to go for the interview to a nice luxury place? Note that the boy in this interview looks very clean and combed - as you do as a poor guy if you probably first time in your life visit such a luxury place. A "Syrian military special forces base" is something different than an officer's club. So, you are the liar in this case.

Here's a discussion of the fake news you watch back home: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/mena/2018/04/13/doumafakenews/

Thanks. Journalists are incompetent everywhere. They take the most beautiful photos and don't do any checks. By the way, I don't watch any TV, I use the internet. From time to time I look at a video linked by somebody, that's all my connection with TV, and I make here no difference between German, Russian and other TV. Journalists are usually presstitutes. Exceptions are rare.

How come it didn't draw swarms of Syrian helicopters dropping gas canisters on previous occasions?

All depends on what the Western secret services pay for.

 

[CptBork]

There have been several interviews with the boy. The one in the hospital is the one above. Your picture is from another interview.

Wrong. The video you linked is part of a larger report as seen here:

This report includes footage from the Syrian Army base, with Russian officers passing by in the background. The reporter later claimed that the Russian soldiers in the video were on their way to a cafe, and denied that they were anywhere near any military bases. If the boy is free to do as he wishes and was not abducted to a military base to be threatened and "interviewed", why did the reporter need to deny the location where that portion of the report was filmed?

Thanks. Journalists are incompetent everywhere. They take the most beautiful photos and don't do any checks.

You're just parroting the Russian KGB line, which is that no one's news or claims can be trusted. The fact is that Russian state, media and internet trolls all systematically lie, as exposed by their troves of obvious and intelligence-insulting factual errors and oversights, which means Russian claims are, by default, not as believable or trustworthy as mainstream western claims.

 

[Schmelzer]

The villages North of Deir Ezzor taken yesterday by Syrian forces (seems, it was not the Syrian army, but NDF) have been retaken by SDF after the US has bombed them. The whole story looks like the following: The locals (Arabs) rebelled against the SDF (Kurds) and wanted that the Syrian army takes over their villages, the SDF run away, some Syrian NDF came into the villages without a fight, then the SDF was asking the US to bomb, they did, the NDF left, the SDF came back with reinforcements and is now free to terrorize the local Arabs. Looks like when the Syrian army really starts to act there, the hatred between Kurds and Arabs in this region will be strong enough to make this an easy job.

Wrong. The video you linked is part of a larger report as seen here:

In that larger report, these different interviews have been combined. Different TV stations can take and have taken different parts of the different interviews and combined them. You can easily distinguish the two parts, by looking how the boy is dressed and combed.

This report includes footage from the Syrian Army base, with Russian officers passing by in the background. The reporter later claimed that the Russian soldiers in the video were on their way to a cafe, and denied that they were anywhere near any military bases.

Which is what your sources have proved. The cafe is the "Syrian Arab Army Officer's Club in Damascus", which is according to your source "near the Dama Rose hotel". And it is not a "Syrian army base". Ever seen an "army base" looking like this?

If the boy is free to do as he wishes and was not abducted to a military base to be threatened and "interviewed", why did the reporter need to deny the location where that portion of the report was filmed?

Because an officer's club may be visited by officers, but is not at all an army base? According to google, this is a restaurant:
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Officers Club/@33.5141467,36.2825042,17z/data=!4m16!1m8!3m7!1s0x1518e7355fec23c1:0x3f951decdbfa1342!2sDama Rose Hotel!5m1!1s2018-05-13!8m2!3d33.5141467!4d36.2846929!3m6!1s0x1518e0b52d362313:0xb616bff072b3bdff!5m1!1s2018-05-13!8m2!3d33.5140374!4d36.2829112

You're just parroting the Russian KGB line, which is that no one's news or claims can be trusted.

If the Russian KGB (btw, KGB was the Soviet time secret service, not the Russian) follows such a line, fine. Means, they are not as stupid as you. Feel free to trust Western media, little boy, they tell you a nice fairy tale about freedom and democracy.

 

[CptBork]

The villages North of Deir Ezzor taken yesterday by Syrian forces (seems, it was not the Syrian army, but NDF) have been retaken by SDF after the US has bombed them. The whole story looks like the following: The locals (Arabs) rebelled against the SDF (Kurds) and wanted that the Syrian army takes over their villages, the SDF run away, some Syrian NDF came into the villages without a fight, then the SDF was asking the US to bomb, they did, the NDF left, the SDF came back with reinforcements and is now free to terrorize the local Arabs. Looks like when the Syrian army really starts to act there, the hatred between Kurds and Arabs in this region will be strong enough to make this an easy job.

No, what actually happened was that the Syrian army received more bridging equipment from Russia and made yet another attempt to cross the Euphrates in violation of their deconfliction agreement with the US and SDF, and their advance was repelled accordingly. Just another repeat of the previous regime attack in which roughly 200 Russian soldiers got sent home in bodybags to their deadbeat parents, on a smaller scale with similar results.

In that larger report, these different interviews have been combined. Different TV stations can take and have taken different parts of the different interviews and combined them. You can easily distinguish the two parts, by looking how the boy is dressed and combed.

The two pieces of footage originally came from a single report hosted by that fat piece of shit I linked to above.

Which is what your sources have proved. The cafe is the "Syrian Arab Army Officer's Club in Damascus", which is according to your source "near the Dama Rose hotel". And it is not a "Syrian army base".

It's not a cafe, nor does it call itself one. It's a facility for Syrian Army officers and it has a restaurant in it which is mainly intended to serve said officers, I don't see cafe anywhere in the title. It functions as a military base because that's where several officers have their headquarters, including the Russian soldiers responsible for overseeing "reconciliation" between rebels and the regime.

It's also just down the road from the Syrian Ministry of Defence, but your reporter conveniently neglected to mention that. Why did the reporter say "Dama Rose Hotel" and explicitly deny that the interview location had any military connection? It's called lying for Mother Russia, comrade. It's worth sacrificing a few hundred Syrian civilians here or there and lying about it, if it makes your homeland look mighty and respectable (or at least appearing respectable to the fools who live there).

Ever seen an "army base" looking like this?

Absolutely, and indeed I've heard of far more impressive military structures. Ever heard of the Pentagon? If someone were taken to the Pentagon and testified there that Putin is a rapist pedophile, and the reporter conducting the interview only mentioned that it was conducted near a hotel, you'd be crying torture all day long. You wouldn't be saying he was taken there to eat at the cafeteria, nor would you call it a "cafe".

If the Russian KGB (btw, KGB was the Soviet time secret service, not the Russian) follows such a line, fine. Means, they are not as stupid as you. Feel free to trust Western media, little boy, they tell you a nice fairy tale about freedom and democracy.

If it looks like the KGB and smells like the KGB, it's irrelevant whether they changed their name to "The Mickey Mouse Fan Club" or anything else. You seem to have a serious problem distinguishing organizations and their intentions from the names they choose for themselves.

 

[Schmelzer]

No, what actually happened was that the Syrian army received more bridging equipment from Russia and made yet another attempt to cross the Euphrates in violation of their deconfliction agreement with the US and SDF, and their advance was repelled accordingly. Just another repeat of the previous regime attack in which roughly 200 Russian soldiers got sent home in bodybags to their deadbeat parents, on a smaller scale with similar results.

Your source? There was no need to use a bridge, the Syrian army is at this place already on the other side.

The two pieces of footage originally came from a single report hosted by that fat piece of shit I linked to above.

You can see that the boy is dressed and combed differently, the place is different, even the interviewer is different, so there were two different interviews. That's obvious and trivial. The video I have shown is from 20.04.2018, and shows only the part in the hospital, yours is from 23.04.2018 and shows parts from both.

It's not a cafe, nor does it call itself one. It's a facility for Syrian Army officers and it has a restaurant in it which is mainly intended to serve said officers, I don't see cafe anywhere in the title.

Ok, once you think you have identified some lie of the journalist, let's check. Your source:

Poddubnyy also revealed that his interview with the boy and his father had not been recorded in Douma, but in Damascus, the Syrian capital, near the Dama Rose hotel.

So far everything true, and, given the local situation, it is clear that everybody can easily find the place where the interview was made, given that it is the place before the next house. Clearly no intention at all to hide something. Let's see what follows on twitter:

Evgeny Poddubnyy: its officers of Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria. They go to have a dinner in local cafe
...
[Robert Mackey: Was your interview shot at the Officers Club?]
Evgeny Poddubnyy: ... No, I do not have a badge to the Officers club. I'm a reporter.

So, the officers club is inside the building, you need a badge to enter it. The interview is made outside, has to be made outside, given that Poddubnyy has no badge. It is clearly visible that to enter the part outside you do not have to make any check, you can simply enter this part. The check for the badge is clearly inside. So, what Poddubnyy names "the officers club" is something inside the building. Once he is not allowed to enter it, as a reporter, it is quite natural for him to name an utility named "officer's club" a "local cafe".

Let's now see how your source Robert Mackey presents this:

When asked directly if the piece had been filmed on the grounds of the Syrian Army Officers Club, which is next door to that hotel, Poddubnyy said that it had not.

No, he has not asked "on the grounds of", he has simply asked "at". So, the question was manipulated, giving it a different meaning. The answer was manipulated too. This was necessary, because the answer "I do not have a badge to the Officers club. I'm a reporter." would not make sense, because simply to enter the place of the interview you obviously don't need a badge.

So, a nice green place free to enter for everybody in the very center of Damascus, outside a building containing some officers club the journalist is not even allowed to enter, becomes "at a Syrian army facility where Russian military advisers were present". And natural and harmless answers are manipulated, the aim is obviously to create the impression that the reporter has somehow tried to hide where the interview was taken. Which was essential for the title "Russian TV Interview With Syrian Boy Was Secretly Conducted at Army Facility". Of course, "Russian TV Interview With Syrian Boy Was Openly Conducted near the building of an officer's club in the center of Damascus" would not have been really impressive.

Remember: Whenever Western sources claim something dubious about some Russians having said something, don't believe without a thorough check, including the original text. The liar is named Robert Mackey.

It's also just down the road from the Syrian Ministry of Defence, but your reporter conveniently neglected to mention that. Why did the reporter say "Dama Rose Hotel" ...?

For most visitors, hotels are much better places for orientation than ministries, so this is quite natural. He could have also said "half the way from Sheraton to Four Seasons" or so. By the way, may be he simply sleeps in this hotel.

It's not a cafe, nor does it call itself one. It's a facility for Syrian Army officers and it has a restaurant in it which is mainly intended to serve said officers, I don't see cafe anywhere in the title.

Given that Poddubnyy cannot even enter it, given he is only a journalist, do you think he has to care if the officer's club is a cafe or a restaurant?