Article

2018-09-09 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Battle for Idlib & Hama finally begins: Syrians & Russians unleash, jihadis bombard Hama, Russian & Syrian airstrikes, Turks enter stage left

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Posted by trailing wife 2018-09-09 00:35|| || Front Page|| [13 views ] Top
File under: Govt of Syria

#1 Nice composite, TW.

Posted by Skidmark 2018-09-09 02:52|| 2018-09-09 02:52|| Front Page Top

#2 Damned If I Know which side to cheer on.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2018-09-09 03:45|| 2018-09-09 03:45|| Front Page Top

#3 Nice composite, TW.

Thank you, Skidmark. Today will be another busy day over there, no doubt.

Cheer for a hot fight, g(r)omgoru. I was thinking of ordering a nice selection of hors d'oeuvres and a truckload of popcorn from Barbara Skolaut’s usual supplier. It’s been a while since we had a battle to watch. And Dave D. used to get the best prices for Yuengling beer...

Posted by trailing wife 2018-09-09 05:39|| 2018-09-09 05:39|| Front Page Top

#4 How many civilians are trapped in the battlezones? Hama (I think) has - was about 310.000. Idlib 110,000 or much less. Minding those numbers are pre civil war.

I think it was Bruce Stanley and Michael Dumper who wrote that some districts of the city are exclusively Christian. And there was one observation about Hamas supposedly being the most conservative Sunni Muslim city in Syria.

At least arse Assad didn't F with the Christians. Much to Barry's dismay.

Nice breakdown TW.

Posted by Woodrow 2018-09-09 07:50|| 2018-09-09 07:50|| Front Page Top

#5 A prime tenet of muzz war philosophy is "There are no civilians." See Zawahiri right after 9/11...

Posted by M. Murcek 2018-09-09 10:17|| 2018-09-09 10:17|| Front Page Top

#6 #5 nails it.

As for rooting interest, Kissinger's remark on the Iran-Iraq War comes to mind here.

I think this will definitely speed up the process of Turkey's "alienation" from NATO, as we're not about to bail them out if things go badly for them.

The Turks themselves are no loss, but it'd be a shame to lose Anatolia.

Posted by charger 2018-09-09 11:41|| 2018-09-09 11:41|| Front Page Top

#7 Wasn’t Hama the home of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria back in Hafez Assad’s day? Whoever it was, Assad pére bounced the rubble when they got uppity back in 1982. Tom Friedman at the New York Times shortly after 9/11:

In February 1982 the secular Syrian government of President Hafez al-Assad faced a mortal threat from Islamic extremists, who sought to topple the Assad regime. How did it respond? President Assad identified the rebellion as emanating from Syria's fourth-largest city -- Hama -- and he literally leveled it, pounding the fundamentalist neighborhoods with artillery for days. Once the guns fell silent, he plowed up the rubble and bulldozed it flat, into vast parking lots. Amnesty International estimated that 10,000 to 25,000 Syrians, mostly civilians, were killed in the merciless crackdown. Syria has not had a Muslim extremist problem since

Woodrow, I’m glad you find this set-up useful. I just stacked the Al Masdar articles on the subject together under one heading — in as chronological order as I could so our readers would have a proper feel for the progress of events. Dr. Steve started us doing that during the reconquest of Iraq after ISIS exploded. All images came from Rantburg’s extensive collection.

Posted by trailing wife 2018-09-09 13:26|| 2018-09-09 13:26|| Front Page Top

#8 .....I just stacked the Al Masdar articles on the subject together under one heading

But wait! Isn't that how Google got started?

Posted by Black Charlie tse Tung4989 2018-09-09 13:37|| 2018-09-09 13:37|| Front Page Top

#9 what is missing from the NYTimes quote is that the Islamic Extremists were the Muslim Brotherhood

by late 2009, the Obama administration was working hand in glove with the brotherhood and by 2012 the Muslim brotherhood was running Egypt

Posted by lord garth 2018-09-09 14:33|| 2018-09-09 14:33|| Front Page Top

#10 "Huma"

Posted by Frank G 2018-09-09 15:13|| 2018-09-09 15:13|| Front Page Top

#11 Damned If I Know which side to cheer on.

Just continuously arm up the losing side until the desired result is achieved.

Posted by gorb 2018-09-09 17:42|| 2018-09-09 17:42|| Front Page Top

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