Turkey

At UN, Syrian official points out US assistance and support for ISIS, illegal Turkish and American occupation and attacks in Syria, “but no one cares.”

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From Fort Russ

February 15, 2018 – Fort Russ News – Paul Antonopoulos
NEW YORK CITY, The United States of America – Syrian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Bashar Jaafari voiced severe criticism of the US and its coalition partners, addressing the United Nations Security Council meeting in New York City on Wednesday.
“The attack on 8th of February in northern-eastern Deir Ezzor, that the alliance illegally undertook against the Syrian national forces that were standing against ISIS terrorists, I emphasize this, the region where the Syrian national forces attacked ISIS was under the US protection, north-east of Deir Elzor. It’s a strip with 30 km in width and 65 km in length. IS, which we fought and destroyed, left this Deir Ez-Zor and Abu Kamal, with the US protection and positioned itself at Iraq-Syrian borders. When IS [ISIS] was attacked by Syrian popular forces, the Syrian forces were attacked by the American Air Force, which proves again and without doubt, the real mission of this coalition and the role that Washington plays in supporting ISIS,” Jaafari said.
“Like it did earlier by targeting Syrian national forces in air force attacks at northern Jabal Al-tharda near Deir Elzor, on the 17/09/2016, allowing IS to occupy these regions. Not to mention the deliberate destruction of 90 percent of the city of Raqqa. This coalition has not felt to uphold its commitment to neutralize tens of thousands of mines left behind by Daesh  [ISIS] after they left the region to continue their terroristic services under two banners: American in east of Euphrates and Turkish in northern Afrin,” he explained.
“These [coalition] countries have abused the principles of the [UN] charter and they have defied its rules when they assisted terrorist groups and facilitated their acquiring of poisonous chemical weapons, to be used against innocent civilians, after which, manipulating the places and dates of the incidents, and setting up false and misleading testimonies to an investigative mechanism whose integrity and objectivity are a subject of doubt, with the aim of framing the Syrian government. Here, this is a large collection, Mr. President, containing 136 messages that had been sent by the Syrian government to you. 136 messages with very important information about the importing and use of chemical weapons by the terrorists, from outside of Syria into Syria. And they [chemical weapons] were used. 136 messages addressing nothing but the chemical [weapons] issue were distributed as official documents. And they are all in your procession. But no one cares,” he stressed.
“I was very sad to hear the statement by the Special Envoy, which I have listened to carefully, has not remotely touched upon the fact that there exists a US occupation in parts of my country, or the fact that there is a Turkish occupation in parts of my country. The Special Envoy said that there is a cross-border conflict in Afrin, not an unlawful Turkish occupation in my country, and the attack on a Syrian city called Afrin,” he concluded.

How America armed terrorists in Syria

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From Consortium News

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s “Stop Arming Terrorists Act” to curb weapons going to Al Qaeda-linked jihadists in Syria, has attracted only 14 co-sponsors pointing to hypocrisy in the “war on terror,” as Gareth Porter explained at The American Conservative.

By Gareth Porter
June 23, 2017

Three-term Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a member of both the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, has proposed legislation that would prohibit any U.S. assistance to terrorist organizations in Syria as well as to any organization working directly with them. Equally important, it would prohibit U.S. military sales and other forms of military cooperation with other countries that provide arms or financing to those terrorists and their collaborators.

President Barack Obama walks along the Colonnade at the White House with then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Dec. 7, 2009. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Gabbard’s “Stop Arming Terrorists Act” challenges for the first time in Congress a U.S. policy toward the conflict in the Syrian civil war that should have set off alarm bells long ago: in 2012-13 the Obama administration helped its Sunni allies Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar provide arms to Syrian and non-Syrian armed groups to force President Bashar al-Assad out of power. And in 2013 the administration began to provide arms to what the CIA judged to be “relatively moderate” anti-Assad groups — meaning they incorporated various degrees of Islamic extremism.

That policy, ostensibly aimed at helping replace the Assad regime with a more democratic alternative, has actually helped build up al Qaeda’s Syrian franchise al Nusra Front into the dominant threat to Assad.

The supporters of this arms-supply policy believe it is necessary as pushback against Iranian influence in Syria. But that argument skirts the real issue raised by the policy’s history.  The Obama administration’s Syria policy effectively sold out the U.S. interest that was supposed to be the touchstone of the “Global War on Terrorism” — the eradication of al Qaeda and its terrorist affiliates. The United States has instead subordinated that U.S. interest in counter-terrorism to the interests of its Sunni allies. In doing so it has helped create a new terrorist threat in the heart of the Middle East.

The policy of arming military groups committed to overthrowing the government of President Bashar al-Assad began in September 2011, when President Barack Obama was pressed by his Sunni allies — Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar — to supply heavy weapons to a military opposition to Assad they were determined to establish. Turkey and the Gulf regimes wanted the United States to provide anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons to the rebels, according to a former Obama administration official involved in Middle East issues.

Obama refused to provide arms to the opposition, but he agreed to provide covert U.S. logistical help in carrying out a campaign of military assistance to arm opposition groups. CIA involvement in the arming of anti-Assad forces began with arranging for the shipment of weapons from the stocks of the Gaddafi regime that had been stored in Benghazi.

Shipments from Benghazi

CIA-controlled firms shipped the weapons from the military port of Benghazi to two small ports in Syria using former U.S. military personnel to manage the logistics, as investigative reporter Sy Hersh detailed in 2014. The funding for the program came mainly from the Saudis.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testifies before Congress on Jan. 23, 2013, about the fatal attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11. 2012. (Photo from C-SPAN coverage)

A declassified October 2012 Defense Intelligence Agency report revealed that the shipment in late August 2012 had included 500 sniper rifles, 100 RPG (rocket propelled grenade launchers) along with 300 RPG rounds and 400 howitzers. Each arms shipment encompassed as many as ten shipping containers, it reported, each of which held about 48,000 pounds of cargo.

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Turkish forces kill Syrian civilians inside Syria

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March 13th, 2017 – Fort Russ News –
– SANA – – translated by Samer Hussein –

 

Three Syrian civilians were killed after Turkish regime forces  opened fire on a residential area near Um Sahrij village in Tal Abyad area in the northern countryside of Raqqa.

The incident happened after Turkish border guards started firing at an area next to the Turkish-Syrian border.

Turks shell Syrian village as Russian humanitarian aid convoy arrives

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March 11th, 2017 – Fort Russ News –
– RusVesna – – translated by Samer Hussein –

 

The portal “RusVesna” has obtained an exclusive footage of a village in the Syrian province of Aleppo that is being shelled by the Turkish forces right in the moment as the Russian aid convoy arrives.

On March 8th, 2017 the Russian humanitarian convoy left the city of Aleppo for the town of Ajami, located in the countryside of Manbij, east of Aleppo. The footage shows the arrival of the Russian Ministry of Defense humanitarian convoy at the building of the police station in the outskirts of the town of Ajami.
During the reconnaissance of the area, the Turkish forces launched heavy artillery shelling right next to the convoy.

Despite the difficult circumstances, the commander of the Center for the Reconciliation of the Warring Parties of the City of Aleppo decided to proceed in order to reach the destination and continue with reconnaissance of the area.

Local residents – Arabs, who spoke to RusVesna, said they were members of the Syrian Democratic Forces and that they hate Erdogan and are ready to fight for the liberation of Syria from the occupation by Turkey and the terrorist groups.

“We, the Syrians, are united and stand for Bashar Al Assad! We are here to liberate Syria from terrorism and the Turkish occupation. They all want to destroy Syria, but we, the Syrian people, are against Turkey and its President Erdogan. Erdogan and the heads of Arab states are traitors, they want to sell to Syria and bathe in the Syrian people’s blood. We, the Syrian people are fighting for a united Syria and for our President Bashar al-Assad! Russia, Thank you, Russia!”, they were heard saying.

http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/03/turks-shell-syrian-village-as-russians.html

Syrian President al-Assad: “Foreign troops coming to Syria without permission are invaders” — in-depth interview

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By Bashar al Assad
Global Research, March 11, 2017
SANA 11 March 2017

Damascus, SANA-President Bashar al-Assad said that the solution to the crisis in Syria should be through two parallel ways: the first one is to fight the terrorists, and this is our duty as government, to defend the Syrians and use any means in order to destroy the terrorists who’ve been killing and destroying in Syria, and the second one is to make dialogue.

The president added in an interview given to Chinese PHOENIX TV that any foreign troops coming to Syria without our invitation or consultation or permission, they are invaders, whether they are American, Turkish, or any other one.

Flowing is the full text of the interview:

Question 1:  Thank you Mr. President for having us here in Dimashq, the capital of Syria. I think this is the first interview you have with Chinese media after the national ceasefire and after so many fresh rounds of talks, both in Astana and in Geneva, and of course after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration, and these days, as we have seen, your troops are making steady progress in battlefields, but peace talks do not seem just as productive. So, as far as the Geneva talks is concerned, your chief negotiator, Mr. Jaafari, was trying hard to find out who should be sitting on the other side of the negotiation table. So, according to your idea, who should be sitting there?

President Assad: This is a very crucial question. If you want those negotiations to be fruitful, we have to ask “who is going to be sitting there?” I mean, there could be a lot of good people with good intentions, but the question is: who do they represent? That’s the question. In this situation, you have different groups, you have people who are, let’s say, patriotic, but they don’t represent anyone, they represent themselves. You have others who represent the terrorists, and you have terrorists on the table, and you have others who represent the agenda of foreign countries like Saudi Arabia, like Turkey, like France, UK and maybe the United States. So, it’s not a homogeneous meeting. If you want it to be fruitful, going back to the first point that I mentioned, it should be a real Syrian-Syrian negotiations. In spite of that, we went to that meeting because we think any kind of dialogue could be a good step toward the solution, because even those people who are terrorists or belonging to the terrorists or to other countries, they may change their mind and go back to their normality by going back to being real Syrians, detach themselves from being terrorists or agents to other groups. That’s why I say we didn’t expect Geneva to produce anything, but it’s a step, and it’s going to be a long way, and you may have other rounds, whether in Geneva or in Astana.

Question 2: But anyway, it is an intra-Syrian talks, right? But the matter of fact is, it is proxy dialogue. I mean, main parties do not meet and have dialogue directly.

President Assad: Exactly.

Journalist: Are you personally satisfied with the current negotiation format or mechanism?

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Erdogan regime forces kill Syrian soldiers and border guards

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March 10th, 2017 – Fort Russ News –
– Agencies – – translated by Samer Hussein –

Syrian military sources said forces of the Turkish dictator Recep Tayyip Erdogan bombarded the positions of the Syrian Army, in Manbij, western countryside of Aleppo later on Thursday. Several Syrian soldiers and border guards are said to be among the victims of the Turkish bombardment. According to one of the military sources, the goal of the Turkish regime is to disrupt the Syrian Army in its fight against terrorism.

Meanwhile, the commander of the US Central Command in the Middle East, Gen. Joseph Votel announced that Washington is currently taking steps in order to prevent a clash between the Turkish Forces and the US-backed Kurdish Forces in Syria. During the Senate hearing, Votel stressed that this will not be an easy task from diplomatic and military standpoint as it requires a lot of effort to reach a compromise that will be suitable for both sides. He also revealed that Pentagon is considering to arm the Gulf states with ballistic missiles.

Since August 2016 the Erdogan regime Forces are illegally invading Syria, under the guise of fighting against ISIS. The ground reports however, show that the Erdogan regime forces are stationed in Syria only to supply and train the terrorist groups and thus disrupt the Syrian army in its fight against the terrorist threat. Frequent attacks on Syrian civilian infrastructure and residential areas were also reported.

http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/03/erdogan-regime-forces-kill-syran.html

RAND Corporation’s plan for dicing up Syria

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February 26, – Fort Russ News –

– Deutsche Wirtschafts Nachrichten, translated by Tom Winter –

“Suggestion for the division of Syria. (Graphic: RAND Corporation)” Interesting note: But what about the Golan Heights?

US plan for the division of Syria may set off a new wave of refugees

The think tank of the Pentagon wants to divide Syria according to the model of Bosnia. The result would be ethnic cleansing and new, massive flood of immigrants.

The RAND Corporation, a leading US think tank close to the Pentagon, has published a report proposing a “Bosnian model” to resolve the Syrian conflict.

“In this sense, as in Bosnia in the mid-1990s, peace will be facilitated by demographic changes on the ground, external approval for such changes, and exhaustion of the combat parties. Unlike in Bosnia, however, peace would not arise from a detailed formal agreement but from a set of local and international understandings. In order to achieve the various understandings, the cease-fire agreement between Russia, Turkey and Iran is a good starting point, but it is insufficient. Sustainable long-term agreements will be most effective if they involve the consent of other key stakeholders, including the US, its golf partners and other supporters of the opposition to Assad.”

The RAND Corporation calls for a decentralization of the country in control zones. The area from the west coast to Deir Ezzor with the exclusion of Rakka is to be controlled by the government in Damascus and the Russians. The area liberated by Turkey under Operation Euphrates Shield and the province of Idlib would be under Turkish control. The southern area of Daraa, on the border with Israel, would also be controlled by an “opposition” not described in detail by the RAND Corporation. A large part of Northern Syria would be controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), consisting of Kurdish militia and led by the US.

It is particularly noteworthy that the RAND Corporation is proposing to place the ISIS strongholds and oil centers Rakka and Deir Ezzor under an “international administration.” “We therefore recommend that the United States place the Rakka province, after its liberation, under an international transitional administration, creating a neutral territory that is not held by either the regime or the opposition until the final solution of the civil war.” The area should be controlled by the UN, which in turn uses provincial councils. RAND Corporation, on the other hand, argues against sending a purely UN peacekeeping force to the international zone. Instead, the US and Russia would have to organize the deployment of a “coalition force,” which is given a UN mandate. Such a solution would not only tolerate the US and Russia, but also Turkey and other regional US allies, which would not leave Rakka and Deir Ezzor either under the control of the ISIS terrorist militia or control by the Kurdish militia, according to RAND Corporation.

On the Syrian map, it is noticeable that the city of Manbij is placed in the Turkish zone in northern Syria. The Turkish army has not yet taken Manbij, and the Kurdish militants of the YPG are against the city being occupied by the Turks. However, the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said at the beginning of the week that after the liberation of Al-Bab, Turkey would move to take Manbij.

Last year, Manbij was taken by the Kurdish militia. There are currently numerous associations of the Kurdish militia in Manbij, but the majority of the population is Arab and Turkmen.

The plans for the division of Syria are highly problematic: already in the Syrian war, massive ethnic cleansings have already taken place. These were carried out based on the planned petroleum pipelines. A territorial breakdown by ethnicity would greatly accelerate the trend towards expulsion. New escape movements would be the result. These would then come to Europe – which is desperately trying to shut itself off.

Damascus demands UN action against illegal Turkish incursions, reveals location of main Turkish base inside Syria

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From Fort Russ

February 18th, 2017 – Fort Russ News
– Al Binaa – translated by Samer Hussein –

Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has renewed calls to the UN Security Council for an immediate end of the violations of The Syrian sovereignty by the Turkish Armed Forces.

The Ministry also published a list of all violations that occurred since last December.

The letter, which was addressed to the UN Secretary General and the President of the UN Security Council, mentions illegal incursions into Syrian territory, building a wall within the so-called Turkish buffer zones (which exist on the sovereign Syrian territory), destruction of the property belonging to the Syrian citizens such as uprooting of hundreds of olive trees in order to build roads for the tanks of the Turkish army (as recently seen in the village of Qljabreen in the Azaz area of Aleppo province) and illegal backing of the terrorist groups which are loyal to the regime in Ankara.
The letter further states that the Turkish authorities recently established a military base inside Syrian territory, more precisely in the village of Jtrar, North of the town of Tal Rifaat, located in the province of Aleppo. The base includes the headquarters for the Turkish army personnel and their allies who are stationed on the Syrian soil and are allegedly involved in the so-called “Operation Euphrates Shield”. Ammunition depots are also being mentioned.

The letter reads: “The Syrian Government renews calls to the UN Security Council to hold to its responsibilities and act in accordance with the International Law and to pressure Turkey in order to stop the violations of the Syrian Arab Republic’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. ”

Syria: ISIS attempts to flood eastern Aleppo; Russian bombers strike ISIS with cruise missiles in Raqqa, Syria

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From Fort Russ

February 18th, 2017 – Fort Russ News
– Al Mayadeen – translated by Samer Hussein –

In a statement published on Saturday, Russian Defense Ministry announced that the bombers “Tu-95 MS” delivered directed blows against ISIS positions in Raqqa province, after taking off from the Russian territory and flying over Iran and Iraq. The bombers destroyed the training grounds and camps belonging to the terrorist group ISIS. According to the statement, all targets were successfully destroyed.
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The mission was supported by Su-30 SM” and “Su-35 S”, the two Russian fighter jets stationed at Humaimam base. The jets provided the aerial coverage.
After their mission was successfully accomplished in Syria, the bombers returned to their bases.
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In the meantime, the Syrian Army was able to successfully expand its operations in the Eastern side of the Homs province. According to the military source provided to SANA, the army also restored the security to the village of Al Kilabiyah.
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The Syrian Army and its allies also made advancements towards Palmyra as they have moved closer for about 2km.
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Earlier on Saturday, ISIS began to pump large quantities of water from Euphrates river through Al Babira station located in the eastern part of Aleppo province in order to cause flooding in the villages and destroy utility stations and agricultural areas in the countryside of the Aleppo province’s eastern regions. The Aleppian municipal authorities have already sent out a team of experts who will work on redirecting the flooding waters.
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In Aleppo province the Turkish armed forces are continuing their incursions. The latest Turkish shelling in the eastern parts of Aleppo city resulted in 4 civilian deaths, bringing the death toll to about 50 in the past 4 days of the Turkish operations.
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Since September 2015, the Russian armed forces are successfully destroying ISIS targets in Syria. The Russian counter-terrorist activities are coordinated with the government of Syria.

Kremlin confirms accidental Russian airstrike kills Turkish soldiers in Syria

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From Sputnik

February 9, 2017

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Sputnik that Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over an accidental Russian airstrike that had killed Turkish soldiers in Syria.

Peskov said that Russia and Turkey will jointly investigate the deadly incident. The Kremlin spokesman said that Putin told Erdogan that Turkish soldiers had died as a result of lack of coordination regarding coordinates during Russian military jets’ strikes in Syria.

Russia and Turkey will improve coordination of activities in Syria after the unintentional strike, Peskov said.

“President Putin informed… about the recent telephone conversation with Turkish President Erdogan, said that he expressed condolences to the Turkish counterpart over the fact that early this morning as a result of non-coordination of coordinates Turkish soldiers had been killed during a joint operation to liberate al-Bab by Russian Aerospace Forces’ airstrikes,” Peskov said.

The Russian and Turkish presidents held a phone conversation earlier on Thursday. Putin expressed condolences to Erdogan over the deaths of Turkish soldiers near Syria’s al-Bab, the Kremlin said earlier. They also agreed to expand military coordination during the operation against militants from Daesh and other extremist groups in Syria.

Earlier in the day, the Turkish General Staff said that an accidental Russian airstrike killed three Turkish soldiers and wounded 11 others in northern Syria.

“Today, around 08.40, during airstrikes against Daesh targets [in Syria], Russian combat planes accidentally hit a building hosting Turkish servicemen taking part in Euphrates Shield operation. As a result, three Turkish soldiers were killed, 11 were wounded, including one seriously,” the Turkish General Staff said in a statement.

The Russian Defense Ministry has also confirmed the unintentional strike, killing Turkish servicemen in Syria. The ministry said that Russian bombers had been on a mission to destroy Daesh terrorists’ positions near al-Bab, where Turkish soldiers had been accidentally bombed.

“Russian bombers have been carrying out a combat mission destroying Daesh positions in al-Bab area. The chiefs of the [Russian and Turkish] general staffs agreed to closer coordinate joint actions and exchange information about the situation on the ground.”

Chief of the Russian General Staff General Valery Gerasimov held telephone talks with his Turkish counterpart, during which the issues of the fight against international terrorist groups in Syria and the situation in the northeast of the province of Aleppo were discussed.

“Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Army General Valery Gerasimov expressed condolences to [Turkish] General Hulusi Akar in connection with the death of three Turkish soldiers operating in the area of the city of al-Bab as a result of unintentional strike by a Russian aircraft.”

The news comes as the Turkish military operation in Syria’s al-Bab has entered the final stage. Turkey’s units entered central al-Bab, the operation is being conducted in coordination with Russia to prevent clashes with Syrian government forces.

Russian and Turkish military jets have repeatedly jointly bombed Daesh targets near al-Bab in Syria. Al-Bab is one of Daesh’s last remaining strongholds near the Turkish border. Capturing the city is of strategic importance to Turkey in order to prevent the Syrian Kurds taking it and unifying their own territories.

https://sputniknews.com/politics/201702091050514274-turkey-russia-strike-syria/