Syria - What should we do if anything?

Turkey havihaving the second largest army in Nato? You don't know much about Nato, do you?

Turkey havihaving the second largest army in Nato? You don't know much about Nato, do you?

yes i know a lot of things about nato when i said largest i mean on active stuff in army 1.061.300

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marietje-schaake/nato-and-turkey_b_1433661.html

Well i don't think that is some kind of occupation Kurdistan but true they don't have independence but they have army education system and some economy also i don't think Turkey is fear about Kurdistan Turkey is second largest army in NATO and for sure USA will not risk to lose Turkey and support independence of Kurdistan

However Turkey and US are on some cold relations right now the criticism of the actual Erdogan's government from US and comparing them to Ottomans are not welcomed in Turkey

Uhm? If Turkey is not to fear the Kurds why have the Turkish Army fought it for dozens of years? Heck they even invaded part of the Iraqi Kurdistan after the Coalition Invasion...

Now the Kurdish are better armed and prepared than they ever did, and with the full support of the US and other powers.

Besides the Turkish Armed Forces have "only" 423,000 members in active service. A few more if you count Coast Guard and others.

Which BTW doesn't matter that much, as what matters is their equipment and training...

From the Turkish Defense:

Uhm? If Turkey is not to fear the Kurds why have the Turkish Army fought it for dozens of years? Heck they even invaded part of the Iraqi Kurdistan after the Coalition Invasion...

Now the Kurdish are better armed and prepared than they ever did, and with the full support of the US and other powers.

Besides the Turkish Armed Forces have "only" 423,000 members in active service. A few more if you count Coast Guard and others.

Which BTW doesn't matter that much, as what matters too is theur equipment and training...

From the Turkish Defense:

http://www.aktifhaber.com/d/other/tsktablo.jpg

I guess my mistake

but it's still second largest army in nato 662,719 total ! UK 156,940 FRA 215,019 GER 180,218...etc i mention on top largest not including US

Kurdistan is not so huge problem for Turkey but IS near borders is for sure !

I guess my mistake

but it's still second largest army in nato 662,719 total ! UK 156,940 FRA 215,019 GER 180,218...etc i mention on top largest not including US

Kurdistan is not so huge problem for Turkey but IS near borders is for sure !

First of all, your numbers are wrong.

Second, an armys strenght is never determined only by its size. The sheer ammount of troops says very little.

Third:

Erdogan considers the Kurds to be a much larger problem than the IS. The Kurds are currently well armed, well trained, combat hardened veterans who have pretty justified claims on Turkish territory. And what is worst of all for him, they have international support. Much more than he has! Only because the Kurds are much more secular than him. And those Kurds will try to grasp this historical chance of creating a Kurdish state.

IS on the other hand... they are busy elsewhere and even if they do attack Turkey it will get help from NATO.

First of all, your numbers are wrong.

Second, an armys strenght is never determined only by its size. The sheer ammount of troops says very little.

Third:

Erdogan considers the Kurds to be a much larger problem than the IS. The Kurds are currently well armed, well trained, combat hardened veterans who have pretty justified claims on Turkish territory. And what is worst of all for him, they have international support. Much more than he has! Only because the Kurds are much more secular than him. And those Kurds will try to grasp this historical chance of creating a Kurdish state.

IS on the other hand... they are busy elsewhere and even if they do attack Turkey it will get help from NATO.

i know that but i don't know what is problem with second largest NATO army ?

and when someone start to talks about iS it need to know that they are everywhere from balkans 1.700 people are in ISIS well now most of them are dead but an enough numbers are back to balkans ! They are not army or something they are terrorist organization few hundred times than Al-Qaedaa which is close to IS also Al-nussra in Syria and Al-Shabab !

And some of the people that are migrate from Syria or Iraq some of them are blackmailed by iS because some minor numbers are comes without families !

ok i didn't put the numbers of troops in reserve ! sources are taken from http://www.globalfirepower.com/

Active military by manpower:

USA-1.400.000

Turkey-410.500

Italy-320.000

France-202,761

Greece-177,600

Germany-176.046

UK-146,980

Spain-123.300

Canada-92,000

Romania-73.000

Netherlands-47,660

Belgium-33,000

Norway-26,200

Denmark-22.000

Croatia-21.300

Czech Republic-21.060

Hungary-20.000

Lithuania-15.000

Albania-14.000

Slovakia-13.500

Latvia-12.600

Slovenia-7.300

Estonia-3.200

British Airstrikes In Syria Without MP’s Approval

PM urged to explain UK personnel involvement in Syria

MoD admits UK personnel carry out Syrian bombings, despite Parliament not authorising action,

by being embedded with allied nations

David Cameron is coming under pressure to explain why UK personnel, including pilots, have taken part in bombing raids on Islamic State militants in Syria without approval from Parliament.

The House of Commons voted against military action in Syria in 2013 and parliamentary authorisation has so far been given only to UK air strikes against Isil in neighbouring Iraq.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/11745689/British-pilots-in-air-strikes-against-Isil-in-Syria-live.html

Cameron should be forced to step down, period.

Syria rebels rain rockets on Shiite villages

Syrian rebels, including Al-Qaeda-affiliated fighters, have fired hundreds of rockets and mortar shells

on two besieged Shiite-majority villages in the northwestern province of Idlib, a monitor said Tuesday.

Fighting continued around the two villages on Tuesday, with opposition forces including Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front battling regime forces and fighters from Lebanon's Shiite Hezbollah movement.

Al-Nusra, like many of Syria's extremist groups, considers Shiite Muslims to be heretical.

The escalating clashes prompted concern in Damascus, where pro-regime militiamen and their families from the two villages held demonstrations asking to be sent there to defend them.

Most of Idlib province, including its provincial capital, is now held by fighters from the Army of Conquest and other rebel groups after a sweeping offensive earlier this year.

http://news.yahoo.com/syria-rebels-rain-rockets-shiite-villages-monitor-075048416.html

Second terror attack in Turkey after the suicide attack by IS in Suruc last week:

Turkey blames PKK for car bomb targeting soldiers (AJ, July 26th)

Turkey's army has blamed Kurdish fighters for a deadly car bombing that killed two of its soldiers in the country's Kurdish-dominated southeast.

The military said the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) fighters also fired on the troops in the attack, which it called a "treacherously pre-planned" ambush.

Four other troops were wounded in the attack on Saturday night in Diyarbakir province .

The attack came amid ongoing military campaigns, which began on Friday, one against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group across the border in Syria, and the other targeting PKK in northern Iraq.

--> While the army blamed the PKK, no group has yet claimed responsibility for the explosion.

The attack came amid ongoing military campaigns, which began on Friday, one against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group across the border in Syria, and the other targeting PKK in northern Iraq.

The air raids followed a suicide bombing in the southern Turkish town of Suruc earlier in the week that killed dozens of Kurdish activists.

Turkish authorities blamed ISIL for that attack.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/07/turkish-soldiers-killed-car-bomb-attack-150726042632365.html

Bombing Kurds in Syria: US says Turkey has right to defend itself

The White House says Turkey has the right to defend itself against terrorist attacks by Kurdish rebels.

Turkey has started striking Islamic State militants, which helps the US-led coalition, but also began attacking Kurds.

The US has been relying on Kurds associated with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, to make progress against IS.

White House spokesman Alistair Baskey is strongly condemning recent terrorist attacks by the PKK, which the US has designated a terrorist group. He's also pointing out that Turkey is a NATO ally of the US.

"The US of course recognises the PKK specifically as a terrorist organisation," Rhodes said, while welcoming parallel Turkish action against the Islamic State group.

The strikes on the PKK raise questions about the ceasefire between Kurdish separatists and Turkey, which have been in place since 2013, and could disbalance regional alliances.

While the United States has blacklisted the PKK, it has close ties with the Kurdish regional government in northern Iraq, which is also tackling the Islamic State.

The air strikes came after a week of deadly violence in Turkey that the authorities blamed on both the PKK and the jihadist Islamic State.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/us-defends-turkey-says-it-has-the-right-to-hit-terror-targets/article1-1373342.aspx

http://www.skynews.com.au/news/world/mideast/2015/07/26/us-says-turkey-has-right-to-defend-itself.html

US is teaming up with Al Qaeda ?

Rivals of ISIS Attack U.S.-Backed Syrian Rebel Group  (New York Times)

A Syrian insurgent group at the heart of the Pentagon’s effort to fight the Islamic State came under intense attack on Friday from a different hard-line Islamist faction, a serious blow to the Obama administration’s plans to create a reliable military force inside Syria.

The American-led coalition responded with airstrikes to help the American-aligned unit, known as Division 30, in fighting off the assault, according to an American military spokesman and combatants on both sides. Division 30 was formed from a number of smaller groups to streamline the recruitment and training of fighters by the Pentagon to fight the Islamic State.

The attack on Friday was mounted by the Nusra Front, which is affiliated with Al Qaeda.

In Washington, several current and former senior administration officials acknowledged that the attack and the abductions by the Nusra Front took American officials by surprise and amounted to a significant intelligence failure.

While American military trainers had gone to great lengths to protect the initial group of trainees from attacks by Islamic State or Syrian Army forces, they did not anticipate an assault from the Nusra Front. In fact, officials said on Friday, they expected the Nusra Front to welcome Division 30 as an ally in its fight against the Islamic State.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen like this,†said one former senior American official, who was working closely on Syria issues until recently, and who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential intelligence assessments.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/01/world/middleeast/nusra-front-attacks-us-backed-syrian-rebel-group.html

US-trained Syrian rebels say they won't fight al-Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra

Division 30 signals rejection of Washington's strategy, even as US vows to step up air support to defend the group from attacks by the radical Islamist faction

US-trained rebels in Syria have defied their Pentagon-funded programme by pledging to fight against Assad regime troops.

In its statement, Division 30 denied its "connection to the operations of the coalition against any faction on Syrian lands".

It said "it would not be dragged into any side battle with any faction" and that "it did not and will not fight Jabhat al-Nusra".

It was released a day after Jabhat al Nusra kidnapped five additional members in a village eight miles east of the border town of Reyhanli.

The latest development may sound the death knell for the Train and Equip program, which aims to create a 5400-strong force capable of fighting Isil.

Only 54 rebels completed the training and were deployed in Syrian territory in July. Those members of Division 30 not kidnapped or killed by Jabhat al-Nusra have now escaped to the Kurdish-majority enclave of Afrin

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/11784872/US-trained-Syrian-rebels-say-they-wont-fight-al-Qaeda-affiliate-Jabhat-al-Nusra.html

Urfa, Turkey â€“ The Turkish military placed dozens of tanks and armored vehicles near the southern borderline adjacent to Syria’s Kurdish areas of Hasakah province, local sources said on Thursday. 

Kurdish activists on both sides of the Syrian-Turkish border told ARA News that eastern Qamishli and southern Nusaybin saw intensive military movements by the Turkish army, where hundreds of military forces and dozens of armored vehicles and tanks were stationed on Thursday afternoon. 

In the meantime, the Turkish news agency DHA reported that Ankara decided to take intensive security measures near the Syrian northeastern borders, which is run by the Kurdish Auto-Administration and allied forces. 

“The army sent military reinforcements to Cizre city in Şırnak state and Nusaybin city in Mardin state (adjacent to Syria’s Qamishli) in preparation for any emergency situations that may occur amid the growing threat of terrorism on Turkey’s border,†the source said. 

“Turkish army forces were deployed alongside the border with Qamishli city, supported by heavy military vehicles and tanks,†a Kurdish military source told ARA News on Thursday. 

Turkey has vowed to intervene into Syrian northern areas, that are run by the Kurdish Auto-Administration. This comes as Ankara considers Syrian Kurdish fighters of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) –who are in fight against ISIS– as terrorists for their alleged affiliation with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Reporting by: Jan Nasro 

Source: ARA News

http://aranews.net/2015/08/turkey-sends-military-reinforcements-to-southern-areas-adjacent-to-syrias-kurdish-region/

While anti-government forces are closing to Damascus Russia is ready pound both so called opposition and ISIS. Expeditionary troops of Russian Federation have already arrived to Damascus, more equipment and manpower is on the way, while Russian airforce is ready to cooperate with Syrian forces during joint attacks on rebel position to push them back from Syrian capital. 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/01/russia-puts-boots-on-the-ground-in-syria.html

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-deploying-air-force-contingent-to-syria/

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/isis-fighters-push-deeper-into-syrian-capital-damascus/

http://www.i24news.tv/en/news/international/middle-east/84069-150831-russian-jets-in-syrian-skies

Damas is lacking of soldiers, not sure it lacks of equipments.

Syria conflict: How far is Russia prepared to bolster Assad?

 

Recent sightings of brand new Russian armoured vehicles in Syria, of types never previously supplied to its ally, suggest that with the Assad regime suffering serious reverses, Moscow is intent on redressing the military balance

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/11840713/Russian-troops-fighting-alongside-Assads-army-against-Syrian-rebels.html

This report indicates that Russian are already into action

Original video that shows BTR-82 with Russian number also contains some Russian speech.

Russian peacekeepers there ? in this case against those animals i would bless them and i hope they will eliminate world biggest threat that America plays poney war with

Not peacekeepers IMHO. I suppose that's either advisers, or maybe Tartus base personell was expanded, and here's some of them.

A new footage from Vice News about fightings in the Southern part of Syria (graphic at the end, so i don't hotlink it) : https://news.vice.com/video/machine-guns-and-barrel-bombs-the-battle-for-syrias-south-part-1

(BBC) Syria conflict: Rebels seize key Idlib airbase

 

Syrian rebels have seized control of a key airbase in the north-western province of Idlib after a two-year siege.

Abu al-Duhur airbase was the final regime position in the province, which is now held almost entirely by rebels.

The militants behind the attack are a coalition of mainly Islamist groups, including the al-Nusra Front

(Vice News) This Video Shows Syrian Rebels Using a Massive Sandstorm To Capture an Air Base

 

A propaganda video posted by the Army of Conquest late Wednesday showed fighters approaching the base under the cover of the sand storm, driving around in captured tanks, and standing inside abandoned planes. It's unclear if the captured equipment is in good working order, but the capture of the base appears to be significant victory for the Army of Conquest.

 

Despite their recent military victories inside Idlib province, the Army of Conquest coalition has struggled to hold together amid infighting and public discontent. Over the past month, a series of small clashes have erupted between Nusra and it's sometimes ally Ahrar al-Sham over which group can issue laws. And locals in several Idlib villages have staged public protests against the Nusra Front, whose units are often composed of non-Syrian foreign fighters. The Nusra Front and it's allies have responded to protests with live-fire.

"Local enthusiasm from town to town varies," explains Lund. 

 

With the evacuation of the Abu al-Duhur base, Idlib is now one of two provinces in Syria without any Syrian army presence. The other, Raqqa, is the capital of the so-called Islamic State (IS), which is fighting both the Nusra Front and the Assad regime

http://wiadomosci.wp.pl/kat,1329,title,Witold-Repetowicz-Turcja-chce-zmienic-ksztalt-etniczny-polnocnej-Syrii,wid,17836113,wiadomosc.html?ticaid=1158f5

journalists theory - war is because Turkey wants to get rid of  Kurds , change Syria 

(BBC) Syria crisis: 'Only four or five' US-trained Syrian rebels are still fighting

 

A US scheme to train Syrian rebels to fight Islamic State (IS) militants has been branded a total failure after a US general admitted only four or five were still fighting.

Congress approved $500m (£323m) to train and equip around 5,000 rebels as a key plank of US strategy against IS.

But the first 54 graduates were routed by an al-Qaeda affiliate, Gen Lloyd Austin told lawmakers.

Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte said the number remaining was a "joke".

"We have to acknowledge this is a total failure. I wish it weren't so, but that's the fact," said another Republican Senator, Jeff Sessions

Syria's Bashar al-Assad: West is to blame for refugee crisis (CNN; Sept. 16th 2015

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is blaming Western nations for fueling the refugee crisis by

supporting opposition groups in his country's bloody civil war.

"If you are worried about them, stop supporting terrorists," he said in an interview with Russian news organizations. "That's what we think regarding the crisis. This is the core of the whole issue of refugees."

Europe is struggling to deal with unusually large numbers of migrants arriving at its borders, many of them refugees fleeing the years-long conflict in Syria that has killed more than 220,000 people.

@--> Western leaders have criticized al-Assad for presiding over the violent fragmentation of his country, a war that helped spawn the rise of the militant group ISIS and has driven more than four million Syrians to flee abroad.

But the Syrian President told Russian media Tuesday that European countries should take the blame.

"Europe is responsible because it supported terrorism," he said in the interview at his home in Damascus, the capital.

'European double standards'

It wasn't clear exactly what actions al-Assad was referring to. The European Union in May 2013 ended an arms embargo on rebel groups fighting the Syrian government. The United States, meanwhile, has been offering limited support to moderate Syrian rebels in the fight against ISIS.

"Can you feel sad for a child's death in the sea and not for thousands of children who have been killed by the terrorists in Syria?" al-Assad said, referring to images of a dead Syrian boy that shocked the world. "And also for men, women, and the elderly? These European double standards are no longer acceptable."

Despite his bitter accusations, al-Assad said he was willing to shake hands with any leader who would join the fight against ISIS and hoped to cooperate with the West and Saudi Arabia in building a "real antiterrorist coalition," the Russian news agency Interfax reported.

U.S. accused of 'willful blindness'

He said his forces weren't communicating or cooperating tactically with the U.S.-led coalition that's carrying out airstrikes against ISIS positions in Syria and Iraq.

"They cannot accept the reality that we are the only power fighting ISIS on the ground," he said in reference to the United States. "For them, maybe if they cooperate with the Syrian Army, this is like a recognition or our effectiveness in fighting ISIS."

Al-Assad said he would resign if the people of Syria demanded it in a democratic process, but that he would not step down solely under pressure from the United States, the United Nations or any other outside power, according to Interfax.

A democratic solution to Syria's crisis appears impossible at the moment, with control the country divided among different armed groups and more than half of all Syrians driven from their homes by the fighting. Elections held in the past under al-Assad, which he won by huge margins, have been criticized by opposition groups and Western governments.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/16/middleeast/syria-al-assad-interview/

@  Thousands of rebels were trained and supported by western and arab countries which at the end left in big amounts the so called "Free Syrian Army" and did join radical Jihadist groups,  what about the origin and what did cause the raise of the IS ? Do they want to blame Assad for it ......

 Assad is more tolerable than IS/ISIS - which is a much bigger threat for whole regions and parts in our world with its destructive actions.

Well, the origin of IS isn't Syria but Irak. The dismissal of the Iraki army by Bremer was the beginning of it, most of IS military leaders are former officers of Saddam. In Syria, from what i've understood, there isn't so many Syrians that joined IS, they have their own Islamist brigades fighting Assad. A lot of foreign fighters are fighting among IS in Syria.

_{Sure, a lot are foreign fighters and they were trained in camps outside of Syria. Actually the interference by foreign powers did lead to the raise of radical jihadist groups, heck they got probably supported indirectly. And when you think about it, if there would have been no veto against another UN intervention -  Syria would haven been  sunk into chaos aswell like numerous countries before. A a good recent example is Libya.}