BBC: Syria rebels 'capture key Aleppo airbase'
Posted on 08/06/2013 8:06:10 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Since launching the surprise assault at dawn on Sunday, the mainly Islamist rebel brigades led by two al Qaeda-linked groups have captured half a dozen villages on the northern edges of the Alawite mountain range, the activists say.
The rebel strike into Alawite territory and their capture of a military airport north of Aleppo mark two major gains for Assad's foes after months of setbacks during which they lost ground around the capital Damascus and the central city of Homs.
Combined with a steady fightback in the southern province of Deraa, they highlight the challenge Assad faces in trying to restore his authority across Syria after two years of conflict that has killed 100,000 people and fragmented the country.
Assad controls much of southern and central Syria, while rebels hold northern areas near the Turkish border and along the Euphrates valley towards Iraq. The northeast corner is now an increasingly autonomous Kurdish region.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
A spy who tried to scale Kremlin wall (Russia)
Asia Times | 08/02/2013 | M K Bhadrakumar
Posted on 08/04/2013 8:59:11 PM PDT by TexGrill
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3051154/posts
Does Assad have any ground left?
bttt
Ankara softens stance on Syria’s emboldened Kurds
By Fulya Ozerkan
Published August 06, 2013
AFP
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/08/06/ankara-softens-stance-on-syria-emboldened-kurds/
News of America’s misadventures in foreign policy and defense.
Russia’s Stake in Syria’s War
Robert Dreyfuss
http://www.thenation.com/blog/175621/russias-stake-syrias-war
In that this has been carrying on awhile now, with the US (distancing from Benghazi) and the former USSR (playing cat-and-mouse while the Iranian elections solidify) both able to finance the other side and force a resolution I find it interesting that they haven’t, yet...
Kurdish Civilians Fear Reprisals in Northern Syria [Aleppo]
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/08/syrian-kurds-fear-ethnic-cleansing.html
Al-Nusra Mercenaries in Syria Slaughter Kurdish Women and Children
http://www.globalresearch.ca/al-nusra-mercenaries-in-syria-slaughter-kurdish-women-and-children/5345181
Syria: Ballistic Missiles Killing Civilians, Many Children
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/08/04/syria-ballistic-missiles-killing-civilians-many-children
Assad can mount a couple of simultaneous counteroffensives and at great cost, with lots of help from Iranian thugs and Hizzies out of Lebanon, can reclaim this or that part of the country. He can’t reestablish control over the country.
Thank you, was wondering.
Zero’s approach has been to talk a lot (as usual), lots of humanitarian aid for refugees in Turkey and Jordan (and probably indirectly in Iraqi Kurdistan), and the military aid for the various factions has been from the Gulf states.
Turkey to discuss aid to Syria in UN meeting
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-to-discuss-aid-to-syria-in-un-meeting.aspx?PageID=238&NID=52119&NewsCatID=338
18 soldiers injured after fire was opened on army troops in village bordering Syria
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/18-soldiers-injured-after-fire-was-opened-on-army-troops-in-village-bordering-syria.aspx?pageID=238&nID=52128&NewsCatID=341
Al Qaeda running Syria...
Has such a fantastic ring to it, I’m convinced Obama thinks.
If I were Israel, I’d be looking to put some major dents in the runway(s) up at Aleppo.
Not that we need one, but this is a festering wound.
We have issues in Afghanistan (likely not to rip out), issues in Iraq, (mostly internal but of concern to Iran); lesser issues elsewhere, (Yemen, etc.) but the burning ember close to Israel is this pitched battle in Syria.
The “super” powers are letting it fester.
IMHO.
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