Putin Bombs Assad’s Enemies, Not ISIS, and Orders U.S. Out

[GennGreymane]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...-of-syria.html

A Russian general told U.S. officials to quit flying over Syria just before Moscow’s air force dropped bombs.
A Russian general asked the U.S. to remove its planes from Syrian airspace Wednesday, just hours before Russian airstrikes began there.

The Russian three-star general, who was part of the newly formed intelligence cell with Iraq, Iran, and the Syrian government, arrived in Baghdad at 9 a.m. local time and informed U.S. officials that Russian strikes would be starting imminently—and that the U.S. should refrain from conducting strikes and move any personnel out. The only notice the U.S. received about his visit was a phone call one hour earlier.

The Russian strikes were centered about the city of Homs, according to initial accounts in the local press and in social media. That's significant, because Homs is not known to be an ISIS stronghold.

The Local Coordination Committees of Syria, opposition-linked on-the-ground monitors of the conflict, estimate that 36 people were killed in Homs alone, one of three largely ISIS-free provinces Russia bombed today. The airstrikes targeted five northern suburbs of Homs: Talbiseh, Al Ghantoo, Al Rastan, Al Zafrana and Al Mukarramiyah.

The Western-backed Free Syrian Army told Reuters that it had been bombed by Russian forces.

"The northern countryside of Hama has no presence of ISIS at all and is under the control of the Free Syrian Army," said Major Jamil al-Saleh, whose group has been given anti-tank weapons by the West.
Russia also conducted “multiple strikes” western of the regime-controlled Damascus-Aleppo corridor, a senior defense official told The Daily Beast.
"We have not seen any strikes against ISIL, what we have seen is strikes against Syrian opposition," a U.S. defense official told AFP.

The Russian defense ministry distributed video of today's airstrikes.

Russia Begins 'Surgical Strikes' Targeting ISIS in Syria
Inform

A Russian general told U.S. officials to quit flying over Syria just before Moscow’s air force dropped bombs on Assad enemies other than ISIS.
The Daily Beast's David Axe notes that Russian surface-to-air missiles and at least four Su-30 fighter jets are designed to attack other air forces, namely the U.S., not lightly armed ground forces like rebels or ISIS.

As American officials scrambled to confirm the impact of the strikes, they conceded the operation was a rebuke of talks between President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin about deconfliction.

“This bypasses legitimate discussion,” a senior defense official told The Daily Beast.

Indeed, just yesterday, the Pentagon said it had ordered staff and senior officials to begin such talks. U.S. officials believe there are under 1,000 Russians joined ISIS.

Secretary of State John Kerry told the United Nations on Wednesday that the U.S. would not oppose Russian strikes if they were "genuinely" intended to target ISIS, and he maintained the call for Assad to go. Kerry said ISIS cannot be defeated as long as Assad is in power.

American officials said they would not alter their activities in the region. And a spokesman for the military efforts against ISIS tweeted Wednesday morning that "US and coalition aircraft are currently conducting operations in Syria and Iraq."

But despite the friction between Moscow and Washington—or perhaps, because of it—multiple American officials quietly welcomed Russian involvement in the conflict. As one U.S. officia told The Daily Beast, Putin is stepping into a "quagmire."

“If he wants to jump into that mess, good luck,” the official said, referencing Russia had once before become bogged down fighting Islamic terrorism in Afghanistan.

Sen. John McCain bashed the Obama administration hours after strikes began, saying its "decisions" and "non-decisions" have welcomed Russia into the Middle East in a way "we haven't seen since 1973."

[Independent voter]

Damn it Putin! President Assad of Syria used nerve gas on his own people, why support him? Or at least attack ISIS and not the Syrian Sunnis.

[Kujako]

Damn it Putin! President Assad of Syria used nerve gas on his own people, why support him?

Professional courtesy? I'm guessing he's a fan of Assad's work.

[Bushtuckrman]

There are other threads on this.

Putin is staging a war in Syria to give control back to Assad and to annihilate Islamic state from Syria. These bombings in these areas are required for a strong foothold for Assad to take back control of his country.

[ParanoiD84]

Like when turkey goes to war against isis then bombs the kurds.

[Kronik85]

Assad is a brutal pro west dictator who will do what it takes to drive ISIS out of Syria at the cost of his own people, the Anti-Assad forces are unknown element likely to splinter to infighting as soon as they gain power and hand the country over to ISIS anyway.

Putin being Putin doesn't have to give 2 shits about public opinion so he's backing the guy who can actually defeat ISIS and keep a lid on Syrian extremism. It's absolutely god awful but there is definitely logic to it.

[Lenonis]

Frankly if Putin wants to muck about in the disaster that is the middle east I say let him. Let's get our men and women home and give everyone a break from the war and when Putin realizes he's trying to solve and unsolvable problem we can then go back when he gets tired of draining his country's resources on unending war.

[Cradyz]

It pains me to say it, but if Russia actually helpes to take out ISIS and puts Assad back in change, I'd support them. As much as I hate this murderous piece of shit tyrant, he's probably the least bad choice for Syria at this point. Better a ruthless dictator than the alternative, a prolonged civil war / terrorist leadership.

That said I'm certain Putin has a ton of ulterior motives, but then again, which country doesn't.

[Deleted]

Assad is a brutal pro west dictator who will do what it takes to drive ISIS out of Syria at the cost of his own people, the Anti-Assad forces are unknown element likely to splinter to infighting as soon as they gain power and hand the country over to ISIS anyway.

Putin being Putin doesn't have to give 2 shits about public opinion so he's backing the guy who can actually defeat ISIS and keep a lid on Syrian extremism. It's absolutely god awful but there is definitely logic to it.

There is alot of ulterior motive here.

The Kremlin can now shape US and Western involvement in Iraq and Syria out of all proportion with this size of the Russian force.
It will force the US into a defacto coalition with Russia, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah.
And the future potential of a Russian base in the Eastern Med.

I wonder how Washington will feel about drone strikes with China and Russia fully commit to using them on people they percieve to be 'terrorists'.

[Deleted]

You do realize that "gas used by Assad on his own people" was still not proven, right?

Also, Russia is helping Assad and since there are Rebels there + ISIS in neighbouring villages (which were also bombed) then obviously those need to be taken out as well to establish a stronger frontline.

[Anonymous Coward]

its hard to tell what's actually going on here. from the sounds of it, the us is hoping to install a puppet dictator via the "anti-assad" coalition that would take over syria, which traditionally/historically has strong ties to russia. and russia doesn't want to lose one of the few bastions of influence in the middle east it has, so it is going to support assad in spite of the "gassin mah own peeps" claims made against him. honestly i dont know what to believe anymore when it comes to this middle east shit, just feels a lot like the "russia v. USA" showdown is coming to payperview very soon. or maybe thats just what they want us to think.

[Kronik85]

There is alot of ulterior motive here.

The Kremlin can now shape US and Western involvement in Iraq and Syria out of all proportion with this size of the Russian force.
It will force the US into a defacto coalition with Russia, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah.
And the future potential of a Russian base in the Eastern Med.

I wonder how Washington will feel about drone strikes with China and Russia fully commit to using them on people they percieve to be 'terrorists'.

Indignant? Like they are about anyone who emulates their own foreign policies. Is the USA working with Russia, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah a bad thing? Personally that looks like something that has needed to happen for a long long time since these are pretty much the keys to achieving lasting peace in the middle east. A dialogue with Hezbollah could open a dialogue to fixing Gaza's relationship with Israel, working closer with Iran might breed closer US Iran relations and 2 of the worlds super powers working together for a change can only be a good thing.....unless they go full Warsaw and just divide the Middle East between themselves.

I loathe Assad but I most certainly think ISIS is the greater evil here and Russia forcing the Wests hand might actually get something done....hopefully. Will prepare to eat shit in the mean time though for when this all goes wrong.

[Netherspark]

It was obvious from the start this would happen. That fucking spastic Putin... Russia's actions here only make ISIS stronger.

It pains me to say it, but if Russia actually helpes to take out ISIS and puts Assad back in change, I'd support them. As much as I hate this murderous piece of shit tyrant, he's probably the least bad choice for Syria at this point. Better a ruthless dictator than the alternative, a prolonged civil war / terrorist leadership.

I doubt the Syrian people would agree.... The civil war will never end as long as Assad is in charge.

And Russia is not helping to take out ISIS, they are only targeting the Free Syrian Army and civilians. They're just doing Assad's dirty work and by extension are just as guilty as he is.

[Templar 331]

Gee, who'd of thunk........

/screw30char

[Independent voter]

You do realize that "gas used by Assad on his own people" was still not proven, right?

Also, Russia is helping Assad and since there are Rebels there + ISIS in neighbouring villages (which were also bombed) then obviously those need to be taken out as well to establish a stronger frontline.

So the forum Assad group shows up to defend Assad.

Here is the news report

sarin-deadly-history-nerve-agent-syria-un

No, nobody saw Assad out spraying nerve gas on Sunni Muslims, Assad had his Shiite cronies do that.

It's a Shiite versus Sunni war, Russia has taken the side of the Shiites.

[Netherspark]

It's a Shiite versus Sunni war, Russia has taken the side of the Shiites.

You do realize that quite a sizable chunk of the FSA and other rebel groups are Shiites and Alawites?

[Daten-shi]

You do realize that quite a sizable chunk of the FSA and other rebel groups are Shiites and Alawites?

According to Wikipedia, 90% of FSA are Sunni, and a small minority are Shia, which are not even the rest of the 10%. So I don't think your argument holds the ground here because there are Sunni Syrians as well as Christian who support Assad. So it's more like Majority Sunni vs Majority Shia.

[Deleted]

its hard to tell what's actually going on here. from the sounds of it, the us is hoping to install a puppet dictator via the "anti-assad" coalition that would take over syria, which traditionally/historically has strong ties to russia. and russia doesn't want to lose one of the few bastions of influence in the middle east it has, so it is going to support assad in spite of the "gassin mah own peeps" claims made against him. honestly i dont know what to believe anymore when it comes to this middle east shit, just feels a lot like the "russia v. USA" showdown is coming to payperview very soon. or maybe thats just what they want us to think.

America failed in all instances where they tried to stabilize something, they never installed any puppet government whatsoever that worked. Only success (half of a success) was in Afghanistan.

[Ulmita]

So the forum Assad group shows up to defend Assad.

Here is the news report

sarin-deadly-history-nerve-agent-syria-un

No, nobody saw Assad out spraying nerve gas on Sunni Muslims, Assad had his Shiite cronies do that.

It's a Shiite versus Sunni war, Russia has taken the side of the Shiites.

This guy man... Here we go again...

The UN just got the OK from Russia to go in and investigate. THERE IS NO CONCLUSION THAT IT WAS ASSAD. I doubt UN has EVEN STARTED to investigate.

[Rindrae]

So the forum Assad group shows up to defend Assad.

Here is the news report

sarin-deadly-history-nerve-agent-syria-un

No, nobody saw Assad out spraying nerve gas on Sunni Muslims, Assad had his Shiite cronies do that.

It's a Shiite versus Sunni war, Russia has taken the side of the Shiites.

No doubt that sarine gas was used, however who exactly used it has yet to be determined. There are a lot of conscientious objectors in the US who are opposed to the US invading Syria, plus morale is at an all time low. Is this really the best time to jump into yet another conflict in the middle east?