Syria Disintegrating: Part 2

[citizen k]

I got a major murder boner with the footage of Frogfoots in action over Aleppo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVWUrhWRmQQ

[Ed Anger]

I got a major murder boner with the footage of Frogfoots in action over Aleppo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVWUrhWRmQQ

:boner:

[CountDeMoney]

Well, either PM Hijab was fired, or he fled with his family to Jordan, depending on who you ask.  What a mess.

[The Brain]

To Jordan? Poor guy.

[CountDeMoney]

Squee, insha'allah.

Iran pledges support for Syria as battle rages for Aleppo

BEIRUT — Iran pledged support for Syria's beleaguered government Tuesday as forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad battled rebels for control of Aleppo, unleashing intense bombardments from the air and ground that forced thousands of civilian inhabitants to flee the country's largest city.

In a high-level show of support, Saeed Jalili, the head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, met with Assad in Damascus and vowed that Iran would help its ally confront "attempts at blatant foreign interference" in Syria's internal affairs, the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported.

Video footage of the meeting, broadcast on Syrian state television, gave Syrians their first glimpse of Assad in nearly three weeks — since he was shown on TV swearing in a new defense minister to replace one of four top security officials who were assassinated in a July 18 bombing.

"Iran will not allow the axis of resistance, of which it considers Syria to be an essential part, to be broken in any way," Syrian television quoted Jalili as saying during the meeting. The Iranian, who is also his country's lead nuclear negotiator, was referring to Iran's alliance with Syria and the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah in confronting Israel.

In the northern city of Aleppo, Syria's commercial capital, fighting raged between government forces and rebels near the city center Tuesday, opposition groups reported. They said Assad's forces battered neighborhoods across the city with aerial bombing, artillery shells and rockets fired from helicopters.

"I heard a huge explosion this afternoon and went to the roof to see," said a 28-year-old Aleppo resident who asked that his name not be used for his safety. "I was told by a friend who is closer to that area that two buildings in that street were shelled and they fell down."

The Syrian army also shelled Damascus and a number of smaller cities Tuesday. At least 140 people were killed across the country, including 31 dead in Damascus, 29 in Homs and 27 in Aleppo, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an activist network.

Rebel fighters in Aleppo said they were running low on ammunition as they sought to hold neighborhoods on the southern edge of the city, Reuters news agency reported. Assad's forces blasted rebel positions with tanks and mortars and deployed snipers on rooftops. Meanwhile, a fighter jet carried out airstrikes on the eastern districts of Aleppo.

The assault has forced thousands of frightened refugees to flee the city for safety, news agencies reported.

In South Africa, visiting Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that the fighting and a series of defections from Assad's government underscore the urgency of planning for his departure.

"The intensity of the fighting in Aleppo, the defections, really point out how imperative it is that we come together and work toward a good transition plan," Clinton told reporters at a news conference with South Africa's foreign minister. She is scheduled to travel to Istanbul, Turkey, this weekend for talks with Turkish officials and Syrian opposition figures.

Clinton also issued a veiled warning against Iranian involvement in a Syrian conflict that she suggested could turn into sectarian warfare. "Those who are attempting to exploit the misery of the Syrian people, either by sending in proxies or sending in terrorist fighters, must recognize that that will not be tolerated first and foremost by the Syrian people," she said.

During his meeting with Jalili, Assad "stressed the Syrian people and government's determination to clear the country of the terrorists and fight terrorism without tolerance," SANA reported.

Jalili was quoted as saying that the only way to resolve the unrest in the country would be to find a "Syrian solution."

Jalili's visit to Damascus was also aimed in part at seeking ways to secure the release of 48 Iranians captured by rebels just outside the capital on Saturday.

The Iranian government claims that its captured nationals were Shiite pilgrims on their way to Sayida Zeinab, a Muslim shrine south of Damascus that is popular with Shiites. But rebels assert that the Iranians belong to their country's elite Revolutionary Guard Corps and were on a mission to help the Assad government battle Syria's persistent 17-month-long uprising.

"Kidnapping innocent people is not acceptable anywhere in the world," Jalili said, according to Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency. He said Iran would do what it could to "secure release of the 48 innocent pilgrims kidnapped in Syria."

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi also traveled to Turkey on Tuesday in an additional diplomatic push to free the captives. The government of Turkey is close to the Syrian opposition.

The fate of the Iranians remained clear Tuesday. Three members of the group were reportedly killed by government shelling on Monday, according to rebels from the Free Syrian Army.

In a letter Tuesday to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Salehi referred to "media reports" about the three deaths and said that "the hostage takers have threatened to kill the remaining captives in the coming hours." He said the Iranians were abducted while "on their way to the Damascus Airport." The letter requested Ban's help in securing the immediate release of the Iranians.

Late on Monday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the Swiss charge d'affaires in Tehran to protest the kidnapping and emphasize that the U.S. government would be held responsible for the fate of the Iranians. The Swiss Embassy in Tehran has represented U.S. interests in the country since Iran and the United States officially severed diplomatic ties in 1980.

Before going to Damascus, Jalili stopped in Lebanon on Monday, stirring the ire of Lebanese political factions opposed to Assad. "The visit is against the interest of the Lebanese people who stand by their brothers in Syria," former prime minister Saad Hariri said in a statement. He added, "Iran should know that all these threats and suspicious moves will not delay the fall of its ally Bashar al-Assad."

Jalili's visit came a day after Syria's prime minister defected to Jordan, becoming the most senior official to quit Assad's embattled government, according to rebels who claim they helped him escape.

The reported defection of Prime Minister Riyad al-Hijab buoyed the rebels, who saw it as a clear sign that top officials are abandoning Assad as he attempts

A statement attributed to Hijab and read on the al-Jazeera Arabic news channel Monday said he had resigned to protest his government's harsh tactics in confronting the opposition.

"I am announcing that I am defecting from this regime, which is a murderous and terrorist regime," the statement said. "I join the ranks of this dignified revolution."

Real power in Syria is wielded by Assad's inner circle of friends, family and the powerful chiefs of his security forces. But the defection of the head of Assad's government nonetheless sent a strong signal that his support is rapidly unraveling even within the ranks of those assumed to still be loyal.

Hijab, a former agriculture minister and a member of the ruling Baath Party, is a Sunni Muslim from the eastern town of Deir al-Zour, which has been in open revolt against the government for more than a year.

Reuters news service quoted an unidentified Jordanian government official as confirming that Hijab had defected and taken refuge there. Syrian state television, however, reported that Hijab had been fired, less than two months after he was appointed to the job. Deputy Prime Minister Omar Galawanji was appointed as the head of a caretaker government, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA).

Hijab's departure followed an accelerating stream of defections from Syria's armed forces, including that of Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlas, a former confidant and close friend of Assad's who fled to Turkey a month ago, then went to France to join his father, a once-powerful former defense minister.

A senior State Department official traveling with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in South Africa said that the defection, if confirmed, would represent "further evidence that the Assad regime is crumbling.''

"Its days are numbered, and we call on other senior members of the regime and the military to break with the bloody past and help chart a new path for Syria — one that is peaceful, democratic, inclusive and just,'' the senior State Department official said.

The Syrian military blasted Damascus and at least half a dozen cities around the country Monday with artillery as fierce clashes rocked Aleppo. At least 116 people were killed across Syria on Monday, including 30 in Aleppo and 29 in Damascus and its suburbs, according to the Local Coordination Committees, an activist network.

In Damascus, a bomb exploded Monday in the state television offices, causing minor injuries, according to SANA. Photos taken after the blast, which hit the third floor of the building, showed a demolished roof with wires hanging down.

The complicated operation to get Hijab out of the country was completed in a series of carefully planned steps by the Free Syrian Army, according to Col. Malik Kurdi, a deputy commander with the rebel force.

"The prime minister and his family were transferred outside Syria to Jordan by separate vehicles and at different times," Kurdi said. "The defectors cannot leave in an hour or a day. The process takes a long time, and there are many phases and routes."

Jordanian authorities may not have initially known about Hijab's entry into the country because he was brought via smuggling routes, Kurdi said. But Jordanian contacts eventually met him once he crossed the border. Kurdi predicted that the successful escape would lead to more defections among other top officials who have been thinking of leaving the country.

Sly reported from Antakya, Turkey. Anne Gearan in South Africa, William Branigin and Greg Miller in Washington, and Suzan Haidamous and Ahmed Ramadan in Beirut contributed to this report.

[KRonn]

Iranian leaders must be about as nervous about this as Syrian leaders are. They stand to lose a major ally, one of their few and I think the only one in the region besides extremist groups, and Hezbollah is the main one, or only one, of those which are allies.

[citizen k]

Pilgrims my ass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsXr3mHazbg

[Viking]

Pilgrims my ass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsXr3mHazbg

I want to point out that US Army slang for Insurgents is Haji which means "some one who has been on pilgrimage to Mecca". They may not be lying when they claim they are pilgrims.

[citizen k]

Pilgrims my ass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsXr3mHazbg

They may not be lying when they claim they are pilgrims.

Al-Quds also sponsors tours of the Holy Land. Suicide vest included.

[Ed Anger]

I think I saw some hot Su-24 Fencer(Maybe a Mig-23, but looked a little big for a Flogger) action today on the news. And more dreamy Frogfoot attack runs.

[Razgovory]

Pilgrims my ass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsXr3mHazbg

They may not be lying when they claim they are pilgrims.

Al-Quds also sponsors tours of the Holy Land. Suicide vest included.

Guess that saves money on return airplane tickets.

[citizen k]

Syria rebels retreat from key Aleppo district

Rebels retreated from the key Aleppo district of Salaheddin under a deadly rain of shellfire Thursday, as a veteran Algerian diplomat was set to be named the new international envoy to Syria.

"We have staged a tactical withdrawal from Salaheddin. The district is completely empty of rebel fighters. Regime forces are now advancing into Salaheddin," said Hossam Abu Mohammed, a Free Syrian Army (FSA) commander, with the battle for Syria's commercial capital raging into a second day.

"The fighters are withdrawing to (nearby) Sukari district, where they are preparing a counter-attack," he told AFP by telephone.

Abu Mohammed cited heavy shelling and the army's use of thermobaric bombs, which throw out a wall of fire to incinerate targets in enclosed spaces.

"A large number of civilians were killed, as were some 40 rebels," he said. "Forty buildings have been flattened."

State television said: "Our special forces have cleansed Salaheddin district of terrorists."

But Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said that fighters remained in the district, ready to "fight to the death."

Wassel Ayub, who commands the Nur al-Haq Brigade, said the FSA had withdrawn "to open a new front in Saif al-Dawla and Mashhad."

FSA spokesman Kassem Saadeddine, speaking by Skype, said the withdrawal "does not mean we are leaving Aleppo. We have military plans to fight in the city, but we cannot reveal them."

In Damascus, a security source said regime forces were "advancing quickly" in Salaheddin towards Saif al-Dawla.

"But the next big battle, which will be very fierce, will be in the (southeastern) Sukari district," he added.

At least 17 people were killed in Aleppo, scene of fierce battles since July 20, the Observatory said, adding that two children and a citizen journalist were among them.

Nationwide, the toll reached 96 -- 37 civilians, 31 soldiers and 28 rebels -- according to the Observatory. That compared with 167 on Wednesday, including 33 in Aleppo.

Elsewhere, fierce fighting also broke out in Damascus province, where at least 15 people were killed, most of them civilians, while regime forces shelled Zabadani, the monitoring group said.

On Wednesday, loyalist troops launched their offensive against the rebels, who had claimed to control half the city, after President Bashar al-Assad vowed a day earlier to crush the rebellion that erupted in March 2011.

Diplomats at the United Nations said former Algerian foreign minister Lakhdar Brahimi was expected to be named as the new UN-Arab League envoy to Syria.

Negotiations were still going on over the envoy's role and how the United Nations will operate in Syria amid the intensifying civil war. The mandate of the UN mission in the country ends on August 20.

An official announcement of the 78-year-old's appointment was expected to be made early next week, diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Brahimi was the UN envoy in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks and in Iraq after the 2003 US-led invasion.

Kofi Annan, a former UN secretary-general, said he was leaving the post because of the lack of international support for his efforts to end the 17-month Syria conflict, in which rebels say more than 20,000 people have been killed.

He is staying on until August 31.

Activists on the Syria Revolution 2011 Facebook page called for the traditional demonstration following weekly Muslim prayers on Friday, with this week's slogan being "Arm us with anti-aircraft weapons."

On the political front, Assad appointed Health Minister Wael al-Halqi as his new premier following the defection this week of Riad Hijab, a leading Sunni Muslim in the minority Alawite-dominated regime.

Halqi served as ruling Baath party secretary from 2000 to 2004 in his home province of Daraa, the birthplace in southern Syria of the anti-Assad revolt.

Day two of the battle for Aleppo came as Syria's key regional ally Iran hosted a 29-nation meeting aimed at finding ways to end the raging conflict.

State media said the foreign ministers of Iraq, Pakistan and Zimbabwe were present. Lower-ranking diplomats, most of them ambassadors, represented the other nations.

Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi opened the meeting by calling for "national dialogue between the (Syrian) opposition, which has popular support, and the Syrian government to establish calm and security," according to state television.

He added that Iran was prepared to host any such dialogue.

Earlier, Salehi said Tehran was attempting to revive parts of Annan's plan, notably: implementing a ceasefire, sending humanitarian aid and laying groundwork for national dialogue.

Excluded from the Tehran meeting were Western and Gulf Arab nations that Iran has accused of giving military backing to the insurgency.

There was no immediate word from the predominantly Sunni Muslim Syrian opposition and rebels on how they viewed the conference in majority Shiite Iran, a stalwart ally of Assad's regime.

The United States dismissed the conference in Tehran, saying the Islamic Republic had been helping Assad kill his people.

Watch out for that backblast on the recoilless :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCXc1ex5i6A

[CountDeMoney]

Watch out for that backblast on the recoilless :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCXc1ex5i6A

You sure that wasn't incoming fire?   Right afterwards, they looked like they were taking small arms fire from their left, along the treeline on the other side of the field, and they were no longer in defilade.  ALLAH ADMIRAL ACKBAR

[Razgovory]

Damn those BMPs look cramped.

[Ed Anger]

Damn those BMPs look cramped.

They are.