ISIS/ISIL conflict in Syria/Iraq (No OpEd, No Politics)

Jan 31, 2016
Thursday at 5:43 PM

so it's time (for me :) to take a closer look:
Cz7aE.jpg
Salma EDIT
https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/is...no-oped-no-policis.t6913/page-315#post-383646
in bottom-left corner, Kinsabba mid-top (spelled differently), Touma is marked because "peto lucem" says it was most recently taken by Government Forces (the map right below), Kabanah is also shown (because of the map further below), and this time I kept the scale on :)

CaCZQ48WwAAmeKs.jpg


Latakia-31-jan-2016-1024x488.jpg

the tide turned, and the above maps are kinda usable again ... Government lost
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this morning (videos available) and reportedly, in its vicinity, visible in the first and second map above:
Ballah and Shillib ... so far
 
Saturday at 3:00 PM
Tiger Forces begin long-awaited northern Aleppo offensive By Leith Fadel - 25/06/2016

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|
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...
... and fierce fights have been going on since then, mainly in the area designated "Ard al-Mallah" in the map below (it's usually called Mallah Farms; I didn't look at features of that area), with the goal of the Government
  1. to take over this area (massively attacking from the hills north to Aleppo, in middle-top in the map below), and then presumably
  2. get to Khalidiyeh (middle-bottom) and other Government-held districts of Aleppo
in order to encircle non-Government non-Kurdish districts of Aleppo (which would then schematically look as the area in blue below; the Kurdish neighborhood is shown schematically in orange:
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and just north to it, there's the arc of Castello Road
https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/is...no-oped-no-policis.t6913/page-380#post-401558
visible), and if you asked me who's winning, I'd answer I don't know (in Twitter it's easy :) to "conquer" and "reconquer" Mallah Farms EDIT so I didn't follow those claims much):
0VqbY.jpg
 
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delft

Brigadier
Other Russian activity, from Al Masdar News:
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Russian Air Force reemerges in northern Latakia to strike jihadists near Turkish border
By
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01/07/2016

The Russian Air Force reemerged in the northern Latakia countryside on Friday morning after the jihadist rebels captured the strategic mountaintop town of Kinsibba from the Syrian Armed Forces.

According to an Al-Masdar field correspondent, the Russian and Syrian air forces conducted more than 100 airstrikes over Kinsibba, ‘Ayn Al-Quntara, ‘Ard Al-Wuta, and several small villages in northern Latakia on Friday.

These airstrikes were mostly conducted by the Russian Air Force, who was actually absent from the battlefield on Thursday night, despite the massive ground assault by Jabhat Al-Nusra (Syrian Al-Qaeda group).

Prior to this large-scale jihadist offensive, the Russian Air Force was sporadically striking the northern Latakia countryside.

The Russian Air Force was concentrated on the jihadist supply routes from the Hatay Province of Turkey before the Syrian Arab Army lost Kinsibba; however, Thursday night’s attack has forced them to once again actively target northern Latakia.

With the reemergence of the Russian Air Force, the Syrian Arab Army will likely attempt to capitalize on these airstrikes by launching their own counter-offensive to recapture Kinsibba and its nearby villages.
 
Other Russian activity, from Al Masdar News:
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that's what was you claim ... By
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01/07/2016

what I read though was the Government yesterday lost Saraf (in addition to some other places of course); it's presumably important place visible in like small bulge in middle-top in another older map, from another older post:
Feb 14, 2016
concerning so called Latakia Front:
Feb 6, 2016


... and the progress Government Forces made since then doesn't appear to be huge according to the most recent map I found:
evI.jpg
...
... so let's see when the counter-offensive from your post starts

EDIT
only now I noticed the most recent "peto lucem" map (Saraf indeed marked as lost):
CmbO9xpWcAAfDf1.jpg

(it's
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)
EDIT AGAIN
"clickable" (will be probably needed soon ...):
cllr7hma4p3r5luzg.jpg

(it's
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)​
 
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delft

Brigadier
Last week my Dutch newspaper NRC (
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) wrote that Erdogan had knuckled under to Russia wrt the shooting down of the Su-24 last year and that Russia had ended its trade and tourism boycotts. I wondered at the time whether Turkey had sent as many terrorists as were available into NW Syria with the idea that when they are in Syria they cannot commit terrorist acts in Turkey.
 
Jun 21, 2016
related to the activity of Kurds in/around
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some time ago
Jun 8, 2016

and now I tried to take a closer look at what had actually happened recently; according to sources in Twitter (I won't quote them, so if you think I'm making it up :) stop reading) ISIL began counter-strikes
  1. right from the city ("to alleviate the pressure" I guess), and
  2. in the area south to Manbij ("to threaten the supply route through
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    " I guess):
    ClbecAsWQAIM16R.jpg
    (it's
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    )
But I have a difficulty to "align" the above map to my own :) (which I created mainly to see the scale; outskirts of Manbij are in top-left corner, Tishrin Dam in bottom-right corner):
Zoc7K.jpg
so I just quickly identified "Jubb al Qatashli" as approximately the place from where the ISIL attack started according to the map found in Twitter, and "Markaz Abu Qalqal" as the place where Kurds are "for sure", with the action going on in between ... if it turns out to be important, I'll update

this weekend I saw reports (repeat: saw reports) ISIL might be able to lift the siege of Manbij ... which of course is hard to believe ... relating this to the points from the above post:

#1 ISIL reportedly is counter-attacking toward Al-Khataf (visible in the first map above, just to the east from Manbij) and from the north, to open "216 Road" toward ISIL-held territory (it ends up in
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)

#2 ISIL reportedly captured, presumably important, "Mount Saraj", which I approximately added to the second map from the above post:
Cvx34.jpg

EDIT
anyway urban combat is ongoing; posted at a Kurdish Twitter account most recently:
CmbYUnsWIAAiRpd.jpg
 
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Saturday at 3:00 PM

... and fierce fights have been going on since then, mainly in the area designated "Ard al-Mallah" in the map below (it's usually called Mallah Farms; I didn't look at features of that area), with the goal of the Government
  1. to take over this area (massively attacking from the hills north to Aleppo, in middle-top in the map below), and then presumably
  2. get to Khalidiyeh (middle-bottom) and other Government-held districts of Aleppo
in order to encircle non-Government non-Kurdish districts of Aleppo (which would then schematically look as the area in blue below; the Kurdish neighborhood is shown schematically in orange:
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and just north to it, there's the arc of Castello Road
https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/is...no-oped-no-policis.t6913/page-380#post-401558
visible), and if you asked me who's winning, I'd answer I don't know (in Twitter it's easy :) to "conquer" and "reconquer" Mallah Farms EDIT so I didn't follow those claims much):
0VqbY.jpg
I forgot to mention the conquests are easily made also by Sputnik:
Syrian Army Cuts Key Jaysh al-Islam Supply Route North of Aleppo 13:48 03.07.2016(updated 16:07 03.07.2016)
The Syrian army regained control over the Mallah farms and has cut off the terrorists' supply route running along the Castello road in the north of Aleppo, according to a military source.
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Yesterday at 2:04 PM
Jun 21, 2016


this weekend I saw reports (repeat: saw reports) ISIL might be able to lift the siege of Manbij ... which of course is hard to believe ... relating this to the points from the above post:

#1 ISIL reportedly is counter-attacking toward Al-Khataf (visible in the first map above, just to the east from Manbij) and from the north, to open "216 Road" toward ISIL-held territory (it ends up in
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)

#2 ISIL reportedly captured, presumably important, "Mount Saraj", which I approximately added to the second map from the above post:
Cvx34.jpg

...
... and during this night "miladvisor" (which is pro-Governement, but sober :) Twitter account) said
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has launched counter attack to break siege
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city&gained many positions in S/SE
and posted this map:​
q4Hrb55.jpg

(should be "clickable"; it's
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)​

as for the points from the above post, according to this "miladvisor" map:
  1. ISIL is in "Al Khataf", and
  2. ISIL is not in "Abu Qalqal" (didn't cut the road to
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    there EDIT which would be the goal: https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/isis-isil-conflict-in-syria-iraq-no-oped-no-policis.t6913/page-385#post-402189 to be achieved "somewhere")
 
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