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

siegecrossbow

General
Staff member
Super Moderator
Is this for real? Do you think Russia will allow Chinese support in the form of aerial bombardment or even ground-troop intervention in the future?

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Beijing and Damascus have agreed that the Chinese military will provide humanitarian aid to Syria, a high-ranking People's Liberation Army officer said, adding that the training of Syrian personnel by Chinese instructors has also been discussed.
Director of the Office for International Military Cooperation of China's Central Military Commission, Guan Youfei, arrived in Damascus on Tuesday for talks with Syrian Defense Minister Fahad Jassim al-Freij, Chinese
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news agency reported.

During the negotiation, Guan noted China’s consistent diplomatic efforts to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis, adding that Beijing is now seeking closer military ties with Damascus.

"The Chinese and Syrian militaries traditionally have a friendly relationship, and the Chinese military is willing to keep strengthening exchanges and cooperation with the Syrian military," he said.

Guan and al-Freij discussed the enhancement of training and "reached a consensus" on the Chinese military providing humanitarian aid to Syria, Xinhua reported, without providing further details.

According to the agency, Guam also met with a Russian general during his visit to the Syrian capital.

China has been operating in Syria alongside Russia and Iran in a “discreet manner” but now the time has come to“openly” step up anti-terrorist efforts, believes political analyst Roula Talj.

“We will see more involvement of China, of Iran and Russia. They will go [in] stronger after ISIS, especially after Russia-US talks. I do not think the US will have any chance to oppose the interference of these allies. The US president or any candidate will have to answer their own public[’s] opinion, so it is good for them that someone else is doing the dirty job,” Roula Talj told RT. “In the face of their own public[’s] opinion they have to be grateful that somebody else is cleaning the mess they had created, especially as ISIS is getting stronger every day inside of Europe. Of course, they are not extremely happy to see the BRICS countries taking over.”

Meanwhile political expert Qin Duo Xu does not foresee any “deep involvement” of the Chinese military in Syria, but says it could be a “significant” first step for China to “get involved in the Syrian situation.”

“There are chances that this cooperation will increase a lot,” he told RT. “At least China can provide more support or diplomatic cover in terms of cracking down [on] terrorists or some rebel groups that are really extremist in nature.”

“If you look at the Chinese media, Chinese public opinion, [you will see] that [the] absolute majority is siding with the Syrian government and support Russian military involvement. China has its own problems with terrorists: At least 100 Chinese citizens are fighting alongside with rebels and Islamic State against the Syrian government,” he added. “That is why China does support Russian involvement, does support Syrian government’s efforts in [the] fight against terrorists.”

It is in China’s strategic interests to get involved in the Syrian crisis and “play a larger role” in resolving it, independent China strategist, Andrew Leung said.

“This is really a breakthrough in China’s strategies in the Middle East. There appears to be more coordination with countries, like Russia,” Leung told RT. “China sees itself as one of the great powers and as befitting a state of great power there is the responsibility to maintain peace and stability in a very important region in the world…as far as the Middle East is concerned it means even more to China because it is a matter of energy security.”

Despite being a permanent UN Security Council member and relying on the Middle East for oil, China was previously reluctant to become involved in the Syrian conflict.

Beijing preferred to concentrate on domestic affairs and the territorial dispute with its neighbors in the South China Sea.

It praised Moscow’s anti-terrorism efforts in Syria as Russia staged a bombing campaign there in September 2015 to March 2016. Russia still has some of its forces in the country to provide humanitarian and military assistance to Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government.

Last year, there were reports that China was sending dozens of military advisers to Syria to help the country fight terrorists.

Syria has been engulfed in civil war since 2011, with the government fighting a number of rebel groups, in addition to terrorist groups such as Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and Al-Nusra Front
 

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
Russian air-campaign against Aleppo ramps up (if you don't believe it, you should perhaps check the blog by "Cassad"
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), and one of the videos from tonight I now saw looked to me as if a thermobaric bomb hit (I would be guessing ОДАБ-500 only but in any case I must be wrong, right?)
1075556.jpg
(I would be guessing ОДАБ-500 only but in any case I must be wrong, right?)
OFAB-500 is not thermobaric, high-explosive bombs.
 

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
And my cyrillic is not perfect :) i will enable to look into the issue and assist you accordingly :(

Did you know, reading French Mag, 2 interesting datas :
- UK MQ-9 have attacked 220 + times in 18 months, 95 % in Iraq with many Recc misions
- The first 6 months of operations cost to Russia 500 mill €

More serious the "rebells" named as it... are not the bad guys... :cool:
 
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taxiya

Brigadier
Registered Member
Is this for real? Do you think Russia will allow Chinese support in the form of aerial bombardment or even ground-troop intervention in the future?

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The question is more of "Does Russia need Chinese support in the said forms".
China is interested in playing an important role in Syria, just like Iran and Russia, but less directly.
China, for the moment, is not looking into the role of direct combat actions for many reasons. So there is really no issues for Russia to not allow.
Even if Russia want Chinese boots on the ground, China may very well be reluctant to do so.

I think there is an understanding between Russia and China, in which China is to be the lead in Eastern Eurasian landmass and western pacific while Russia will be the lead in western Eurasia, and each one will provide assistance in the other region when needed. There is no competition right now. That is the core of the officially defined Sino-Russo relationship "Comprehensive strategic partnership of collaboration"/"全面战略协作伙伴关系.

On a separate note, I would be glad if China can provide intelligence (satellite images, signal collection), logistic, defense equipment, surveillance equipment (UAVs like in Iraq) and communication Equipments. All non lethal as the west has done for the rebels. Another area of Sino-Syrian cooperation is to have Chinese anti-terror and special forces get close to the battle field in Syria to learn first-hand experience, that is the furthest of "boot on the ground" that I can see for the moment which is tricky.

I think the there are more interactions between Syria and China besides the visits of the Generals (Syrian defense minister visited China a while back), some of my wishes above are probably fullfilled already.

The author is very right about the Chinese public altitude towards Syrian crisis. I have not yet met a Chinese inside and outside China who shows any sympathy to the rebel's cause.

BTW, why do you strike through the second half of the texts that is quoted? Is it because you see them being the author's analysis rather than reporting facts? If so, I have no questions further.
 
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Those TU-26M Backfires
sorry for nitpicking:
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are very capable aircraft and part of the Russian cream of the crop.

They will be capable of decimating ISIL and other adversary positions and you can bet security around them is going to be very heavy.
it'll be interesting to see how Iranian Propagandists work around
CONSTITUTION OF THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN
"Article 146
The establishment of any kind of foreign military base in Iran, even for peaceful
purposes, is forbidden."
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but they haven't started yet in Fars News article Syrian, Russian Air Forces Conduct 200 Air Raids on Terrorists' Military Positions Near Aleppo City
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dated Aug 17, 2016 8:49
"Russia's Ministry of Defense confirmed on Tuesday that it had deployed Tu-22M3 bombers and Su-34 strike fighters in Iran and these have already carried out airstrikes against terrorists in Syria."
 

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
it'll be interesting to see how Iranian Propagandists work around

"Article 146 - The establishment of any kind of foreign military base in Iran, even for peaceful
purposes, is forbidden."
Heheh...like any other politician of "great" leader. They lies their you know what off.

The Affordable Heaklth Care Act (Obama Care) was unconstitutional here in the US. It said in its own writing, right in the act itself that it was not a tax. Therefore, it was unconstitutional...but when ruling on it, the Supreme Court justices who favored it, simply called it a tax, just like that, irrespective of what the Act itself said. So, having declared it a tax, they were able to say it was constitutional.

The democrats knew it would never pass if it had been a tax...so it wasn't...until it was!

The same tyoe of thing will happen with this inconvenient Article in the Iranian Constitution.
 

delft

Brigadier
"Article 146
The establishment of any kind of foreign military base in Iran, even for peaceful
purposes, is forbidden."
The difference is between a foreign military base and an Iranian base where Russian aircraft are guests who are provided with food and rest for the crews and ground crew, fuel, weapons and maintenance for the aircraft.
 

FORBIN

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
With a big load seems, presumably new Su-34 in reinforcement from Russia

Russia Gets Safe Passage for ISIS Strikes

The US-led coalition provided Russian bombers safe passage as they took off from Iran, flew through Iraqi airspace, and struck ISIS targets in Syria on Aug. 16, Army Col. Christopher Garver, spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, said during a Tuesday briefing. Russia used the standard line of communication to notify the coalition it was flying through the area and the US air operations center “ensured safety of flight as those bombers passed through the area,” said Garver, who noted that the Russian flights did not impact coalition operations. The
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Tu-22M3 bombers and Su-34 aircraft took off from the Iranian Hamedan airbase and carried out airstrikes on ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra targets in Aleppo, Dayr Al-Zawr, and Idlib. Russia said it eliminated five ammunition depots, training camps, and “a significant number of militants.”
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