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

Nov 15, 2015

Jura said:

I would read an opinion by anyone commenting on the difference between the Government Forces spending

1. about one month to get to the Kuweiris Airbase, and
2. about one week to get to "M5"

while the distance is even longer for 2.

... and I'm puzzled by the advances in #2 ...

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... and now see numerous counter-strikes in this area:
if I find any "independently confirmed" details (which is going to be even more difficult than usually is), I'll post

taxiya said:

Just read from zerohedge.com this article "US Gives ISIS 45 Minute Warning On Oil Tanker Strikes"
Here

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And checked the source here,

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"amazing" of how much care was taken to not to hurt "innocent" or to avoid collateral damage. Who is ISIS really? No wonder the year long airstrike never worked.

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They knew where the the oil went. It was a small effort to publicize there: "Drivers, if you see a flare in the air your tanker might be hit after two minutes. Stop and get out." Patrolling the routes with drones would have been a cheap way to stop oil transport. But that would have irritated Turkey .....

Turkey says it shot down an aircraft that violated Turkey's air space and that it fell within Syria:

Turkish warplanes are reported to have shot down an unidentified military aircraft near the border with Syria.

A Turkish military official told the Reuters news agency that Turkish F-16s had fired on the jet after warning it that it was violating Turkish airspace.

Turkish media broadcast

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of a plane crashing into mountains near the border with Hatay province.

Syrian and Russian military aircraft have been targeting jihadist militants and Western-backed rebels in the area.

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The Dutch radio station BNR just said that according to Interfax the aircraft shot down by Turkey is Russian so presumably a Su-24.

delft said:

The Dutch radio station BNR just said that according to Interfax the aircraft shot down by Turkey is Russian so presumably a Su-24.

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Those slimy turks shot across the border into syria. Let us see how that will end for those terrorists and ISIS supporters.

Logic others countries USA, France, UK use same NATO procedure with Turkeey, IFF system normaly impossible confusion.

French naval fighters overflight Turkey for enter in Syria thinking btw Gazantiep/Turkey and Aleppo/Syria about a hook of around 200 km.

Edit, confirmed a Su-24 pilots safe

Where were the Su30 CAP?

I thought the Russians deployed Su30s loaded for AA precisely to dissuade this sort of reckless stupidity. Or did the Turks specifically wait until they spotted a striker without CAP support before making their move?

This now puts everyone in an extremely awkward position, especially with the plane having gone down inside Syria.

I think a lot now hinges on whether the crew survived. If they were killed in this attack, I think the Russians would want blood as payment.

The Russians would have a very strong case to call this an act of aggression by Turkey and that the Turks attacked their plane inside Syria and launch reprisal attacks. In which case NATO would have very hard choices to make.

Absolutely unnecessary, and to be frank, the Turks are really really pushing their luck here. Their all but blatant support for ISIS and other terroritsts is bad enough, now this?

Any reports on precisely when this happened?

It would be interesting to know the target that the SU-24 was attacking.
Could this area be a supply route for Turkish backed terrorist groups and was it such a convoy under attack?

Was there any connection between the SU-24's mission and the terrorist counter offensive being shown on the edmap of Aleppo published today?

Finally, I note the use again of the term "Turkish Airspace" rather than "Turkish Territory", which suggests the incident was in the Turkish "claimed buffer zone" in Syria rather than over the Turkish side of the border.

Turkey seems to have had a covetous eye on Aleppo for some time and this could well all be a part of that ambition.

I'm not sure, airspace is the typical term used for air incursions, territory is normally used for land incursions, at least that is my view.

Also, a single Su24 is not what I would expect for a strike package on the boarder, especially without CAP support (have the Russians even launched air strikes so close to the Turkish boarder?). I am more inclined to believe this bird was on a recce and maybe saw something it shouldn't? Anyways, we are getting into speculation territory here.

Any word on whether the Russians were able to recover their pilots yet?

If they fell into ISIS hands because of this, it could be far worse for Turkey than if they were killed outright in the shoot down.