In Turkey, it is by now a good tradition to threaten Syria with a war every time when luckless Idlib rebels suffer another military defeat from the Syrian Army. This week was no exception. Recept Tayip Erdogan spearheaded the choir of threats on February 12 by repeating that the Syrians should withdraw from all the areas (in told over 2,000km2) retaken from the opposition. He vowed to “hit regime forces everywhere” if Turkish soldiers are harmed. It is worth noting that this time loud words came amid some actions.
On February 10 and February 12, al-Qaeda forces that mainstream media modestly calls “opposition and anti-regime armed groups” conducted two large-scale attacks on positions of government forces. Turkish artillery units, special forces and military advisers directly supported both of the attacks. Idlib groups used Turkish-supplied military equipment and weapons en mass.
The first attack took place in eastern Idlib with an aim of capturing the village of Nayrab west of Saraqib. The Turkish Defense Ministry even announced that ‘regime forces’ had fled the village. Nevertheless, 5 killed and 5 injured Turkish soldiers became the only real results of the attack. Pro-government sources claimed that 40 militants were also killed, but this number remains unconfirmed. On the same day, a Turkish-supplied MANPAD was used to shoot down a Syrian military helicopter. After the February 10 clashes, the official number of Turkish casualties in Idlib – 14 dead and 45 injured.
The February 12 attack took place in western Aleppo and was aimed at hindering the Syrian Army progress in the M5 area. Evil dictator Bashar al-Assad wants to reopen the Damascus-Aleppo highway. So, forces of democracy just could not leave this unanswered. Unfortunately, for them the attack failed and Syrian forces restored full control over the M5 capturing a number of nearby points.
Furthermore, they have started creating a foothold for an advance on Artaib. A few other encounters initiated by Idlib groups resulted in no changes on the frontline. At the same time, Idlib groups launched dozens of ATGM strikes.
The Turkish Defense Ministry compensated setbacks on the ground with a powerful counter-attack on Twitter claiming hundreds of Syrian personnel killed. The US and NATO vowed to support Turkey, but so far they have limited this support to public encouragement for further military actions in Idlib.
The interesting thing is that the Russian side played into the hands of the Turkish media campaign claiming that 400 Syrian personnel were killed and 900 others were injured during the past month. These numbers as well as those provided by Turkey remain very questionable. Most likely, Moscow decided to help Ankara to save face amid the apparent military failure in Idlib. If Turkey does not wage a full-scale war on Syria, it will not be able to change the frontline to its own favor. However, the cost of this war will be too big. So, Erdogan may opt to declare that the Syrian Army standing on the M5 just a few kilometers away from Idlib city is a big success and accept a new ceasefire.
On February 12, a US military patrol was blocked and confronted by angry locals in the province of Qamishli. At some moment, US troops found themselves in an intense firefight with the villagers. According to reports from local sources, it started after the US troops had shot and killed a teenager participating in the protest. The incident happened near a checkpoint of the Syrian Army. So, pro-US Kurdish media sources immediately claimed that the angry villages were sheep-dipped agents of the ‘Assad regime’. The Pentagon accidentally forgot to mention the role of the Syrian Army and the Russians in the victorious statement on the encounter. Videos showing Syrian and Russian forces that intervened in the hostilities, put an end to the violence and allowed the US patrol to withdraw were apparently computer generated images created by hackers in the Kremlin basement.
Late on February 13, the Israeli Air Force carried out a new wave of airstrikes on Damascus targeting the city’s international airport and the region of Eastern Ghouta. Likely, Mr. Netanyahu forgot his password to Twitter. So, he decided to support fancy bearded Idlib hipsters with traditional Israeli actions.
The Syrian conflict does not seem to be nearing any end.
its hip to be in idlib. every western soldier should visit and catch those gifts thrown to them by syria
Idlib hipsters LOL
Whoever writes this satire is fantastic! Victory to “Evil Dictator” Assad and the Syrian people! Go, SAA, and God goes with you! Dishonor to the US forces who shot an unarmed teenager and threatened Syrian civilians who have the right to tell them to get out of their country!
I THAUGT IT WAS SATIRE..
The new copy on the military report is unbearable. So snarky. So over the top. Southfront was a source of straightforward accurate information, but now it is sarcastic and crude
Just stick to the current events column, then. These types are not put there. Don’t read these if a little satire is not to your liking.
I think southfront is in a position to be snarky the ridiculous rhetoric by the Turkish American and isreali governments (forces of evil) needs to be laughed at
B.B.Q. /POMPEO/ERDOGAN/NETANYAHU..
Agree with you,
I agree that while the satire is amusing ut does detract from the professionalism of reporting. Perhaps a separate satire column would help.
good and sarcastic article!! ;)
More likely knuckle-draggers than hipsters
Here in Mexico many people ignore what is really going on in Syria, most of us are lied with the traditional western propaganda every day, very few care about this conflict (like me) that’s why I always choose Southfront to get the real news and facts of this war. The SAA and its allies are doing a very good job trying to get all that belong to Syrians! go on Syrians and retake every single square inch of your territory!
Greetings to the BRAVE Syrian army and its allies from Mexico!
Hopefully someday you Mexicans can retake your territory just as I hope we can do the same in australia
Hopefully
Yes, Spaniols go home. Mexico was invaded even before USA.
Haven’t heard from you in a while Jen’s how is Denmark treating you these days are they reciting the Lord’s prayer in Arabic now as they do in sweden
FROM A THIFE TO ANOTHER THIFE, SPAIN STOLE THE WORLD THEN FELL/USA.STOLE FROM SPAINE /THE MEXICANS STILL OWN THE LAND…THE SPANISH,CHANGED THE MEXICAN ‘WAHAKA’NAMES TO SPANISH/LOOK AT YOUR MAP/ANYTHING BY A SPANISH NAME ,WILL BE RECONQUERED.. HOPE/THEY WILL TRAY YOU CHILDREN BETTER ,THEN TRUMP/ICE/CAGES/THERE IS KARMA ,IN THE UNIVERSE..
I dont think You are lied at. You just learn that as a minimum, there are more then 1 side of whats going on.
I see a lot of traditionel propaganda right here on comments from writers. I agrre South Front itself is quite sober even I now and rthen disagree a lot.
God bless You. May God Bless the Truth and You
I don’t like the sarcasm in the text. It makes the videos less authoritative.
It depends where you are from. To the British, we thrive on sarcasm and satire and whilst I understand what you are saying, for me it was fantastic; especially the last “The Syrian conflict does not seem to be nearing any end.”….. where you should read the exact opposite into it.
British thriving on satire and sarcasm!!! Never, haha. Cannot live without it and stay sane at the same time.
i kind of feel it, the comment section is better for the sarcasm, but thats just my personal opinion
OLD BOY,GO WITH THE FLOW..
Did I hear the word ceasefire mentioned, normally I’d erupt with anti Putin rhetoric at the mere mention of the word, but I won’t this time, this time it might actually be a viable option that both Assad and Putin should consider, but only if it looks like the only other choice is having an all out war against Turkey, a war that the US and NATO could become directly involved in. We won the highway but at what cost, if the price was all the rest of the unliberated territories it wasn’t worth it.
Russia has just delivered it’s most sophisticated bomber to a base in Syria I think the Russians will stay staunch on this one
To fight a war against Turkey they’ll need 100 times what they have in Syria now, so if they haven’t already started shipping in heaps more men and equipment, it’s already too late to stop them. Turkey could also close the Bosporus straights to Russian naval craft as a consequence of any hostilities between them, so Erdogan still has some leverage over Putin.
They won’t for Russia will simply refuse to buy their products as they did before and Turkey is in no postion to accept the lost of revenue>!!!
Putin helped out Turkey big time when Turkey needed help, all the trade and military embargoes, financial, diplomatic and trade sanctions, but to do it Putin offered huge tax concessions and financial incentives to many high tech Russian companies to provide a lot of those goods and services to Turkey that the EU and the US stopped providing. If Erdogan switches allegiances back to the US/EU/NATO, all the goods and services his country needs will be reinstated just like that, it’ll be as if Turkey never missed a beat, but Russia won’t be in the same boat, all those Russian companies that expanded operations to accommodate the increased demand from Turkey, will have no buyers left for their products, many of the high tech goods they manufacture for Turkey won’t be able to find new markets, so they’ll lose money instead and have to downsize.
Remember who was behind Erdogan’s assassination attempt and who came to the rescue.
Turkstream, S-400s, professional assistance. Now what besides Cyprus have the donors of White Helmets got to offer Erdogan, besides another attempt at assassinating him?
The 2 things that stood out about Erdogan and Turkey before this war ever started, was their desire to become fully fledged members of the EU, and to be given the sort of respect by the NATO alliance they thought they deserved, that’s what I’ve been hearing for the last 20 years from Turkey, and 10+ years from Erdogan. For the last 2 years I’ve been hearing the same thing too, but now Erdogan’s been adding, “but my new Russian friend treats me and Turkey better than you guys do”. Obama was in power when the Syrian war was instigated, and he was in power when the US started smothering Turkey and Erdogan with sanctions, and it was Obama in power when the attempt to assassinate Erdogan happened, but Trumps in power now, and Erdogan seems to like him a lot more than he did Obama, a hell of a lot more. I’ve said from day one that Putin was crazy to ever trust Erdogan, he’s nothing but a conniving backstabbing hypocrite that could never be a faithful partner to Russia, but worse still, he could actually pull the rug out from under Putin’s feet if things went bad, and I’m waiting for him to pull the rug out now. Why is Erdogan waiting until the end of February to begin his threatened offensive, is he waiting for help to arrive, what are the NATO alliance forces doing right now, all sucking up to Erdogan as far as I can see, but what are their soldiers, ships and aircraft doing, perhaps we should see what they’re all doing before we get too excited about the prospects of a war against Turkey, because if any of them start heading towards Syria, it won’t be a good sign. Syria’s about to be carved up permanently, that’s what a war against Turkey will mean, not what you think it will.
The beauty of the Kremlin is the fact they allow you to expose yourself, with good effect. It happens time and time again, as we see the ‘Emporer’ s New Clothes played out on the world stage.
‘You either have a country or you don’ t’ – President Assad on RT, when talking of the matur, wise and intelligent actions of Russian leadership, compared to the insanity and immaturity of US leadership.
The wise leadership of Putin allowed Erdogan and Turkey to annex 3 regions of Syria unopposed, and now after happily letting them in, he’s now trying to forcibly remove them. And I can remember just a few months ago Putin and Erdogan were trying to get Assad to accept the reinstatement of the old pre war Adana protocols, that they were both saying made the Turks occupation of Syria legal according to international law, but Assad himself kept saying they were no longer legal and wouldn’t accept them being reinstated.
‘we either have a country or we don’ t’ President Assad, speaking on RT, when praising the maturity, wisdom and intelligence of the Russian leadership, compared to the insanity and immaturity of the US leadership.
What was Syria looking at, prior to Russia accepting their request for help?
What happened next? Do they still have a nation?
Who expected them to come out on top?
How much of the country have the Syrians won back?
ERDOGAN MUST HAVE A PLAN/HE HATES/AMERICA AND THE CIA/REMEMBER ,TRUMP PROMISED TO SEND .THE CIA/GULLEN ,FROM VIRGINIA/THE MOLLAH/IS IN LANGLY/VIRGINIA/2 YEARS AGO/CIA,PLOTED UPRISINGS/THE MASSACRES IN THE AIRPORT/they caught the evangelic preacher/Trump ,promised,to exchange him with GULLAN,but after the preacher was free,both he and his wife were CIA.,they ignored the promise ,of deporting Gullan..
Yea erdogon may be crazy but not that crazy
BS, keep dreaming or change your medication.
Dreaming? it’s more like a nightmare. Even if we do manage to win back Idlib and Aleppo despite a strong Turkish military intervention [I don’t think we can], it’s going to be a shallow victory with no political gains. For the last few months the UN has been very helpful to Assad, the amended version of resolution 2254 which Assad eagerly signed a few months ago, they also agreed to end aid deliveries to the pro Erdogan supporters in Syria within 6 months, so they’ve actually been quite helpful for a change, and since Assad needs international help to rebuild Syria, keeping the UN on his side would’ve been the best prospect for that happening, but they won’t keep up the good will if we start killing too many civilians and escalating hostilities. Erdogan’s been the only one calling for Assad to be removed from power during the last 19 months, and all the other parties that did want Assad removed had started saying Erdogan’s forces should leave Syria, but they won’t be anymore.
Turkey strong. More like Turkey’s facing Christmas, over in Syria, with stuffing in abundance.
TURLEY was fooled by the west/ERDOGAN,will not take that,who started this Syrian wars/not Erdogan…who started all the lies/killing/arming/funding /the SFA/where all these western collition wanted from SYRIA ??Who would benefit from destruction of Syria??Who sent 3 millionSyrians ,as refugees ,to Turkey/Who organized /the ISIS/terrorists/with american weapons/from all over the Islamic world ,to make Jihad in SYRIA …the WhiteHelmets/funded/terrorists/by the USA/UK /Germany/up to this day , THE USA/UK/FRANCE/GEMANY/THE EU/NATIONS HED NO CHOICE/THE USA/IS AFTER GEOPOLITICAL SPREE/TO OVERUN THE MIDDLE EAST /FOR ISRAEL,STOP RUSSIA,FROM HAVING A PORT,IN THE MEDITERRANEAN /NO MATER WHO DIES OR LIVES..SO STOP/DAYLY TROMA/THE PLAN HAS NOT CHANGED/AMERICAS FIGHT IS WITH RUSSIA/CHINA/THE REST ARE SHIFTING SANDS /SOON TO BE CLEAR.THE STRANGE PLAN OF THE USA/NOT WANTING TO LEAVE/SYRIA/IRAQ/IS TROUBLING /NATO IS WEEK WITHOUT TURKEY ..WHO IS GOING TO FIGHT FOR NATO/IF TURKY IS OUT ,ONLY THE OTHER DAY,I HEAR,POMPEO SAY ON LIVE TV/WE MUST PROTECT OUR NATO ALLY IN SYRIA,TURKEY …CAN YOU SEE WHO IS THE TROUBLE MAKER ???THE USA/ISRAEL/SAUDI ARABIA …THE REST IS TRIMMINGS..
All the people and parties you mentioned did start the war, but for the last 18 months it’s only been your man Erdogan wanting to continue it, he is pure EVIL.
YOU FOOL ME ONCE,NOT TWICE…PUTIN .
everything east of atarib should be liberated imho before accept a deal with erdogan who can only can get away with it because he is holding the whole world hostage…
I’d prefer to liberate the people who really want to be liberated first, all those poor souls that signed reconciliation agreements with the government way back in 2018, they all live in southern Idlib and northern Hama, not the north of Idlib and western Aleppo, that’s where all the Assad haters live, and they don’t want to be liberated.
ALL MUST LEARNE NATIONAL FIDELITY/THERE IS NO PLACE FOR TRAITORS IN A WAR/LIKE THE KURDS/HAVE PLAYED,THE TREASON CARD FROM DAY ONE IN IRAQ/BARZANY/WAS WITH US.TROPS/LOOKING FOR PLACES TO BOMB IN IRAQ..IN EARLY 2003..
Feb. 14, 2020 – Today, another U.S. patrol tried to cross a Syrian Arab Army checkpoint but it was stopped.
The U.S. commander: “We are here to bring peace like the Russians.” The Syrian officer: “Wherever the United States goes, it brings death and destruction. You are not welcome here.” https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1228355797974949888/pu/vid/360×360/WLCLkA1DoX-DAJfa.mp4?tag=10
Would be great if we could get english subtitles.
ONE BIG AMERICAN LIE/IT IS NOT ONLY STUPID.IT’S DUMB/INFURIATING …THE TREE LTTLE PIGS/NEED TO BE ROSTEN ON PITS/THE POMPEO FIRST/HE WAS WAITING FOR THE RAPTURE/LETS MAKE HIM /THE KHADDAFY STYLE END…HE IS DECLARING VICTORY,LAUGHING AT THE WORLS/THEY WANT TO SAVE ISIS,IN IDLIB,I WONDER WHY ??
No but Seriously America Should leave. Honest
Brother Erdogen and the prospective Muslim Brotherhood rebels are more relevant to the overall Middle East picture than the SAA, the tide of history was turned by Muammar Gadaffi and Putin then al-Assad joined the rising tide against Jew pox.
What gets me is these Jew Christian traitors who support the homosexual Sid Loder as being Jesus Christ, just because he murdered my mother and usurped my identity by convincing the world that I would supply israel with a Divine Favoured account of fraudulent existential reality or I would be tortured until killed.
However these Christian traitors haven’t managed to kill me or force me to support israeli after over 6 decades, so when is enough enough.
These filthy Christians can’t even admit Anne Frank is a fraud and there were no gas chambers in Nazi concentration camps, so what chance is there they will ever come clean?.
THESE ARE FAKE CHRISTIANS/THEY HAVE CHANGED THE BIBLE WORDS/IT IS A JEWISH/FUNDED/CHRISTIAN/ZIONISTS/A BOOK FULL OF LIES/REPLACED THE ORIGINAL BIBLE ,IN THE USA IN 1880/BY SCOFIELD/A DRUNKARD/GANGSTER/CROOK/ALL 65 MILLION OF THESE CHRISTIANS ,BELONG IN HELL/USING/ABUSING THE TRUE CHRISTIAN BIBLE/THAT FOR THE FIRST TIME,INVENTED/THE NAME ISRAEL/IN A 2000 YEARS OLD BIBLE ,THAT HED NOT BIN CREATED YET/THE RAPTURE /ARMAGEDON/AND WAR ,BY THE NAME OF JESUS CRISE/THAT HAS NEVER PREACHED WAR/AND HATED THE MONEY LENDERS/THE ZIONIST BANKERS/WHO RULL THE WORLD TO THIS DAY …THEY ARE JEWS/UNDERCOVER,PLAYING THE CHRISTIAN CARD..THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT IS FOOL OF THESE LUNATICS/POMPO /PENCE/AND79 % OF EVANGELISTS ,AS WELL AS ALL ANGLO SAXON NATIONS/IT IS AN INVENTED/1880,CHRISTIANITY/THAT IS NOT ACCEPTED ,BY ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS/AND CATHOLICS..DO NOT COUNT THEM AS CHRISTIANS/THEY FALLOW THE CABALA/AND ARE WORST THAN TORAH JEWS/THEY FALLOW ,THE TAMUD/THEY WERE FOOLED BY JEWS/THAT WHEN JESUS CAME BACK/AFTER ,THE DESTRUCTION OF ALL ISRAEL’S ENMIES ,IT MEANES ALL THE MIDDLE EAST ….JEWS WILL CONVERT TO CHRISTIANITY/IT IS CALLED ‘THE RAPTURE’,AND POMPO IS WAITING FOR IT TO HAPPEN IN HIS LIFE TIME ….RAPTURE HIM LIKE THEY DID/TO GADDAFI/HE DESERVE IT ..
Agree with all you post about fake Christians, probably Creation is mechanistic and sentiment is mainly used as in a method of entrapment, that’s what we Muslims believe we believe that we are accepted or rejected based on point scoring gained or lost by enacting rituals that keep the Religion alive, mainly because Allah (swt) wouldn’t be justified in asking individuals to violate their vested interests on behalf of world view logical assumptions.
But to say Gadaffi deserved being overthrown by Arab Spring which was initially a British and French operation devised to loot Libya is invalid, the Brotherhood made a big mistake, they recognize that now, Mosi was the one that deserved it, he was the biggest mug that has ever lived, he took down many good Muslims with him.
Trump is an expert in counterattacking in twitter.