UPDATE: Pro-government sources did not report any notable clashes in the area last night or active operations involving Russian units there. According to them, the incident involving the Russian special forces operator may have happened several weeks (or even months) ago. However, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham propaganda and their Turkish sponsors opted to use the obtained photos in September to create a media victory to compensate the losses and destructions caused by the Russian bombing campaign against the terrorist infrastructure in Idlib.
Meanwhile, details of the incident and the fate of the alleged Russian special forces operator involved in it remain unclear. In general, the Russian Defense Ministry reports all casualties among Russian service members deployed. Furthermore, militants did not show the body of the supposedly killed fighter. Therefore, if the incident really took place, the Russian soldier most likely received injures and then was evacuated.
***
Sources loyal to the Turkish-backed terrorist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) claim that its members had killed a Russian special forces operator on the contact line near Kafranbel in southern Idlib.
Militants claim that they repelled an attack of pro-government forces there inflicting multiple casualties to the Syrian Army and its allies. Photos showing the equipment of the alleged Russian special forces operator were released by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham media wing.
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fake..
Fake news as usual in Turkish&Saudis dogs!…when Speznats or another special forces are in scouting operation and fear snipers…they use to put a helmet( adding components) as a decoy around them….
maybe fake maybe not ı dont know…saudis&russian dogs better fits and a healthier combination..
Hmmm, he might took off the gear and disappeared in crowd as peasant. Something Vympel member would do.
Vympel members look like Syrian peasants?:)))
Russia has vast minorities, most likely arab speaking Russian involved here (Chechen?). Vympel main task is behind enemy lines, so using camouflage technique is a must. :)
I meant body built. Surely special forces and peasants don’t have the same physique
Ahh, well Alexander Prokhorenko didn’t look like spetsnaz, he was killed in Palmyra being surrounded by ISIS, called in Air strike on his own position.
Do you have a recent picture of him taken before he died?
Could be wounded and evacuated leaving some stuff behind.
And what happened to his boots and uniform, understanding that they may have consumed his body because they are very hungry in Idlib. LOL
These apes would have rather exhibited the body as trophy (or at least some identity of the guy) instead of simple equipment… Typical bluff communication. Pathetic!
Buddy got his stuff stolen when he was taking a dump.
Russia should get out of syria.It has no business in Syria just like Iran it’s an occupier
lol..sheriff is waiting for them in east of syria.. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8f1e67f2641c5f6925c44f0f49d7d0cc6d40b9a57315060e5f42d7a0eff5aea4.jpg
:))) Of course sunshine.. its not like they have been invited by the legal government of Syria – unlike Turkish headchopers and US thieves, which of course you mind not..
Syria is no longer a country. God knows when this nightmare will end.
Says who and on what basis?
Says the situation on ground. On the basis that opposition to Assad is growing with the latest U.S. deployments of hardware and Turkey’s reinforcement of troops and equipment. Plus, Russia will soon yield to demands for a democratic Syria – soon – very soon.
:)))) i have not read something so stupid for quiet some time…. congrats..
You spelled the U.S. and Turkey wrong tho Trollstoy…
Us and turkey are in syria because of Russia an iran!What justification do you have for that?
U.S. and Turkey unlawfully attacked Syria. Without a UN mandate. Russia and Iran were Invited by the legitim Syrian govt to fight against the invaders and their proxy CIAisis terrorists. Russia and Syria have a legitim mutual defense agreement for decades. Better luck next time Trollstoy…
LOL!!!! put the crack pipe down you asshole.
Putin would be like: You kyan buy these at every shop in the corner
I doubt they would leave gear behind. Let alone a fallen soldier. Never happened sofar. I smell CIAisis BS…
Aside from that I doubt they wear any ID on their gear for example numbers on the helmet.
It is wrong in principle to emphasize terrorist bullshit, it is indirect support that they do not deserve.
HTS is in big trouble, Turkey and Russia have had enough of their meddling, resolution 2254 waits for no man or terrorist, so it’s time for HTS to be dismantled, and one way or another Russia and Turkey are about to do just exactly that. Everyone’s been wanting to see some action lately and now it looks like their long wait is over, but don’t get too excited, Turkey will actually be the deliverer of Justice this time, it won’t be Russia, Iran or the SAA, so it’ll only be a change in the opposition’s balance of power, Syrian sovereignty isn’t what the fight will be over, it’ll only be a fight between HTS and the Muslim brotherhood/Turkey. Russia is going out of it’s way to implicate HTS for every manner of atrocity lately, they accuse them of attacking the SAA with artillery, accuse them of preparing yet another false flag chemical attack, accuse them of attacking their bases with drones, and they say HTS is continuously breaking the ceasefire agreement and causing the delay in the reopening the M4 highway, blah blah blah bla bla. Russia is full of shit, they’re blatantly lying to us because they don’t want us to know the truth, everything that Russia accuses HTS of doing is actually the doing of the Turkish backed groups, the Turkish backed moderate opposition SNA/NFL and some of the terrorists groups that are not allied to HTS. The so called moderate opposition attack the SAA with Turkish artillery support and the Russians say it’s HTS, LIARS. And the pro Turkish anti HTS terrorist factions attack Turkey and Russia because they were left out of the Astana agreements and are now demanding to be included. They want to stall the implementation of resolution 2254 so they can negotiate their own inclusion in the arrangement, but Russia says it’s HTS hindering progress, LIARS [except for the TIP occasionally]. Russia always says that HTS is Turkish supported or backed, and loosely speaking that’s correct, but they also always fail to mention that Turkey and HTS are now fighting for political control of occupied Latakia/Hama/Idlib/Aleppo. They’re not fighting with guns as such, mostly it’s of a political nature, though HTS has been killing and arresting a lot of pro Turkish supporters and Muslim Brotherhood supporters left right and centre, so there is some violence just not all out hostilities, YET. But now all the signs are saying HTS has to go, resolution 2254 can’t be implemented while the occupied territories are governed by a known terrorist organization, so it’s time to cement the moderate oppositions control over the occupied territories and boot HTS out, and because Russia’s already earned itself 2 dozen UN documented civilian deaths due to indiscriminate aerial bombing, Turkey will have to take on the role of air support, and the moderate opposition forces will get to become the saviours who cleansed Syria from the terrorists. vomit. Most of you will have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about but I’m feeling sick to the stomach now, all the hard work Assad’s done lately to weaken Turkish control over the occupied territories will be all for nothing, Russia’s maliciously undoing all the effort that’s been made to weaken Turkey and actively helping Turkey regain political control. So a fights coming but it won’t be a fight that serves Syria’s benefit, resolution 2254 will be the big winner, and Syria will be one step closer to a new election that’s held under the rules of the new rewritten constitution. What would be worse for Syria in the long run, a reconciliation deal between HTS and the government that effectively removed any legitimate political right for Turkey to remain in Syria, and better still it would effectively nullify any legitimacy that UN resolution 2254 currently has. Or would it be better to eliminate HTS and the terrorists leaving the Turkish backed moderate opposition/Syrian Interim Government the right to fulfill their role in the Astana agreements and resolution 2254.
Free and fair elections are coming so Soros will be pumping in millions, so will the LGBTQI organization, and so will the world bank, so free and fair elections might sound nice and they can be, but if you’re the poor boy in the neighborhood you’ll soon find out it’s not always the case, free and fair elections can be anything but free and fair sometimes.
Doesnt really matter every group thats not SAA, Russia bor Iranian will be neutralized one way or the other, they are all terrorists no matter who funds them. Turkish troops will be safe as long they wont fure on SAA or Russia and as long as they stay near their observation posts.
But they’re not really Turkey’s OB posts because they’re actually built on Syrian territory, so the Turks shouldn’t even be there in the first place. And if the Turks kick HTS out they’ll just take their places anyway, so nothing will change in that respect, but then Turkey will have more political legitimacy then than they rightfully deserve to have, so it would be much more representative of the Syrian peoples will for HTS to kick Turkey out and for HTS to take their place instead. I don’t like HTS at all but they’re the lesser of 2 evils now, and the fact they’re fighting Turkey for political control of the occupied territories means they’re the side I want to win, Assad can deal with HTS but he can’t deal with Turkey, that’s the bottom line.
Your comment confirms my suspicion all this while. I knew that the U.S. isn’t leaving Syria if Assad doesn’t step down one way or the other. Whoever wins in Syria is not America’s problem provided the resulting government blocks Iranian weapons transfer to Lebanon. That’s all what this fight is about for the Americans and Israelis.
If a free and fair election holds in Syria, Turkey will have strong influence in the Syrian government. It remains to be seen if a post-Assad government tells Russia to leave. But I think if Russia and Turkey agree on a resolution, Turkey can prevent the expulsion of Russia from Syria, and this can present some challenge for Turkish influence in Syria because some will not forgive Russia for slaying thousands of both legitimate oppositions and terrorists.
Resolution 2254 is the best way to solve this crisis and get the U.S. out of Syria. Iran will leave too, and so will Turkish forces and even Russia. Whatever relations remains will be purely diplomatic, no foreign boots on Syrian soil.
I just want to see and end to the Syrian war and a civilian elected government take over.
Just in your wet dreams . Assad is the only legitimate President ; only Sirians can decide about their own country .
Russia can’t be expelled no matter what, they have rock solid commitments from the existing Syrian Government that can’t be overturned by any subsequent governments, not legally anyway, on top of that the US has already stated they’re prepared to reset their own diplomatic stance to a pre war state allowing Russia to keep all and any additional assets they’ve gained since 2011, so no one’s asking Russia to leave except for the Muslim Brotherhood.
Syria may end up with 2 autonomous zones if the new constitution allows for it, which means some people will get what they want and others will lose what they need. And from now on Syrian elections will be swayed by foreign money, meaning some minority and opposition groups will get a much louder voice than they otherwise would’ve had, so UN sponsored elections may not be the answer to all Syria’s problems, they could in fact be the cause for further division in the future. Assad’s been doing prisoner swaps, opening border crossings, and doing trade deals with the HTS terrorists for more than 6 months now, and since HTS now politically controls more than 75% of the occupied territories [which means they control all the government and social institutions there], I’d say Assad’s already making the right political moves and negotiating a real majority approved reconciliation agreement with the people who actually live in Syria. And there is no foreign influence when the negotiations are directly between the Syrian Government and HTS’s Salvation Government, just the real opposition and the Government. Assad’s dealing with 75% of the opposition when he negotiates with HTS, but resolution 2254 means Assad has to deal with the people who only represent 25% of the opposition.
Whatever happens, negotiations between Syrians is the best way to settle the crisis. I support that motion. If they want an Islamic democracy, fine. If a majority decide to vote for Assad then so be it. He continues to rule until the Syrians want him to leave.
Don’t get me wrong about Syria. I just want a majority of people in any country to love their leaders by voting for them. I wish to see an end to dictatorship worldwide. Dictators are often tyrants.
I want you to know that HTS is able to make a deal with Assad only because Turkey prevented their destruction. Even now, they are being bombarded by Russia and Turkey seems to be quiet about it. I wonder if Turkey no longer supports HTS. Also remember that there are more Syrians living in Turkey than in Idlib.
Finally, if any administration decides to eject Russia from Syria and Russia refuses to leave, then it becomes an occupation.
But I know for certain that if democracy prevails in Syria, No country will be allowed a military presence except for training purposes. Syria has seen enough of war.
“I want you to know that HTS is able to make a deal with Assad only because Turkey prevented their destruction.”
You’re right about that, but it can also be said that HTS actually enabled the Turkish presence in the first place, so which came first, the chicken or the egg.
And no matter which side wins the election both will have to abide by international law, so Russia’s military presence is something that can’t be disputed in the future, written contracts can’t be broken by any subsequent government if the government wants to abide by international law.
“Russia’s military presence is something that can’t be disputed in the future”. When has a country ever signed a deal with another country to maintain a military presences? I only know of economic deals and contracts. And yes, a contract can be revoked if one party feels dissatisfied with it. The party only needs to pay compensation. You can’t force someone to abide by an agreement if they want out. There’s always a legal way to leave an agreement.
The Russian naval base/port is leased according to a Syrian Government contract with Russia. And I actually said this, “Russia can’t be expelled no matter what, they have rock solid commitments from the existing Syrian Government that can’t be overturned by any subsequent governments, not legally anyway,” You can break a contract but usually there are bad consequences if you do, fiscal repercussions, political, military repercussions ect. America forces some countries to abide by terrible contracts and so do other countries, and it happens all the time. Turkey just broke a contract to buy Iranian gas and Iran is taking Turkey to international court, so I know contracts can be broken, but I also know that even if Iran can’t obtain a satisfactory outcome in the international courts, they’ll punish Turkey in some other way for breaking the contract.
And I repeat that there is no commitment between two states that cannot be legally undone. All it needs is some compensation from the state wishing to terminate the agreement, especially if it has reasons to do that. Besides, that agreement would be signed under pressure to end the war or with an out-going government not considered as representing the whole of Syrians. Rest assured, if democracy comes to Syria, Russia’ll be shown the gate after murdering thousands of their Syrian sons and daughters.
You’re right when you say a contract can be broken but I’m not so sure commitments between states can always be legally undone, not if one side has the legal right to object. But even if a subsequent anti Russian Syrian Government was to come to power after Assad’s term finished, and that government decided to revoke Russia’s right to use the naval port at Tartus, it would be justifiable viewed by Russia as a reason to open hostilities against the new Syrian Government, Russia cannot afford to lose that asset in Syria at any cost, so as I said earlier, breaking a contract can lead to a military reprisal sometimes. I’d have to disagree with you about Russia being shown the door after the war and a new free and fair election, I think Russia’s the most liked foreign nation in Syria, I know not everyone likes the Russians but I think the vast majority of Syrians would have at least a positive view of the Russians.
Even without HTS, Turkey will be in Syria …. because of the Kurds. Besides, HTS is not the only legitimate opposition group to Assad.
For all Erdogan’s bluster about YPG/SDF cooperation with the PKK he seems to be hypocritical when it come to SNC dealings with the SDC/SDF, so the Kurds are not the problem for Erdogan you may think they are. A few months ago I warned my fellow SF readers that the SNC [a member of the Turkish backed and legally recognised opposition ‘Syrian Interim Government’, was holding power sharing talks with the SDC/SDF/US coalition forces, and sadly no one seemed to find it relevant, but that’s the first step in uniting the US occupied autonomous Government in northeast Syria with the Turkish supported Syrian Interim Government in the northwest, so a political solution is already on the table. All reports have said the talks have been very successful, and coincidentally the push by Russia and Turkey to reopen the whole M4 from Latakia all the way to Al Hashaka, only makes me think a positive [for them] outcome has already been reached, and as usual we just haven’t been told yet. Resolution 2254 is the framework all parties except for the Syrian Government are using now, the US and the Kurds, the Turks and the moderate opposition, the Russians and the Iranians, everything they do now is according to the mandates stipulated in that resolution, so in some respects they’re all conspiring against the Syrian Government. Why do you think the Russians are helping the Turks reopen the whole length of the M4 highway, what reason would they have to want to link both the US controlled Autonomous Government in the east with the Syrian Interim Government in the west.
HTS isn’t a legitimate opposition group, both HTS and the Salvation Government are designated terrorist organizations according to the Astana agreements [between Russia and Turkey], only the Syrian Interim Government and it’s military factions [SNA, NFL, FSA, SLF] are legally recognised by the Astana agreements.
You seem to be a regime insider, and I’m happy you are sharing some critical information with the SF community. I wish you posted this comment on a new and trending post. It’s good to know that a political resolution is around the corner. I think Assad should focus now towards reuniting Syria and bringing back the refugees from around the World, even if doing so means giving up power. The U.S will never allow Assad rule in peace. There’ll always be war. Provided the political resolution protects the people of Assad, I see nothing wrong with it. Syrians have become a pathetic people in other people’s countries who treat them badly. Imagine living off peoples donations.
I’m no insider just well informed, I read everyone’s news to see what they all have to say, and very often I find out as much from the opposition news as I do from my own sides sources, sometimes even more.
Sadly a political solution may not be all that’s needed to save the Syrian people, it all depends on the new constitution they’re now sitting down and writing. And from what Assad’s said so far it doesn’t seem to be the right solution at all, and from seeing how these thing always seem to work out elsewhere, I tend to agree with Assad. For example if the new constitution allows subversive NGO’s and institutions to operate freely in Syria it may undermine the true will of the people, advertising is one way for a political group to take advantage of the democratic outcomes. False negative advertising works well in the US, but luckily in the US the opposition parties can usually afford to run the same negative adverts against their opposition, but will Syria be able to do the same thing, especially if the new constitution allows every western prostitute to set up shop in Syria, probably not. Russia and Iran have a terrible double standard when it comes to Syria, in their own countries they ban any foreign NGO’s and institutions that they believe could be subversive to the countries social/economic stability, but when they drew up resolution 2254 with Turkey’s help, they set the bar back to zero, by allowing the opposition to demand a total rewriting of the constitution they’ve opened the door to all manner of evils. If I hadn’t seen all the severed heads, eaten livers, mutilated corpses, sex slaves, emotionally damaged children – OMG, I might’ve felt more optimistic about a new constitution, but I’ve seen a lot of what the opposition really represents for Syria already and I don’t like it. And I don’t like what the US are doing in northeastern Syria either, though it’s nowhere near as barbaric as Erdogan’s setup it’s still not as inclusive as the system the Syrians already had. But in saying that I also have to say the Kurds are the one group who do have, or did have a right to complain about inclusion, they were the one ethnic group in Syria that didn’t enjoy all the citizen rights the other ethnic groups enjoyed, but Assad’s already met most of their concerns so they’re no longer able to complain about full inclusion anymore. I think Asad’s still the best man for the job, at least until they find someone better.
Russia have little option but allow NGOs in the new constitution. Otherwise the war continues indefinitely. I don’t believe Iran supports anything that might lead to democracy in Syria. But with or without their support, things will probably happen the way Russia wants. Peace is what Syria wants right now, even if Assad has to step down. This power-tussle isn’t worth the spilled blood and treasure.
If he was evacuated why take off his wrist watch ? Although, I’m not saying any of this is true.
I Betcha!
A helmet proves nothing, there’s no way to be sure it was even from a Russian as Syrian special forces are probably using the same gear. Could have also been a PMC, but more likely just a dropped or lost helmet they’re using for propaganda purposes.