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In the morning on December 21, intense clashes between ISIS and Turkey-led forces resumed in the area of al-Bab (more about the importance of al-Bab here). Pro-Turkey militant groups and the Turkish army, supported by the Turkish Air Force, attacked the town hospital and seized the Aqeel Mountain area and set a control over the Aleppo-al-Bab road. 3 Turkish soldiers were killed and 11 more wounded these clashes, according to the Turkish military.
Seizure of the al-Bab hospital, located at the top of a strategic hill in western al-Bab, allowed Turkish forces to claim that they had a fire or a direct control of about 30% of the town. Furthermore available photos showed a high number of Turkish military personnel among militants involved in the operation.
Later that day, ISIS launched a counter-attack with usage of two suicide bombers, on the hospital and took this strategic site back from Turkish forces. The terrorist group claimed that the attack caused major casualties among its enemies:
- about 50 Turkish soldiers and militants were reported killed;
- 1 battle tank and 4 vehicles destroyed.
On December 22, clashes continued in western al-Bab with pro-Turkey forces were attempting to advance against ISIS units. Heavy airstrikes and artillery strikes were rported inside the city. Nobody can count the civilian casualties in the area.
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An ISIS anti-tank guided missile hits a Turkish battle tank:
Two Turkish vehicles are hit by ISIS anti-tank guided missiles:
I feel sorry for those poor Turkish soldiers. Sent out to die in foreign fields for the glory of the Great Sultan of Ankara.
No, have zero sympathy for these dirty kebabs…
The Turks are showing restraint. If they get ticked off and stop differentiating between armed combatants and civilians they will bomb Al-Bab to the stone age.
Or like they usualy do when dealing with kurds… #Cizre
That is one example. But this will be bigger. This is evident from the weapons systems being loaded onto Turkish fighter jets at joint Turkish-NATO bases as we speak. I have never seen F-16’s loaded with this level of armament. US Airman are in awe. Laser guided munitions, bunker busters, cluster bombs etc This war will end very soon by the look of things but I fear many civilian deaths. The Turks have lost the plot…they are going in full force.
Long live the kurds, no pity at all for the FSA and TAF
Is it too much to hope that the Kebabs and the IS monkey goat-fuckers will simply kill each other so that the SAA can mostly walk in with minimal opposition? Wouldn’t that make the Yankistanis and the Eurotrash hopping mad??? :-)
So. we have Kurdish groups bombing targets and creating chaos inside of Turkey, the population in an uproar over arrests and extra judicial round ups and now we have Turks coming home in body bags. How long are we giving Erdogan to stay in power?
A recent John Batchelor interview gestured that Erdogan arrested pilots and army Command that has weakened his military after the coup. The Kurds may be noticing this now. Erdo broke the former ceasefire deal with Oclan PKK when he attack Kurd Villages in Turkey while YPG fought ISIS and Turks at Kobani. There is a large sector of Turk population which is not happy about kook Islamist Muslim Brotherhood rising up to gain more socio leverage.
Pride comes before the fall.
Also, Brad, regarding what we were discussing about the prospects under Trump the other day, there are now “conservative” Republican websites calling out MB and their neocon sympathizers. The following site is calling the Obama narrative about Russia/Iran/Assad BS and showing pictures of the Christmas celebration in Aleppo. They are correctly calling out Salafism and Obama’s Cairo Speech in 2009 as the impetus for the jihad that has spread across the ME by MB. This site is a very influential pro Trump site that is read by influential people affiliated with Trump’s team. This is a good sign, IMO.
Media and Professional Left Rewriting Obama’s Mid-East History
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/12/22/media-and-professional-left-begin-rewriting-obamas-mid-east-history/
The Turks shouldn’t be there anyway. The Kurds will sort the Daesh out.
seems all those Obama’s MANPADs are being used against Turkey…. btw. i want to point out just how badly the official turkish army with all it’s tech is doing against ISIS compared to kurdish militias armed with lighter weapons and partly DIY armor… Looking at turkish umm.. success…. makes me appreciate kurdish abilities even more.