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Ghost War in Syria: Russian Spetsnaz Facing U.S. Army Special Forces: “There Is Bound to Be Shooting” -
They serious? I mean it is ODD that after YEARS of this war going on in Syria,Obama just HAPPENS to send in troops AFTER Russia starts bombing the US's terrorists.
Simple. Russia. Not like it matters though US thinks it can do whatever the hell it wants to do.Ghost War in Syria: Russian Spetsnaz Facing U.S. Army Special Forces: “There Is Bound to Be Shooting” -
They serious? I mean it is ODD that after YEARS of this war going on in Syria,Obama just HAPPENS to send in troops AFTER Russia starts bombing the US's terrorists.
Who is invited there? Russia or US?
Ghost War in Syria: Russian Spetsnaz Facing U.S. Army Special Forces: “There Is Bound to Be Shooting” -
They serious? I mean it is ODD that after YEARS of this war going on in Syria,Obama just HAPPENS to send in troops AFTER Russia starts bombing the US's terrorists.
The U.N. commission of inquiry called on the Security Council to impose “targeted sanctions” on high-ranking Syrian civilian and military officials responsible for or complicit in deaths, torture and disappearances in custody, but stopped short of naming the suspects. The independent experts said they had also documented mass executions and torture of prisoners by two jihadi groups, the Nusra Front and Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL. These constituted war crimes and in the case of Islamic State also crimes against humanity, it said. The report, “Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Deaths in Detention,” covers March 10, 2011 to November 30, 2015. It is based on interviews with 621 survivors and witnesses and evidence gathered by the team led by chairman Paulo Pinheiro. “Over the past four and a half years, thousands of detainees have been killed while in the custody of warring parties,” the Commission of Inquiry on Syria said.
The U.N. criticism of the Damascus government comes at a time when its forces have been advancing with the aid of Russian air strikes. A Moscow-backed government assault near the city of Aleppo this month marks one of the biggest momentum shifts in the five year war and helped torpedo peace talks last week. Pinheiro, noting that the victims were mostly civilian men, told a news briefing: “Never in these five years these facilities that are described in our report have been visited and we have repeatedly asked the government to do so.”
There was no immediate response by the government of President Bashar al-Assad, which has rejected previous reports. “Prison officials, their superiors throughout the hierarchy, high-ranking officials in military hospitals and the military police corps as well as government were aware that deaths on a massive scale were occurring,” Pinheiro said. “Thus we concluded there were ‘reasonable grounds’ - that is (the threshold) that we apply - to believe that the conduct described amounts to extermination as a crime against humanity.”
Tens of thousands of detainees are held by the government at any one time, and thousands more have “disappeared” after arrest by state forces or gone missing after abduction by armed groups, the report said. Through mass arrests and killing of civilians, including by starvation and denial of medical treatment, state forces have “engaged in the multiple commissions of crimes, amounting to a systematic and widespread attack against a civilian population.” There were reasonable grounds to believe that “high-ranking officers,” including the heads of branches and directorates commanding the detention facilities and military police, as well as their civilian superiors, knew of the deaths and of bodies buried anonymously in mass graves.
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The anticipated announcement, first reported by the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by U.S. officials, would amount to a significant increase of the number of U.S. personnel in Syria, reaching around 300. The administration said last fall that “up to 50” special forces troops would head for northern Syria to help what it called “moderate opposition forces” in their fight against ISIS. In mid-December Obama revealed that a small group was on the ground. It was not immediately clear how many of the additional 250 personnel would be special forces operators. Obama was expected to make the announcement towards the end of his visit to Germany, later on Monday.
An internationally-brokered ceasefire, covering the regime and rebel groups apart from ISIS and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra, has been faltering. Obama and others are urging the parties to respect the truce and return to negotiations aimed at ending the drawn-out civil war. The aim of U.S. intervention is to press home the fight against ISIS, not to confront President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Before traveling to Germany on Sunday, Obama told the BBC in Britain that it would be “a mistake” for the U.S., Britain or other Western countries to send ground troops into Syria – “to overthrow the Assad regime.” “In order for us to solve the long-term problems in Syria, a military solution alone – and certainly us deploying ground troops – is not going to bring that about,” he said.
Even if not targeted by the so-far modest U.S. deployment in Syria, the regime has been leery. After the initial announcement of “up to 50” troops, it warned that the presence of American forces in Syria without its permission would violate the U.N. Charter. In contrast to Syria, whose government’s legitimacy is widely questioned, U.S. troop deployments in neighboring Iraq have been carried out in coordination with Baghdad. The number of U.S. troops in Iraq has been steadily climbing since Obama first said in June 2014 that up to 300 military advisers would be sent there “to assess how we can best train, advise, and support Iraqi security forces going forward.”
A month later the 300 was doubled, and by August 2014 another 130 troops were on their way, taking the total to more than 700, with then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel stressing that the deployment “is not a combat-boots-on-the-ground operation.” Troops were based both in Baghdad, to protect U.S. diplomatic personnel and facilities and at joint operations centers in the capital and Irbil. Their roles included training, advising, intelligence-gathering and reconnaissance missions.
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US President Barack Obama is to send 250 additional military personnel to Syria to support local militias in the fight against so-called Islamic State (IS), officials have said. The goal, they say, is to encourage more Sunni Arabs to join Kurdish fighters in north-eastern Syria. The new deployment will bring to 300 the number of US forces in non-combat roles in Syria. In a BBC interview, Mr Obama ruled out sending ground troops there. He said military efforts alone cannot solve Syria's "heart-breaking situation of enormous complexity".
Most of the additional personnel will be special operation forces, the Associated Press news agency reports. The group will also include medical and logistical troops, it adds. A formal announcement is expected from President Obama during his visit to Hannover on Monday, where he will discuss Syria and other foreign policy issues with leaders of the UK, Germany, France and Italy. On Sunday, Mr Obama said he was "deeply concerned" about a surge in violence in Syria, with the opposition accusing the government of violating a truce brokered by the US and Russia.
Safe zones 'very difficult'
Mr Obama has resisted calls to send US troops into Syria, where a five-year-old conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced some 11 million others. Of those, four million have fled abroad, including growing numbers who are making the dangerous journey to Europe. The crisis has put pressure on leaders there, who are struggling to halt a massive influx of migrants and refugees. Speaking alongside Mr Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday urged warring parties to set up safe zones in Syria where refugees would be protected within the country. She expressed hope that such a plan might eventually be agreed at peace talks taking place in Geneva. Mr Obama, however, said it would be "very difficult" for those zones to work without a large military commitment.
IS has lost parts of the territory it once controlled in Syria. Most recently, they were pushed back by Russian-backed Syrian forces from the strategic city of Palmyra. The group has also had significant setbacks in Iraq, including the loss of Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province. The US has led a coalition against the militant group in both Syria and Iraq. Mr Obama told the BBC that it would be a "mistake" to send ground troops to Syria. "In order for us to solve the long-term problems in Syria, a military solution alone - and certainly us deploying ground troops - is not going to bring that about."
Syria conflict: Obama 'to send 250 more non-combat troops' - BBC News
