Syria

It's not so much a formatting flaw as editorial policy.

I work with this all day, every day, although not for the BBC. It's painful, to say the least, because frontline staff do care a lot. So much time is spent on relatively technical story package creation and filing tasks, rather than the actual content. The whole thing is expected to be done and online within minutes, unchecked. My publication doesn't even have permission to use agency pictures because of the cost involved.
 
Note the flawless, transparent sourcing that poster uses, telling us where, when and by whom these pictures were made, where he found them, and where the knowledge about them being used as human shields comes from.
 

He said , Alawites are the government backbone so we must put hundreds of them in cages inside the cities and towns of Al-Ghouta so they can feel our strength and also get bombed by the Russians along side the rest of our women and children ,The woman said we wish and ask of the government to stop because in the end we are all one family and we didn't do anything ,She was in a cage and surrounded by crazy terrorists so we shouldn't expect more from her, The guy accent is Syrian but he is talking in modern standard Arabic like all extremists do like Bin Laden and the rest of them bastards. I ask the YouTube channel admin to read this and invite me to translate all of his videos so we can help people understand what they are saying
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Moderate?
 
Eight Syrian refugees have been shot dead by Turkish border guards as they tried to escape war-torn northern Syria, a human rights watchdog has claimed.
Three children, four women and one man were killed on Saturday night, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. It said a total of 60 Syrian refugees had been shot at the border since the start of the year.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...der-guards-kill-eight-syrian-refugees-reports
 
Even after he supposedly turned over his entire stockpile of chemical weapons three years ago, Bashar Assad is still crossing Barack Obama's "red line," a U.N. investigation has found.
U.S. officials confirmed Wednesday that the probe had determined that the Syrian president and his regime were responsible for at least two cases of the deadly use of chlorine in the Arab country's civil war since 2013. Investigators also blamed the Islamic State terrorist group in an incident involving mustard gas.

"It is essential that the members of the Security Council come together to ensure consequences for those who have used chemical weapons in Syria," she said. "It is essential that all state and non-state actors immediately cease any chemical weapons use. We strongly urge all States to support strong and swift action by the Security Council."
The White House, however, issued a more measured response, that, while condemning the chemical weapons use in the "strongest terms," did not emphasize the need for an urgent reaction from the international community.

"The United States will work with our international partners to seek accountability through appropriate diplomatic mechanisms, including through the United Nations Security Council and the [Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons]. We urge all U.N. member states and parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention, including Russia and Iran, to participate in this effort," said Ned Price, spokesman for the White House-based National Security Council.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/08/syria-assad-obama-united-nations-227385#ixzz4IdhGRjjX
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook
 
Since this is getting more about Syria and less about IS I might just as well put it here. Turkey is running mad (they go too far, in figurative and literal sense):

Syria war: US warns over Turkish-Kurdish violence

The US says fighting between Turkey, pro-Turkish rebels and Kurdish-aligned forces in northern Syria is "unacceptable" and must stop.

Clashes in places where so-called Islamic State (IS) was not present were a "source of deep concern", the US envoy to the anti-IS coalition tweeted.
Turkish forces have attacked what they say are Kurdish "terrorists" since crossing the border last week.

But the Kurdish YPG militia says Turkey just wants to occupy Syrian territory.

US President Barack Obama will meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in China on Sunday, ahead of the G20 summit there, and will discuss Syria, the White House said.

Ankara says it aims to push both IS and Kurdish fighters away from its border.

Turkish forces and allied factions of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) forced IS out of the Syrian border city of Jarablus on Wednesday and have since pounded neighbouring villages held by Kurdish-led, US-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF).

The Turkish military had carried out 61 artillery strikes on 20 targets around Jarablus in 24 hours, Turkey's state news agency Anadolu reported on Monday.

Turkey has insisted Kurdish militia, which it regards as terrorists, retreat east across the Euphrates river.

_90953010_syria_turkey_kurds_v6_624map.png


The Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG), which dominates the SDF, says its forces have withdrawn, and that the Turkish action against the group was a "pretext" for occupying Syria.

The US Defence Secretary Ash Carter said the YPG "will and is withdrawing" east of the Euphrates.

He called on Turkey to stay focused on the fight against IS and not to engage the SDF.

He said the US was "very supportive" of Turkey's general counter-IS activities and its efforts to secure the border - but not the area south of Jarablus.

Turkish concern over Kurdish expansion increased after the SDF took control of the strategic Syrian city of Manbij from IS two weeks ago. ...

(more on site)
 
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I'm in complete support of the idea of preventing the Kurds from joining the cantons together, but I disagree with the proposed plan of engaging in fight with PYD/YPG in Manbij. I'd rather target the ISIS controlled area that stands between the Kurdish controlled territories (Al-Bab), repel ISIS and create a buffer zone.

That way, you won't annoy the U.S. and put the calling in PYD/YPG's hands. If they insist on fighting Free Syrian Army controlled territory to join the cantons, they'll be the ones annoying the U.S.
 
I'm trying to understand if Turkey has any reason to be afraid of the US? So what if they don't like what's going on? What would the US do? Sanctions? Force? Hard to imagine.
 
It's a slippery slope, because U.S. is an ally of both Turkey and the Kurds. The reason Turkey is careful not to annoy the U.S. too much by being too aggressive is that U.S. might priotize their support of PYD/YPG in return. And that's obviously counterproductive for the Turks.
 
I find it hard to stay silent about what's happening in Aleppo. Remember an old discussion in which people said is was difficult to distinguish moderate from radical opposition? America does try to treat these groups differently. Russia? They do not.

Well said Mr Rycroft! :notworthy: But what can words do these days... to end this barbarism.

Amnesty International:
The Syrian government, with Russia’s support, has without a doubt used air power to deliberately inflict suffering on civilians, routinely bombing densely populated civilian areas and buildings. For several years, there’s been a clear pattern of government bombardment as a means of punishing populations in areas controlled by the armed opposition. But there is more to it than that. Over the past year, Amnesty International has documented a pattern of deliberate attacks on hospitals in the north of Aleppo governorate in what appears to be part of a military strategy to empty towns and villages of residents, in order to pave the way for ground forces to advance.
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Now it seems that the willful killing of citizens is a strategy.

Russia’s Brutal Bombing of Aleppo May Be Calculated, and It May Be Working

The effects of Russia’s bombing campaign in the Syrian city of Aleppo — destroying hospitals and schools, choking off basic supplies, and killing aid workers and hundreds of civilians over just days — raise a question: What could possibly motivate such brutality?

Observers attribute Russia’s bombing to recklessness, cruelty or Moscow’s desperate thrashing in what the White House has called a “quagmire.”

But many analysts take a different view: Russia and its Syrian government allies, they say, could be massacring Aleppo’s civilians as part of a calculated strategy, aimed beyond this one city.

The strategy, more about politics than advancing the battle lines, appears to be designed to pressure rebels to ally themselves with extremists, eroding the rebels’ legitimacy; give Russia veto power over any high-level diplomacy; and exhaust Syrian civilians who might otherwise support the opposition.

This approach could succeed even if pro-government forces never retake Aleppo. A yearlong siege of the city has not brought President Bashar al-Assad’s forces closer to victory. Too weak to win outright, they appear instead to be hedging, trying to weaken the rebels so that they cannot win either, and to ensure any final settlement would be more favorable for Moscow and its allies.

Though killing civilians often backfires in war, in this case it may be all too effective. ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/w...be-calculated-and-it-may-be-working.html?_r=0

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Syria conflict: US says Russia driving rebels into extremists' camp
 
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Eastern Aleppo could be destroyed by Christmas, warns UN envoy for Syria
Staffan de Mistura offers to go to city’s rebel-held east to escort Islamist fighters out if it could halt Russian and Syrian bombardment

The whole of rebel-held eastern Aleppo could be destroyed by Christmas if the “cruel, constant” Russian-backed bombing of the Syrian city continues, the UN special envoy for Syria has warned.

In a passionate personal appeal from Geneva on Thursday, Staffan de Mistura said the scale of human tragedy in the besieged part of the city was huge, and the world needed to avert “another Srebrenica, another Rwanda”.

He said he was willing to go personally to eastern Aleppo to escort up to 1,000 Islamist fighters out of the city if it would mean a halt to the bombardment by Russian and Syrian forces.

History would judge Syria and Russia harshly, he added, if they used the presence of about 900 former Jabhat al-Nusra fighters as an “easy alibi” to destroy the besieged area and kill thousands of the 275,000 citizens – 100,000 of whom are children.

“The bottom line is in a maximum of two months, two and a half months, the city of eastern Aleppo at this rate may be totally destroyed, and thousands of Syrian civilians, not terrorists, will be killed, many wounded and thousands will be refugees seeking to escape,” he said.

He added: “The writing on the wall is if this continues to be the pattern, at this rate this cruel, constant use of military activities, bombing, fighting, destruction will continue.”

In a question directed at the Kremlin, he asked: “Are you really ready to continue this level of fighting and de facto destroy the whole of the ancient city?” He also aimed his message at Nusra, now known as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, saying it was “deciding the destiny of 275,0000 civilians” by refusing to leave the city. ... (more in link)
 

A 360° video filmed by someone walking through the streets of Aleppo.
 
Turkey-backed FSA finally managed to capture Al-Bab from ISIS. Massive strategic victory for Turkey.

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As you can see, Al-Bab was the last ISIS controlled city in that region between the Kurdish controlled Afrin and Manbij cantons. Since there's no chance for Kurdish forces to go into war in Aleppo, which is the next city to the south, Turkey basically prevented the Kurds from forming continous control over the Turkish-Syrian and Turkish-Iraqi borders.

The battle was against ISIS, but it was also really a battle of who could take the city from ISIS first.
 
Great. Don't give the Kurds anything within your borders. Don't give them anything outside your borders. A great recipe for more trouble.
 
Kurds aren't even the majority in the lands they control on the map I posted yesterday. Arabs are. They're not entitled to anything to be "given them" there.

The only reason they intend on keeping control of those lands is because they want to enhance the future independent state they want to establish. That's it. That's Arab majority Syrian land that they're claiming rights upon.
 
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