Following up on yesterday's post:
Syria & the Aleppo Chlorine Attack: LIHOP?
More chlorine attacks to come?: SANA
Shortly after targeting Aleppo’s residential neighborhoods with shells containing toxic gases, Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organization deployed around 50 missiles carrying toxic chemicals in several areas in Idleb and its countryside.
Russia’s Sputnik news agency quoted local sources as saying that al-Nsura terrorists transported around 50 missiles at dawn on Sunday after they were modified by French experts in a location near Idleb Central Prison to carry chlorine payloads.
The sources said the missiles were transported in five batches and distributed among terror groups in Idleb’s southeastern countryside; 10 missiles were sent to “Ajnad al-Kavkaz” terror group in Tal al-Sultan area, 10 were sent to “Jaish al-Izza” terror group in Kafrzita town 38 km northwest of Hama city, 10 were sent to “Huras al-Deen” terror group which swore allegiance to Al Qaida in the town of Morek 30 km north of Hama, in addition to two other batches sent to the “Turkistani Party” terrorists and other unknown destinations.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra, a terrorist group outlawed in Russia) militants used improvised 120mm chemical mines to shell the Syrian city of Aleppo, Konstantin Potemkin, a spokesman for Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) protection troops, said on Sunday."Primary analysis of munitions fragments makes it possible to say that terrorists used improvised 120mm mines that had been stuffed with toxic agents in an improvised manner," he said.On Saturday evening, Aleppo’s dwelling quarters came under shelling by militants from the Idlib de-escalation zone who used shells stuffed with a toxic substance, presumably, chlorine. According to Syrian medics, more than 70 people were hospitalized after the attack. SANA news agency put the number of those hospitalized at 107. Terrorists were subsequently destroyed by Russian warplanes
Russia says US views Daesh as ally to push regime change in SyriaSergei Lavrov- reiterating that which has been stated here for years
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the United States is using the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group as a pretext to maintain its military presence in Syria and views the terror outfit as an ally to push regime change in the Arab country.Lavrov, who was speaking at a joint press conference with Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva in Lisbon on Saturday, said the US has set conditions for defeating Daesh, which indicates Washington has a “covert agenda in Syria."
“The US State Department has declared that Daesh has not been completely defeated and that the main condition for its defeat is regime change in Syria and the withdrawal of any Iranian or pro-Iranian units from the country,” said Lavrov.
“This confirms my theory that the Americans view Daesh as an excuse for their presence in Syria and almost as an ally in the fight against the Syrian regime. In other words, the main task [for Washington] now is regime change, not defeating Daesh.”
USAID money diverted to Syrian terrorist group
The Office of the Inspector General of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) has “uncovered numerous instances of possible or confirmed diversions to armed groups" in Idlib province in northwestern Syria, including to Hayat Tahrir al‐Sham, which is a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Interesting this sentence:
The explosive USAID report released Nov. 14 oddly holds back on naming the cross-border implementers implicated in these numerous diversions..
The piece then goes on to cast aspersion on Turkey. But why would the USAID report omit Turkey's role if they were involved? I don't think they would. Not now and not ever.Which is highly suggestive that the funds were funneled to HTS/AQ via other parties that USAID is still working with.Going further into the report interesting tidbits:
Washington cheered the selections of Barham Salih and Adel Abdul Mahdi as president and prime minister of Iraq. And then, before the new Iraqi government was even fully formed, the Trump administration made their lives impossible by designating Iraq as a front-line battlefield for the American campaign of pressure on Iran.
I contend that the two leaders anointed by the US would have known this was the price of their power.
The United States wants Iraq to sever its energy ties with Iran. Toward that end, it has granted Baghdad a 45-day waiver to end natural gas imports, although no one expects that timeline will be adequate for the massive economic and energy restructuring required to do so, if that is even possible. Washington is pressing Iraq to accelerate its efforts and negotiations with American energy companies to wean Iraq off Iranian energy.
Massive protests in Basra linked to inadequate energy availability further constrains Baghdad’s options. “As Basra citizens continue to feel marginalized, despite the financial resources their province offers the Iraqi state, the likelihood of renewed protests and even unrest remain high,” writes Hamdi Malik. “Renewed protests might persuade more Basra citizens to call for a federal region as a solution to end the tragic situation of their province.”