I will be honest here... I have not been reporting on the news coming out of Syria for much of the last while due to the fact that there has been no major changes in the situation in that war torn nation...The Turkish/Kurdish/Russian/Syrian situation in northeastern Syria has basically come to a stalemate, with the Syrian Army/Russian forces facing the Turkish invasion force along the major M3 motorway that bisects the entire northeastern region.... And the criminal American forces are still sitting, illegally, at the Syrian oil fields in eastern Deir Ez-zor province doing their dirty work of both preventing the revenues from that oil from being used by the Syrian people to rebuild their nation while at the same time trying to whisk that oil out of Syria for their own criminal gain and profit... Basically it has been "business as usual" in that part of Syria.....Meanwhile, in northwestern Syria we still have that major "eye sore" for the Bashar al-Assad government and the Syrian people called the Idlib pocket..... I have written in my weekend rants for the last few months that I was hoping that the good guys, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) and their Russian and Arabic/Iranian allies would have finally said "enough is enough" and launched a major offensive operation to eliminate that pocket full of US run "terrorist" filth and murders once and for all..... But for months the situation in that pocket has not changed, at least until now....Well, two days ago, the SAA and Russia FINALLY started their long awaited major offensive against the Idlib pocket..... And to cover some of the major events of these last few days in regard to the SAA advance against Idlib, I want to present the following article and video report, from the Southfront website, at www.southfront.org, entitled: "Syrian Army Launched Large Scale Advance In Idlib, Su 57 Jets Deployed, War Report" that gives readers a summary of events happening right now in Syria, including the newly launched attack on Idlib, right here for everyone to see for themselves... I do have my own thoughts and comments to follow:#FROMTHEFRONT#RUSSIA 20.12.2019 - 7093 views 5 (8 votes)SYRIAN ARMY LAUNCHED LARGE-SCALE ADVANCE IN IDLIB, SU-57 JETS DEPLOYED, WAR REPORTRussia’s Su-57 fifth-generation fighter jets have successfully passed a second stage of testing in Syria, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces Valery Gerasimov revealed. During the second stage of testing in Syria, the Su-57s completed all the planned tasks. No further details were provided. In February 2018, two Su-57 fighter jets were temporarily deployed in Syria, where they passed combat tests. The second stage of the testing likely took place in 2019.Meanwhile, the Russian Navy and the Syrian Armed Forces have held joint naval and coastal defense drills in the eastern Mediterranean. The drills involved the Russian Naval group deployed in the region, aircraft from the Hmeimim airbase and forces of the Syrian Navy and Coast Guard. The sides practiced fighting unmanned aerial vehicles, illegal armed groups, as well as working on localization and elimination of consequences of attacks on the port of Tartus.Clashes between the Syrian Army and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham took place near the villages of Tamana, Zaitun, Umm Khalahil and Zarzur in Idlib province. A battle tank, an armoured vehicle and 3 vehicles equipped with weapons belonging to militants were destroyed, according to the Russian military.Pro-militant sources claim that during the past two days the Syrian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out over 100 strikes on positions of militants along the M5 highway. Pro-government sources describe these strikes as preparations for the ground operation.On December 19, reports appeared that representatives of the Turkish intelligence met with leaders of Hayat Tahrir al-Shan and the National Front for Liberation warning them that Turkey has not reached with Russia a final agreement on Idlib and they should prepare to repel the advance of the Syrian Army.Late on December 19, the Syrian Army kicked off a ground advance in southern Idlib attacking militants’ positions in Umm Jalal. Clashes are ongoing.NTS Notes: I honestly want to applaud this action being taken by the SAA and their allies.. And quite honestly, its about fucking time!I have been following closely some of the headlines and reports over the last while from Southfront as they continue to follow the SAA advance into Idlib closely..... The SAA advance for the moment is concentrated on the southeastern side of the pocket, with the goal being for the SAA to reach the important M5 motorway that runs right through the Idlib pocket itself...I have also noted in my weekend rants that the key to the Idlib pocket is the important transportation and communications centre of Saraqib.... If the SAA is able to advance forward and seize that important centre, then the southern part of the pocket would be cut off from the northern part and the pocket itself could collapse leaving the "terrorists" cut off and in turmoil...... It is therefore important that the good guys do what is necessary to push their advance forward and move immediately to seize that important junction before the American run "terrorists" are able to regroup and put up any defence to prevent the fall of Saraqib....I am crossing my fingers that this new offensive against Idlib does not end like so many before it; with the US run "rebels" and "terrorists" able to get a fraud "ceasefire" in place that would allow those criminals time to rearm and regroup...... The SAA and the Russians must not stop this time until they break through, seize the entire pocket, and free the Syrian civilians that have been held as "hostages' and "human shields" by the murderous "terrorists" for the last 5 years in Idlib....More to comeNTS
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