"Backed by relentless Russian airstrikes, Syrian troops and allied militiamen on Wednesday pushed deeper into a major rebel stronghold in the northwestern province of Latakia, a day after seizing a key rebel-held town in the strategic region overlooking the coast, the government and opposition activists said.
The town, where members of Assad's Alawite minority sect once co-existed with majority Sunni Muslims, overlooks the largely Alawite coast and is about 12 kilometres away from the Turkish border.
Turkey is a key supporter of insurgents in the area, which is mostly inhabited by Syrian Turkmen, an ethnic minority with close ties to Turkey.
"Whoever controls Salma gains control all those surrounding areas which it overlooks," said Zakariya Ahmad, an opposition activist in the nearby Idlib province.
[ I WOULD SUGGEST THAT WHATEVER RUSSIA CHOOSES TO CONTROL, RUSSIA WILL CONTROL. THE END.]
He said the town fell after 93 days of fighting and daily barrel bombs and airstrikes. He said activists in the region had reported 92 airstrikes believed to be Russian on Salma in the last 24 hours before it was fully seized by government troops.
"It was hell on earth," he said.
Salma's capture further improves Assad's position ahead of planned peace talks with the opposition in Geneva scheduled for January 25, and came as high-level U.S., Russian, UN and other diplomats met behind closed doors in Geneva on Wednesday to discuss efforts to those talks.
The recapture of Salma is the latest in a string of military achievements by the government recently, supported by Russian air power and Lebanon's Shiite militant Hezbollah group.
The combination of Syrian ground troops and Russian air cover is proving extremely effective and some predict "big changes" that would change the battlefield by mid-year."
REUTERS, JAN. 12, 2016
"Syrian pro-government troops retook a front-line town in Latakia province from insurgents on Tuesday, a monitoring group and state media said, in a push by President Bashar al-Assad's forces to recover lost territory in the west.
Assad's forces have been focusing offensives in the western provinces of Aleppo, Latakia, Hama and Homs in a campaign to recapture territory and cut rebel supply lines.
The army and its allies have gained ground in Aleppo and Latakia provinces, but rebels have managed to advance in other regions including Hama province.
Pro-government forces including Iranian troops and Hezbollah fighters are backed by Russian air support in Syria. Russian warplanes have bombed rebels in Latakia province, including in the Jabal Akrad and Jabal Turkman areas."
FROM 'VOICE OF AMERICA', January 11, 2016
HASAKA, SYRIA— "Using what was a strategic military base for the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Kurdish-led forces are preparing an assault against an Islamic State stronghold in northeastern Syria.
Syrian forces fled the base last year and IS fighters took it over. The Syrian Democratic Forces — a group of Kurdish, Arab and Christian fighters — gained control of the base from IS in the southern part of Hasaka a few weeks ago.
Amid the ruins of war left over by IS, Kurds are looking for more advances against the group.
"Our goal is to free the entire southern Hasaka region from Daesh," Kurdish Colonel Talal Silo, a spokesperson of the SDF, told VOA using the Arabic acronym for IS."
OH, WHATEVER WILL OBAMA DO NOW THAT IRAN IS INSERTING ITS FORCES INTO SYRIA?
HE REALLY LOVES IRAN, BUT, ALAS, THEY ARE ALLIGNING WITH RUSSIA AND ASSAD.
MAYBE THE 'POTUS' WILL SEND IRAN SOME FLOWERS OR , WELL, WHATEVER THEY NEED, MAYBE?
HE WILL SEND THE KURDS EITHER NOTHING OR AS CLOSE TO NOTHING AS HE CAN GET.
Syrian forces fled the base last year and IS fighters took it over. The Syrian Democratic Forces — a group of Kurdish, Arab and Christian fighters — gained control of the base from IS in the southern part of Hasaka a few weeks ago.
Amid the ruins of war left over by IS, Kurds are looking for more advances against the group.
"Our goal is to free the entire southern Hasaka region from Daesh," Kurdish Colonel Talal Silo, a spokesperson of the SDF, told VOA using the Arabic acronym for IS."
OH, WHATEVER WILL OBAMA DO NOW THAT IRAN IS INSERTING ITS FORCES INTO SYRIA?
HE REALLY LOVES IRAN, BUT, ALAS, THEY ARE ALLIGNING WITH RUSSIA AND ASSAD.
MAYBE THE 'POTUS' WILL SEND IRAN SOME FLOWERS OR , WELL, WHATEVER THEY NEED, MAYBE?
HE WILL SEND THE KURDS EITHER NOTHING OR AS CLOSE TO NOTHING AS HE CAN GET.
WHILE THE TEA ROOM IS OF THE OPINION THAT ALL NATIONS ARE MORE THAN CAPABLE OF RUNNING THEIR OWN AFFAIRS, THAT THE PEOPLE OF EVERY NATON SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO EITHER HAVE THE GOVERNMENT THEY CHOOSE AND THE LEADER THEY CHOOSE, WHEN THEY GET READY TO MAKE IT SO, OR REVOLT AND GET RID OF THE LEADER THEY LOATHE.
WE ALL PERHAPS CAN SEE THAT RUSSIA ALONE SEEMS CAPABLE OF MILITARY ACTION THAT CHANGES ANYTHING IN THAT COUNTRY.
IF THE PEOPLE OF SYRIA HAD NOT WANTED ASSAD AS THEIR LEADER, THEY MIGHT HAVE GONE THE SAME ROUTE THAT AMERICA AND OTHER NATIONS HAVE...REVOLUTION.
IN ANY REVOLUTION, THE STRONG PREVAIL, NOT SO MUCH THE "RIGHTEOUS", HOWEVER.
A HANDFUL OF REVOLUTIONARY FIGHTERS JUST WON'T HACK IT.
THE TEA ROOM FINDS IT QUITE ODD THAT THERE WERE NO MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF SYRIANS LEAVING THEIR COUNTRY UNTIL THE WESTERN "COALITION" GOT INVOLVED AD STARTED MAKING LIFE THERE UNBEARABLE.
SOUNDS A LOT LIKE IRAQ, LIBYA, DOESN'T IT?
IF RUSSIA, OR ANYONE ELSE, CAN STOP AMERICA FROM RE-ARMING AND RESUPPLYING THE ISLAMIC STATE (OR "SYRIAN REBELS" AS OUR MEDIA CALLS THEM) EVERY FEW DAYS AND CAN TARGET THEM AS WELL AS RUSSIA AND SYRIA HAVE RECENTLY DONE TOGETHER, THEN WE COULD SEE AN END TO THE DAILY ATTROCITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE ISLAMIC STATE AND SEE IT BECOME JUST A BAD MEMORY.
IT IS SAID THAT WAR IS HELL, BUT WAR MUST BE COMPLETE HELL IN ORDER TO SEE A QUICK END TO WAR.
IF THE ENEMY IS NOT FALLING BEFORE YOU OR FLEEING FOR THEIR LIVES IN TERROR, THE OBJECTIVE HAS NOT BEEN ATTAINED.
SAD TO SAY SO, BUT THE GREATEST MILITARY MINDS IN HISTORY WERE MERCILESS, AND FOR A REASON...THEY DETERMINED TO WIN AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE AND END WARS.
WARS ARE VERY GOOD FOR THOSE WHO SUPPLY THE MEANS FOR WAR, THE CREATORS OF ARMS, ETC, BUT WAR BANKRUPTS NATIONS.
THE MORE QUICKLY THIS MIDDLE EAST INFIGHTING CAN BE BROUGHT TO AN END, THE BETTER.
TURKEY WOULD DO WELL TO TAKE NOTE OF RUSSIAN AIR SUPREMACY...AND, MORE ESPECIALLY TO RUSSIA'S DEDICATION TO 'THE SHORT WIN', NOT THE LONG DRAWN-OUT HAUL.
KNOWING THAT THE AMERICAN MILITARY IS NOT IN TOTAL AGREEMENT WITH HOW THE PRESENT ADMINISTRATION HAS HANDLED THINGS IN THE MIDDLE EAST, PERHAPS IT'S TIME THEY STOOD UP A LITTLE TALLER AND TOLD THE WHITE HOUSE THAT THEY, ALSO, INTEND TO "UNEASH HELL" ON ISIS, FROM ONE END OF THE MIDDLE EAST STRAIGHT TO THE GATES OF HADES ITSELF...AND THEN DO SO.
THEN, WE CAN PERHAPS BRING ALL OUR TROOPS HOME... AND NOT FULLY BECOME "ROME", WHICH WAS TOO FEARFUL OF WHAT IT HAD CREATED TO ALLOW ITS MILITARY BACK INSIDE THE CITY.
HISTORY TEACHES, BUT MOST FAIL TO LEARN FROM IT.
RUSSIA, APPARENTLY, LEARNED...AT LEAST SOME LESSONS.
PRESIDENT PUTIN NEEDS TO 'WRAP THINGS UP' THERE BEFORE THE HOUSE OF SAUD AND OTHERS GET THEIR WISH OF BANKRUPTING THE "RUSSIAN BEAR".
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE NEED TO REIGN IN THEIR RUNAWAY ELECTEDS, DEMAND THAT AMERICA STOP PLAYING "GOOD COP" TO THE ENTIRE WORLD.
WHY IS WALL STREET TANKING?
WHY IS AMERICA GOING UNDER?
ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS LOOK BACK AT "OLD ROME", AND STOP BEING THE NEW VERSION OF THAT FAILED EXPERIMENT.
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