Saying that the government was behind the slogan and the killing after is like what the Muslim world claim that the CIA and the Jews were behind 9/11/01 attack,

Very poor article. Ignores many attempts by the revolution to include the Alawis. completely misrepresents what happened in 1980. People rebelled not because was Alawi but because he was a dictator. the writer , as landis, seems to fall in the trap of the regime and make the whole thing a sectarian issue. It possible that Assad successful frame it this way. But that not what happened. Example. There are more people from Daraa in the Army, Baath and mukhababrat than from any other area in Syria but they lead the rebellion.

Welcome back Dr. Norman.

“Alawis to the grave and Christians to Beirut!”

This slogan summarizes this terrorist Bedouin war on Syria. Shame on the West to watch the minorities getting slaughtered by the Sunnah terrorists while doing nothing to protect them.

right… and no word on the daily barrel bombing of schools and bread lines by the glorious Syrian air force? Not a sound on the 10,000+ killed by torture and rape in assad dungeons a short walk from assad palaces as shown in leaked pictures? Not a sound on the snipers and machine guns opening fire on peaceful protesters in 2011? No mention of the Baniyas massacre, even children? No mention of the numerous chlorine gas attacks on civilians? Oh, sorry, I forgot, those civilians supposedly gassed themselves to death.

Even the most extreme of the armed opposition, JAN, behaved with respect and care with the Armenian population of Kessab when they retook it from the genocide regime. JAN was handing out food & water to the few elderly who remained behind while Assad propaganda was working at 110% using pictures from horror movies to spread lies. They even used pictures showing children decapitated by assad barrel bombs and spread the falsehood that the rebels did this… Remember the nun that was held by JAN and exchanged for political prisoners from the regime, remember the blind rage and frenzied comments of assad supporters when she praised JAN for treating her well? Why would she lie after she was released?

Please continue to be mouthpiece for assad, you are simply destroying the last remnants of any journalistic credibility you had left in the eyes of informed observers to this conflict.

Oh, and by far the greatest foreign contribution to this war was from iranian IRGC, lebanese hezbollah and afghan hazara (most of whom were coerced by the IRGC into coming to Syria).

The Shiaa establishment will not tolerate Alawism as a religion once the so called Alawi state is established and soon will try to تشييع every one and his brother. Fool yourself not! A quick glimpse of iraninan military site will show how condescending Persians to Alawis.

2. JAMAL

The original slogan was:

¨The rich to Beirut and the poor to the grave¨

Now you change it, but it is not a bad version, in a way a description of reality. If the future of the Middle East is sectarian then christians will find a place in Lebanon while alawis will not easily find a place to rest.

Is this document real? It looks like a fake but I am no expert
http://levantreport.com/2015/05/19/2012-defense-intelligence-agency-document-west-will-facilitate-rise-of-islamic-state-in-order-to-isolate-the-syrian-regime/

MINA,

It was the Free Syrian Army / Rebel groups who were isolated by the rise of Islamic State. Dont cheat us with your fake documents.

Do not forget that Saydnaya and Abu Ghreib prisons were emptied of all radical islamists who were sent by Assad and Malki to Raqqa by May 2013.

If the government falls why should their supporters keep control of the coast region? It would be like the collapse of the Iraqi army – a rout.

In Iraq Grand Ayatollah al-Sistani could issue an edict to call for shia volunteers to fight IS. 10,000’s rallied to his call but in Syria all manpower would have been expended in the fighting and/or caught up in the collapse. Where should fresh forces come from?

What Syria desperately needs is an movement or ideology that unites Syrians regardless of sect. Unfortunately, it is getting the opposite.

Sectarianism is what Zionism is, the basis on which both Israel and Lebanon were created and what is being promoted by anyone who wants the region to fail and be broken up into little pieces dependent on outside powers.

Syria will never have a future if sectarianism prevails, whether promoted by fanatical “Islamists” or by a government that corners Alawis into supporting it for lack of an alternative.

I have a simple question: are the demographic maps taking into account the internally displaced Syrians? That is, is Tartous for example now a majority Sunni town because at least 2 million Syrians have moved to the coastal areas changing the demographics of the region? If so, an Alawi state to rise would require significant population movements.

My understanding from this article is ‘we should be worried about the future of minority Alawites.’ 250.000+ people died from the Sunni side with the hands of Alawite controlled Syrian Army and Western journalists still write about minorities. When there is an oppressed majority, highlighting worries about the minorities only strengthens hatred against them. That’s so obvious for anyone who ever follow the things on the ground, after 4 years of blood, it seems hard for Alawites to have peaceful coastal towns. This is reality.

MINA,

Yes the document is real. It was part of a federal court ordered declassification after a lawsuit filed by a conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch.

Original Aug. 2012 highly redacted DIA doc is published here: http://www.judicialwatch.org/document-archive/pgs-287-293-291-jw-v-dod-and-state-14-812-2/

Document itself shows it was widely circulated among U.S. agencies. It at the very least reveals that Washington is willing to consider fueling and using sectarian division in Middle East for its own strategic objectives. Discusses nascent “Islamic State” (then merely AQI) as potentially useful by “West” to “ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME…”

See 8.C. in original document: “THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME…”.

Interpret contents however you want, but State Dept. and DOD itself says this is a real declassified document. See mainstream media reporting on trove of docs here: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/18/military-intel-predicted-rise-isis-in-2012-detailed-arms-shipments/

Authenticity of declassified doc itself is not in dispute.

What you see in Syria now is a serious campaign to force a settlement that reduces iran’s reach and boosts the influence of KSA and Turkey. That requires achieving significant military gains against the Syrian army and convincing Assad to leave his post.
Idleb, Aleppo and Central Syria are
now the major battle fields since most of aljazeera is in the hands of Kurds and Isis with few exceptions.
The war in Syria and Iraq showed how limited air power can be if it is not associated with reliable ground troops. Terrorists in Syria and Iraq have many advantages while regular armies are not usually trained to do street battles and do not have enough man power to guard every city and every town, that may lead to a new campaign to arm civilians and this will increase the risk of blood shed and even partition.
As Isis and Nusra advance, Syrians get worried about the dreadful scenario of having to leave their towns because they belong to the ” wrong sect”.
The war has not stopped because Syria’s neighbours have not seen the fire coming to their cities and that allowed them to use Syrian blood to fuel the engine of their regional ambitions.
It is hard to get real info ftom Arab media, most outlets are loyal to one side and they lie to their readers when they report the news.
I suspect we will have a bloody summer by all standards, most of the world is now used to hearing bad news from Syria and has resigned to the fact that we are people who want to kill or get killed, life to a lot of people in Syria is a luxury.

Fabriche Balanche,

Your article seems to try and garner sympathy for the Alawi community. I’m not sure if that was your purpose. To me, reading your article just showed how incompetent the Assad family was in governing the state. Instead of making a state of all the people, he made it a state of preferred minorities.

Now we have to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. Good luck.

It looks to me that the article is not written specifically for this blog, so the author might not be reading the comments. Why not email him at the address “fabrice.balanche@mom.fr”, if you have a relevant comment, and let us know if he bothers to explain.

Coincidence!
again?Player thimble?
Iraqi Troops Abandon US-Made Tanks, Artillery to ISIS in Ramadi Loss
ISIS Once Again Secures Large Number of Weapons?
US failure to bomb ISIS in Ramadi AGAIN makes it clear that US has no intention of destroying it’s ISIS proxy army
http://news.antiwar.com/2015/05/19/iraqi-troops-abandon-tanks-artillery-to-isis-in-ramadi-loss/
Its time to put this war Criminal Supreme on the bayonet!

IS takes over Palmyry

At 7.30 pm local time SAA has retreated and left Palmyra to IS. First videos emerge showing IS fighters burn Assad pictures in front of notorious Tadmor prison. What a shame.

Becuse to the resistance axes Zinab is a lot more important than Zanobia!

Syrian , I am sure you are right. For decades the regime has engaged in selling its antiqiuties. So much Palmyra statues once owned by French colonial officers could never have been on the market as they were before 2011.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-seizes-palmyra-live-updates-as-unesco-world-heritage-site-falls-to-islamic-state-10263615.html

IS liberates the Syrian Auschwitz- Tadmor prison what a joke…

وين جيش ابو شحاطة اللي وثقنا فيه يحافظ على جمال زنوبيا بدون حجاب؟

ترى حيقدر يحافظ على جمال زينب بدون حجاب ؟

ALAN,

Give up !!! Assad is useless. Edlib, Bosra, Palmyra, this is the end my friend, this is the end.

Where is Iran? Where is Hezb Zbala?

Tadmur ( palmyra) is under near total control of Isis after NDFs withdrew from the city. It is not clear who was defending the city but many reports point out to NDFs iwith the army being near western and southern borders.
This is decisive defeat that poses a major threat to Homs and central Syria.
Many people and media sites were cheering for Isis after this dangerous development which gives you an idea why the country is being screwed as its own citizens cheer for Alqaeda and its army has less troops than terrorists in much of the country not just in Tadmur.
Enjoy !!
با أمة ضحكت من اجلها الامم

GHUFRAN

Anything, and when I say anything I mean ANYTHING will be better, even dead, that the ASSAD REGIME for most of the syrians who have been for 4 long years under the repression, abuses and bombs of Assad hezbalistani, afghani and iranian milicias.

I think people who still feel surprise about the developments taking place in Syria have a psychiatric problem, they feel Assad is Syria and Syria cannot be anything different than Assad. And this what does not let them perceive reality as it is.

When Assad gets killed it will be easier for you to accept reality. Iran has already betrayed Assad.

Fact: Assad does not fight ISIS. ISIS does not fight Assad. Google it.

Now clear proof in Palmyra as Assad-linked militia and troops walk away from the fight.

If this was the FSA, Assad would have bombed and gassed the place out of existence.

A small consolation to the terrified citizens hiding in basements waiting for daylight to see what ISIS looks like.

صرعو ربنا بالدفاع و التحرير عن زنوبيا بس الظاهر كان قصدهم زينب

Now I’m really worried.

I can’t understand what is going on. At this rate the full siege on Damascus is just a matter of time.

And what do Assad and his Iranian controllers care about Syria’s heritage sites?

They have ruthlessly smashed up more of those with bombs, rockets and tanks than ISIS could ever do.

The irony is that the Fall of Palmyra in the hands of Rome happened in the year 270 when the Persian Empire bertrayed the Queen Zenobia of the Syrian Desert.

1750 years later the New Persian Empire of the neocapitalist and junkies sons of ayatollahs allied with US Obama hace bertrayed the syrians again. The Stupid King of the Syrian Coast, Al Assad II, could have been left alone after killing all the members of the old guard.

Strategically Tadmor is nothing.

Assad Militias are heading towards Qalamoun were the great fight is taking place.

Maybe Assad left Tadmor under control of its allies of ISIL while he fights the real enemy, the FSA in Qalamoun.

But the fact is that now Assad is just controlling Lattakia, Tartous, Hama, Homs and Damascus.

I don’t think IS will destroy the ruins of Palmyra. IS lives and breeds on media exposure and this city gives them exactly what they were after.

The question will we see IS blocking the weapons smuggling routes of other groups? If they do and start fighting everybody then I would be really suspicious about the sudden retracting national troops out of the city to IS.

NADIA #25

Bottom line: Assad’s chosen friend and controller Iran has really messed things up. Not just Damascus, Baghdad is now headed to becoming a furious battle zone.

Syrialover #30

The real massacre and wholesale killing will happen in alsa7el if the SAA and NDFs fail again. I understand -but don’t appreciate- your enthusiasm about the defeat of SAA but we have family and friends on those areas to worry about.

In response to a comment made earlier the Alawis should leave their villages and towns to Jabal Me7sen in Lebanon. Let me assure you that Alawis are not welcomed there even within their own skin.

Dark days are looming in the horizon.

# 28. SANDRO LOEWE

(Assad …. are heading towards Qalamoun were the great fight is taking place)

Correct.

That was a tactical withdrawing of troops. The Syrian Arab Army has a bigger fish to fry, and at any time the army is able to regain Tadmor, Idlib or even Alraqa.

tactical withdrawing

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha oh man you need to see a doctor urgently.

Syrians should be angry because it is obvious that there is a chess game going on and Syrians are not players here.
The truth: there is not enough people to defend precious places like Tadmor because the jewel was and still is Damascus in the eyes of the regime, Iran and many Syrians from both sides.
The country lost its soul and the fight now is over the pie.
أمه فاشله من الألف للياء
Some comments here clearly illustrate my argument.

Dr. Ghassan (a.k.a Ghufran)

You keep saying

أمه فاشله من الألف للياء
يا امة ضحكت من جهلها الامم

Do you really believe Syrians are/were a nation?

We both know that Alassad the father/son was the only reason for looking as one body.

NADIA #31

I think everyone in Syria and their families and friends outside are just desperate for the whole thing to stop. Be over, somehow, anyhow. No more scores being settled and “victories” counted.

I am not talking about the defeat of the SAA, mostly ordinary Syrian men whose lives have been brutalized and sacrificed to feed the Assad regime’s hunger to stay in power at all costs.

Evidence is emerging that Assad and his Iranian masters have decided Palmyra is not worth the trouble and resources to protect from ISIS. They prefer to keep concentrating on fighting the FSA and inflicting collective punishment on the Syrian people and destroying the country’s infrastructure.

When Assad and his Iraqi counterpart Maliki licked the boots of the Iranians and invited them to help them stay in power, they were throwing their countries into a hell pit of fire and failure. Meanwhile laying down a red carpet with arrows showing ISIS where to go without having a struggle.

They would have been a million times smarter to play nice, make some basic reforms and steer a different course of events in their countries. But that would take an IQ of double figures and some degree of interest in their countries and citizens.

Saddam not just Assad kept his country in one piece but he attacked Iran, invaded Kuwait, slaughtered Kurds and did not tolerate dissent especially from Shia because he believed many of them were allies of Iran.
The problem is this:
You can not suppress people forever and you can not expect poor and unemployed people to stay quiet forever if they perceive that their government is corrupt and is sucking the wealth of the nation ( perception is often wrong or is an exaggeration but a lot of people use perceptions as facts).
Absolute power leads to absolute corruption, and yes nations that can only have dictatorships ( religious or not) are failed nations.
Here is the depressing part:
Iraq was better under Saddam and Syria was better under the Assad regime. However, civilized nations should not have to choose between dictatorships and Alqaeda.
Are we civilized ?
Ask those who are cheer leaders for Alqaeda or the 52 year old Syrian regime.
We all know the answer !!
با أمة ضحكت من جهلها الامم

The comment of the week is that assad just wore his military uniform . Hehe. He should have stayed in his pajama

Must be that pink and black waterproof pajamas. This specific pajamas is the uniform of Alharas Aljamhouri in Mashrou4 Dummar

Maurice Sartre: “If IS is standing today in front of Palmyra, it is just like they would stand in front of the Louvre or the British Museum. It is our cultural memory which is about to be extinguished.”

Thanks Brad

#36…#40
and now you blame Assad for not defending Palmyra?

Who has air capacities and drones? Why not using them in Ramadi and around Palmyra? Is IS using invisibility caps? it’s a flat desert for God’s sake.

The West has economic problems. It has no option but selling weapons to who has money to buy them, i.e. the Gulf. So whatever the Gulf wants, it will get. And if in the end they start fighting each other, as it usually happens in their tribal history, all the better for Western economies. It’s about creating jobs. Yesterday we’ve learned that the French land forces are now the number 1 recruiter for the country’s youth.

The silly genuine Syrian rebels who did not take this parameter in their calculation (“the West will come to our rescue against the vile Assad, because we are white and beautiful”) are the people to blame for the situation. There were other ways of leading a revolution: writing, discussing, boycotting, pressuring, proving facts.

How much I detest Kremlin monster Ruptly TV… but nothing beats embedded “objective” Journalism right?

And now from Jihadi TV:

You detest the Kremlin, because you simply breastfed the fascist and Nazi milk since the childhood. You have self-control, otherwise the Berlin gate will ringing again.

If the madmen of the Unislamic State (as I prefer to call it) start destroying the beautiful ruins of Tadmur, it will really illustrate the absurdity of this war. Syrians are killing Syrians and a third force comes in not only to kill more Syrians but to destroy their heritage. They have already done irreparable damage to Iraq, so I don’t see why they would spare Syria (though one can now only pray that they do).

Places like Tadmur/Palmyra are what can serve to unite Syrians to re-build and recover.

It not only shows the absurdity of this war, but the absurdity of the US-led world “order” itself. I subscribe to the hypothesis (which was so well expressed by a student challenging Jeb Bush last week in a town meeting) that ISIS would never have existed were it not for the destructive impulses of Cheney/Bush and the neo-con establishment that destroyed all order in Iraq.

In Lebanon, the civil war went on for 15 years and didn’t see the kind of destruction Syria or Iraq are experiencing. This can’t be an accident.

Who is going to stop this insanity?

@41 Juergen

Why would you post that particular video? I usually find your video posts worthwhile, but that one was utter nonsense. Almost everything in it was false or a red herring.

Iran is responsible for ISIS? It is supporting just about everyone who opposes ISIS, and ISIS is a nemesis of Iran and anything remotely resembling Shi’ism.

MINA #43, I am sorry if you did not mean to be funny.

But your wild conspiracy theories and frantic hatred of the west making you excuse Assad is like reading satire.

Fact: Under Bashar Assad’s “rule”, up to 50% of Syrian territory has now been overrun by ISIS. Incredible.

This is despite Assad controlling a large national army, an airforce and getting full-on support and direction from Iran and help from Russia.

And ISIS being motley a force with no aircraft, no big military hardware or professionally trained fighting forces or strategists(defectors talk about their chaotic, frantic, amateurish hit-or-miss battle tactics).

SO WHY? HOW COME?

Clues in a couple of tweets from https://twitter.com/LeShaque:

# The Syrian regime is calling on the international community to save Palmyra… while spending its own resources on killing Syrians.

# Hey Assad, how about using some of your planes against Islamic State instead of complaining to the world about their advance in Palmyra?

L’Orient Le Jour posts today that IS “liberated” 27 Christians held in Tadmor prison for over 35 years.

Mirror images of each other the regime and IS they are as Yoda would say 🙂

the author write’s

“because the Sunni rebel enclaves were quickly contained by the army”

contained?…. what a stupid and arrogant way to sanitize a genocide

Ghufran writes “settlement that reduces iran’s reach”…

and that makes you sad?… to hell with Iran and its agents… the barbaric sleazy bazar-type pre-incarnation of Daesh.

The ethnic cleansening projected by Iran is not being 100 % implemented. Is this the new plans of Iran after ¨nuclear¨ talks or is it just the rebel side gaining momentum due to Assad mistakes ?

The US just announced it has active combat troops on the ground in Syria.
http://fair.org/home/white-house-reveals-boots-on-ground-in-syria-but-media-too-giddy-over-special-ops-porn-to-notice/

On Tuesday, May 19th the Russian consulate in Damascus suffered another attack by NATO proxy forces, who trying to overthrow the government of Syria. The Russian Foreign Ministry responded with a statement condemning the attack as an act of “terrorism” and asked the “international community” to respond to the attack and urged “all parties enjoying influence on extremists in Syria to demand they immediately stop such actions.”
The attacks of terrorist and mercenaries into the territory of another state is an act of war ang illegal, according to the eighth article of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Particularly cynical the shelling appears immediately after the celebrations on the occasion of the seventy-year anniversary of the Victory in Moscow. Just fire the Chinese Embassy during the conflict in Yugoslavia, aggressive actions of NATO beyond their states did not just violate the charter of international law, they contribute to the overall deterioration of the geopolitical situation in the world and growing mistrust between East and West.
Obama! Stop playing with fire and DONT CROSS the Red Lines!
nothing has basically changed other than the original, discursive Cold War era MAD – Mutually Assured Destruction – doctrine being over.

Cowardly scum. A sickening stench from the top.

Reports are coming out that the Syrian forces blocked civilians from leaving Palmyra while ISIS advanced.

Meanwhile convoys of top military and collaborators fled. Many soldiers were left behind.

These ordinary young Syrian conscripts, sent to the front poorly equipped with little training, have been left as prey for ISIS, which is rounding them up for public “atrocity fests”, appearing soon on youtube.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32837336 and numerous other sources

Altair

Dont assume I share because it represents my view. I found this view unique and surely as objective as much more the regime produces. I believe all should be out to dispute.

Hmm, I think this is the first time such an video appears. An SAA helicopter crew shows us how to do the killing work for Bashars barrel bombs.

Note how modern the flight is monitored by an notebook on the lap of the copilot.

I am sure well have the same redflag accusations coming up, right ?

see on the map how ISIS in Syria is clustered by the border of NATO-member Turkey? There’s a reason for that.
So gun to the head, this is what happens next: a couple of the good ole’ “chemical attack” false flag YouTube clips once again emerge just around the time Obama announces it is time to send a tactical, contained group of troops in Syria to retake the “cultural heritage” that is Palmyra, at which point the war against ISIS morphs into what it has been from day one: the western attempt to crush and topple the Assad government, and to hand over control of Syria to Turkey and Iraq, just so the US, Saudi Arabia and Qatar can control what happens behind the scenes, by which we mean finally allow that long overdue gas pipeline to traverse the nation and sideline Russian gas deliveries to Europe.

We expect this scenario to start unfolding within the month as the US economy desperately needs an official war to avoid sliding into a recession.

Looks like the Lorient du Jour article is not a confirmed story.

Inside Palmyra, the Ancient City ISIS Just Sacked
Hours after the terror group grabbed its second city in a week, Palmyra was pitch-black and silent. But residents are bracing for bloody reprisals—and the destruction of historic sites.
“According to Khaled Omran, a member of the Palmyra’s anti-Assad Coordinating Committee, the regime tried to reinforce its collapsing front lines Wednesday with detainees from the notorious Tadmour Prison. Most, however, ran away from the ISIS onslaught rather than stay and fight for their jailers. “I saw about 10 busloads of prisoners being driven to the front,” Omran said Wednesday evening via Skype. “Maybe 1,000 men.” They added to the regime’s “thousands” of soldiers and forcibly conscripted tribal militias who were used, in Omran’s words, as “cannon fodder.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/05/21/inside-palmyra-the-ancient-city-isis-just-sacked.html?via=desktop&source=twitter

Big question for ALAN and others here who show insider’s commitment to the Assad regime:

Why couldn’t the government spare a couple of barrel bombs for the ISIS convoys as they moved long distances across open country towards Palmyra?

51. SYRIAN HAMSTER

(what a stupid and arrogant way to sanitize a genocide)

It’s not a genocide. You gotta do what you gotta do to stop the Sunnah terrorists from committing more massacres

JUERGEN, the German media often provide smart insights into the Syrian situation.

What are they saying about the suspicious failure of the SAA and its associated militia to fight to protect 200,000 citizens, important access routes, surrounding gas fields and landmark cultural site in Palmyra?

(This might help ALAN as he struggles to answer my question to him above).

Hi JAMAL,

Good to see you. Maybe you’ll have some answers.

You wrote in #62: “You gotta do what you gotta do to stop the Sunnah terrorists from committing more massacres”

So WHY DIDN’T THEY?

I’ll pass on any answers to my friends trying to calm their terrified relatives hiding in their homes in Palmyra.

ya’ll pretend being military analysts or strategists, I hate to break it to you ya’ll nothing.

The real strategists are there in Damascus and SAA. Retracting from Tadmur is a brilliant move which will be taught fir years in military academies around the globe. Just wait to see the sudden flip in power and achievements.

For those who are “worried” about Damascus, not to worry at all because “Mecca could fall but not Damascus”

JAMAL, shame you’re resorting to hallucinatory drugs to cope with this.

Makes you useless to your buddies in Damascus. Not a bad thing.

Syrialover

Well, you overestimate a bit our quality of journalism when it comes to Syria. I think French and British media have a wider and more sophisticated view and report more often on Syria. Only Der Spiegel and Die Zeit have a better understanding. Most commentators argue the next aim is Homs with more oil wells on the way this seems the obvious next move ahead. I don’t know if you have read the article by the daily beast, an eyewitness described the fleeing of government and army officials, contradicts directly the claim by Syrian tv, which stated that most of Palmyra was evacuated. I assume just like Tabqa army base… From Damascus I hear that most sense a strange atmosphere, never before people felt more insecure than now, the regime seems to have a hard time to play their usual lullaby kullu bi khair…

64. Syrialover

Reassure your friends, the SAA will regain Tadmur in due time.

THE BATTLE FOR PALMYRA: WHAT REALLY HAPPENED ACCORDING TO OUR MILITARY SOURCES
http://www.syrianperspective.com/2015/05/the-battle-for-palmyra-what-really-happened-according-to-our-military-sources.html

I thought for a minute that Jamal should be taken seriously… but he has so kindly saved me from my mistake.

let me understand this. When Bashar’s brother put on the military outfit, we broke his leg. Batta wears the military suit and we lost Tadmour to ISIS . The family needs to change their fashion habits.

SYRIAN HAMSTER

You’re definitely a sharp person with ethics. Would not you agree that your comment #51 goes either way?

Are you ready and willing to acknowledge that both sides are unjustifiably trying to legalize mass killing?

The problem you and most Sunnis are not accepting or acknowledging that minorities at risk of being eradicated for good, instead you call it minority inferiority complex.

My blah blah blah on Tadmur

An exactly a week ago IS attacked Tadmur but retracted after advancing few kilometers inside the city. A source (one of the officers who were in Tadmur last week) mentioned that a deal was struck with IS to delay the inevitable attack on Tadmur and allow an organized withdrawal of army troops and its allies of national defense forces. The deal also included the safe evacuation of 70% of prisoners of the infamous Tadmur prison. These prisoners were then transferred to the other infamous prison of Abu-Alshamat.

It’s worth mentioning that the troops in Tadmur were elite and highly trained ones, some belong to the republican guards and others to the 4th brigade of M.A, in addition to some Russian security forces who guard three Russian scientific basis in that region.

Now after the fall (or handover) of Tadmur, the next target is Abu-Alshamat which is only 210km away from Tadmur. Abu-Alshamat’s checkpoint is one of the biggest in the country and as they say not even the blue flies can go through it. It’s co-controlled by army and mukhabarat with helicopters continuously hovering over the area. In Abu-Alshamat there’s another big secret prison and some chemical and biological laboratories belong to the Syrian Defense Weaponry Establishment. It’s there where they used to conduct chemical and biological weapons human trials on political prisoners during the era of Khadam and Talas.

If the plan follows this pattern then we’re expecting Abu-Alshamat to get handed on a golden plate to IS, then the Dmyer will be the next destination before arriving the Qalamon. Now this source is in total belief that this is a strategy and actually the army is guiding IS as closer as possible to Lebanon for two reason. 1)The whole world cares about Lebanon and at that point the West will be forced to organize efforts with Damascus. 2) Dragging IS to the battle field which has chosen by Hizbuallah and Iran where they have easy and continuous logistical access for such a bone breaking battle.

Again what I mentioned above is a narration of one officer but surely I can’t verify its authenticity. What really struck me though is the importance of prisoners to get transferred with the troops from town to town, not sure why through.

ALAN,

Sorry, you get an F minus minus grade for your attempt to respond to my question on why the Assad regime couldn’t spare any barrel bombs to hit the ISIS convoys travelling miles across open country to Palmyra.

That article you posted in #70 has been proved to contain wild lies and delusions.

You are welcome to re-sit the exam.

NADIA, a kind caution if you’re playing with HAMSTER.

“The problem you and most Sunnis are……” (#73)

I don’t remember him announcing that he’s Sunni.

76. Syrialover

He’s and you actually most of the participants on this website are Sunnis.

I hope I did not insult him by saying he’s a Sunni, sometimes you need to be ok with your skin in order to get by.

An update on Assad’s methods for burning the country and cruelty to innocent Syrians. His deputies:

– stopped people in Palmyra and surrounds leaving to escape ISIS (UN is stating this)

– blew up the local electricity and water infrastructure before leaving the population to ISIS (anyone getting through by phone is hearing panic at lack of drinking water)

– looted and packed up a lot of publicly-owned antiquities to sell off themselves

– fled in elite convoys, abandoning ordinary Syrian soldiers without transport or proper weaponry to become trophies for ISIS

This list is only for starters.

Has anyone heard if the SAA left the heavy weaponry they had parked among the ruins at Palmyra for ISIS?

NADIA #77

Really? Truly? You have seen everyone here’s birth certificates? After a few surprises I have learnt to assume nothing on this forum.

مليون ليرة كلفة اطعام “حيوانات” ماهر الأسد

https://youtu.be/shuVB3vfLs8

Marwan

وتفوا على هالعيلة من أصغرهم لاكبرهم. شلة مجرمين
اجوا من الضيعة معدومين.، سرقوا سوريا ، وفكروا حالهم بيسوا شي

-simply stated.

النوري بيضلو نوري و الضيعنجي بيضلو ضيعنجي
و الجحش بيضلو جحش سواء سما حالو الاسد او حتى ربا اسد و نمر عندو بالبيت
يئطع عمرهم شو عندهم عقد نئص

It was entertaining reading some posts about the fall of palmyra in the hands of Isis terrorists.
Isis in Syria controls territories 10 times the size of Lebanon and young sunni Muslims are still coming to join this terrorist group which now has tanks and many American heavy weapons.
Those who are cheering Isis and Nusra advances are not just fools they are self hating also, show me one area under Isis or Nusra where people are free and women are treated as equal human beings. There is a Taqiyyah going on among Muslims, they pretend to be against Isis but they are eager to see it win out of stupidity and hatred.
People who stayed away ftom public discussions are suddenly coming back after receiving shots of vitamin -I (Isis).
Tadmur ( polymers) fell because there is a limited number of soldiers who are available to fight, Tadmur will not be the last tine to be lost to Nusra or Isis , and if this war does not stop Syria will probably be divided.
Some posts here make this line more relevant today.
يا أمة ضحكت من جهلها الامم
يا عيب الشوم عليكم ما شاطرين الا بالعلاك المصدي و الثرثرة

As you know, a fight always involves two sides, and the third tries to incite them, so that they, God forbid, don’t reconcile and charge together against the third party. In this case, each side wants to be the third party, which is not involved in the fight. In our present story, there are only two such parties — Assad and the Syrian opposition. ISIS is not content with sitting on the sidelines. ISIS wants to conquer territory, it can’t wait, and while things are not great, ISIS wants to capture as much as possible in this situation. But the opposition would love the Islamists to break Assad’s neck and then the United States could mercilessly bomb these Islamists, and only when everything is prepared, invite the Syrian opposition to rule over Syria. Those who plan such operations should realize that those who win with foreign bayonets, will not hold on to power. Assad would also like the main fighting to be between the Islamists and the opposition. This is exactly what is happening and will continue. As you know, the most brutal fighting is internal. That is, figuratively speaking, some species of the same breed compete against each other to secure the prey, and then move a step up from their own species. In our situation there are two sides — the challengers and the President. The “challenger” species consists of two members – opposition and ISIS. They will have the internal struggle. Each of them expects to win, and after becoming the sole winner, then move on Assad.
http://fortruss.blogspot.de/2015/05/inside-source-putin-will-not-abandon.html