In a totally NON-surprise move, the Russian Navy bolsters its naval presence off Syria to the highest level since 2015 when it first was asked by Syria to aid in fighting various rebel groups in their country.
As noted by a recent Reuters article:
On Saturday, the Admiral Grigorovich and Admiral Essen frigates sailed through Istanbul’s Bosphorus towards the Mediterranean, Reuters pictures showed.
The day before, the Pytlivy frigate and landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov were pictured sailing through the Turkish straits that connect the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. The Vishny Volochek missile corvette passed through earlier this month.
This is a NORMAL buildup to protect Syria as it continues in the negotiation stage and subsequent clean-up and liberation of the Idleb governorate in Syria’s northwest. The public announcement of this was made to let the rebel forces in this area know that they have limited time to respond to offers from the Syrian military that emphasized a September 7 deadline, the date when the Turkish, Russian and Iranian presidents will meet.
A Moon of Alabama article from three days ago shows the area about to be set free from rebel control, and the sensitivity here has to do with the US/UK/Israel backed rebel forces that have effectively been cornered:
There are signs that al-Qaeda in Syria and similar groups will try to preempt the upcoming attack on them by an offense of their own. The U.S., UK and France prepare for another chemical incident in support of the Jihadi attack. They would strike Syrian government forces and institutions after a new fake incident would be attributed to the Syrian government.
Turkey was given until the summit to remove al-Qaeda and similar Jihadi groups from Idleb governorate. It so far failed to do so and its chance of achieving that is practically zero. Al-Qaeda in the form of Hayat Tahrir al Sham (HTS, formerly Jabhat al-Nusra) and in coalition with other foreign Jihadis from all over the world rules about 70% of Idleb governorate:
“Idlib Province is the largest al-Qaeda safe haven since 9/11,” says Brett McGurk, the senior US envoy to the international coalition fighting Isis.
Pushed up against the Turkish border, with the clock ticking, Syria, Russian and Iranian forces are EXPECTING the US’s deep state to attempt to pull off a false flag to justify even more intervention in an area where they are not wanted.
The Inspector General of the U.S. aid agency shut down an aid program through which al-Qaeda in Idleb was fed:
“US charity Catholic Relief Services wouldn’t directly confirm it was the NGO involved but left little doubt, saying it had “closed” its operations in northwest Syria following reports of aid diversion, and had dismissed staff as it works to “further enhance” anti-fraud measures. CRS has received $147 million from USAID for projects in Syria over the last three financial years, according to the USAID website.”
“USAID’s inspector general, reporting to Congress, first in March and with more details released in July, said that staff of an unnamed non-profit added “fighters” of armed group Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham to lists of civilians eligible for food packages and then covered up the records. The US government regards HTS as a successor to the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front.”First reports of this scheme through which the U.S. supplied al-Qaeda were already published in 2012. It was widely known that al-Qaeda systematically “taxed” up to 50% of all food and weapon supplies U.S. supported “moderate rebels” received.
Ringed with both Russian and Iranian observation posts, this is a very controlled “run-down” of the terrorist scourge in the region as long as the US does not interfere.
To assist in pressing its point, at lest 20 Russian naval units are in the region (thanks to Capt N on Twitter)
This is a serious attempt at bringing to a close this chapter (but not yet the final chapters) of Syria’s battle against terrorism and their supporters.
The US Navy however is positioned more for North Korean and Chinese “threats” and will have to bring non-carrier based task forces into the region like the USS Ross, armed with Tomahawk missiles:
Expect the US and other forces to be desperate in bringing about a confrontation. Never-mind that the US just re-activated their 2nd Fleet for North Atlantic and Arctic activities now that the Trump administration has ratcheted up tension with Russia using sanctions as well as ill-advised Tomahawk cruise missile attacks like Trump did the last time he dabbled in Syria’s domestic affairs.
The multi-year joint effort by Syria-Russia-Iran is progressing in an attempt to undo the “democracy” the US brought into the region:
Long term, Moon of Alabama says:
Six month from now, after the Idleb operation is over, the Syrian army is likely to move further north to retake the Syrian areas Turkey is currently holding and attempting to annex. After that the U.S. occupation force in north-east Syria will come into sight.
Additional U.S. operations against Syrian, Iraqi and Iranian forces might soon come on the Syian-Iraq border where U.S. forces are building up for new operations. It is claimed that the U.S. deploys radar systems to north-east Syria which it keeps occupying. These would be useful in establishing a no-fly zone over the territory of its Kurdish proxy forces. The U:S. is likely underestimating the local hostility against this development. The 2-5,000 U.S. troops there may soon find themselves in a hopeless fight with local guerilla forces.
For all the innocent lives impacted, please pray that the US steers clear of its reactive/short-term moves that continues the de-stabilization process it set in motion soon after the Cold War was over in 1989. The US continues to try to justify a global military as well as the Petro Dollar (USD).
Stay ‘tuned’ (US Navy Electronic Technician humor)
-SF1