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Since April 10, pro-government forces, led by the Republican Guard and Liwa al-Quds, have been making attempts to advance against Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and its allies northwest of the city of Aleppo. So far, government troops captured the areas of Tell Shuwehnah and Khirbet Anadan and tried to push further in the diraction of Maarat al-Artic and Babis. However, this advance have been repelled by forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). On April 12, clashes continued in the area with both government forces and militants are trying to advance on each other.
While some pro-government outlets described this advance as a large-scale push aiming to encircle Anadan and the nearby points, the Republican Guard and Liwa al-Quds will likely not be able to achieve this goal because of a lack of manpower for this advance. The real goal of the operation is to put an additional pressure on HTS members in the Anadan plain amid the continued clashes in northern Hama where the group is also deeply involved. Nonetheless, if defenses of the HTS-led forces collapse by some reason, government troops will try to use this to achieve their maximum goal in the area.
The situation remains tense in northern Hama with the Tiger Forces, the National Defense Forces (DNF) and other pro-government factions embedded with Iranian and Russian military advisors are putting pressure on HTS—led forces aiming to retake Souran and Halfaya.
The Russian-trained 5th Legion and the NDF backed up by the Russian Aerospace Forces, recaptured the Al Taj hill, a number of points in the Mazburad Mountain, Qasr al-Halabat, Sukkari, Syria Tal and the Al-Abtar Mountain from ISIS terrorists in the countryside of Palmyra.
Pro-government forces are now pushing along the road linking the al-Busairi crossroad and Palmyra. In this case, Jabal al-Khan, Jabal Abtar, the Sawwanah Junction, Khufayfis and the Khufayfis Phosphate Mine are the main targets of the government advance.
This advance shows that the Syrian military is aiming to secure further the Homs-Palmyra highway from the southern and northern directions instead of pushing to Deir Ezzor, as SF forecasted earlier.
The push of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) militant coalition against ISIS in the desert southwest of Palmyra also contributes to the Syrian Armed Forces’ concerns. If the FSA reaches al-Bardah and the al-Busairi crossroad first, they will be able to threaten the southern flank of the government forces deployed in the Tiyas Airbase.
On April 12, so-called “green buses” arrived the villages of Zabadani and Madaya in southwestern Syria in order to evacuate the first batch of militants and members of their families from the area. According to reports, about 3,000 militants and civilians will evacuate. Government forces will set a full control over the Zabadani pocket.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Tuesday that Moscow must choose between good relations with the US and its allies and support for Iran, Hezbollah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. With this statement, the secretary of state aimed to strengthen his position amid ahead of his meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. However, it’s no likely that ultimatums could help to find a joint ground over the issue.
During his first press briefing, Secretary of Defense James Mattis once again confirmed that the US is set to blame the Assad government for the Idlib chemical attack and offered a stern warning that the Syrian government will pay “very very stiff price” if further chemical attacks were launched in the future.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said that only two facilities for production and storage of chemical weapons are located on the Syrian territory, controlled by militants. “Destruction of 10 of the 12 facilities, used for storage and production of chemical weapons, was confirmed by OPCW experts. The Syrian authorities do not have access to the two remaining facilities, as they are located on the territory, controlled by the so-called opposition. For this reason, the OPCW cannot confirm the fact of destruction of chemical weapons on them,” Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy said.
Russia has rightfully vetoed the Western anti-Syrian resolution in the UN. That while calling for an “investigation” of the CW attack. Basically,puts the blame on the Syrian government for the attack.As good as it is that Russia vetoed that resolution. Even better,it appears Russia has a temporary UN envoy that has a backbone.Maybe no longer will Russia put up with the Western bullying in the UN which has become the Western trade mark there. Here is what he said to the British Ambassador (one of the worse Russophobes there):
“Look at my when I’m speaking, why are you looking away”
Safronkov said that Britain has made insulting demands, remarking that unlike Russia ,Britain has done nothing to create a ceasefire but instead welcomes illegal armed groups to London.
He continue, saying,
“You were afraid of things moving towards a peaceful solution”
The Russian envoy continued, saying that the UK funds militants who kill Christians. In this light Safrankov said that he cannot accept Britain insulting Russia.
http://theduran.com/russian-and-syrian-un-envoys-blast-america-britain-and-france-russia-set-to-veto-new-resolution/
Freaks like rycroft give homosexuals a bad name…
But that said, Haley is equally repugnant.
White House claims on Syria chemical attack ‘obviously false’ – MIT professor (VIDEO)
https://www.rt.com/usa/384520-postol-report-sarin-syria/
“The report “contains absolutely no evidence that this attack was the result of a munition being dropped from an aircraft,” wrote Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Professor Theodore Postol, who reviewed it and put together a 14-page assessment, which he provided to RT on Wednesday.
“I believe it can be shown, without doubt, that the document does not provide any evidence whatsoever that the US government has concrete knowledge that the government of Syria was the source of the chemical attack in Khan Shaykhun,” wrote Postol.
A chemical attack with a nerve agent did occur, he said, but the available evidence does not support the US government’s conclusions.
The report offered by the White House, however, cited “a wide body of open-source material” and “social media accounts” from the rebel-held area, including footage provided by the White Helmets rescue group documented to have ties with jihadist rebels, Western and Gulf Arab governments.
“Any competent analyst would have had questions about whether the debris in the crater was staged or real,” he wrote. “No competent analyst would miss the fact that the alleged sarin canister was forcefully crushed from above, rather than exploded by a munition within it.”
Instead, “the most plausible conclusion is that the sarin was dispensed by an improvised dispersal device made from a 122mm section of rocket tube filled with sarin and capped on both sides.”
“We again have a situation where the White House has issued an obviously false, misleading and amateurish intelligence report,” he concluded, recalling the 2013 situation when the Obama administration claimed Assad had used chemical weapons against the rebels in Ghouta, near Damascus.
“What the country is now being told by the White House cannot be true,” Postol wrote, “and the fact that this information has been provided in this format raises the most serious questions about the handling of our national security.”
I sum, the chem attack is apoorly done and very obvious falseflag which was staged by the agents of the zionazis.
Doing false flags poorly and even admitting to the crimes through leaks, is standard MKUltra procedure.
Nothing demoralizes people more that seeing glaring injustice, while simultaneously realizing that one has no means wahtsoever to do anything about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxO6Qz6U3bo
video camera man from anna-news has been awarded a medal from Syrian government for hos coverage of Aleppo.