airstrike – The Middle East Scroll

Update: Syrian children hit in bomb, death toll in Mosul rising, ISIS atrocities

October 29, 2016

kurdishfighters — Kurdish fighters prepare for the Mosul offensive.

The attack on Mosul has continued, and news about it and Aleppo has been flying out like crazy, even sometimes shoving aside new articles about the quickly approaching presidential election. I’ve been trying to ignore a lot of it, because I’d like to cover other things besides the Syrian Civil War. But in the interest of keeping you guys updated, here’s what’s been dominating headlines recently about the Syrian war:

An airstrike was carried out on a rebel-held village in Syria, and a few bombs hit a school, killing 22 children. Pictures that have come out from the shelling have been striking and gruesome. Here’s one of the more powerful ones:

school-bombing

Likely because of this incident and other horrifying airstrikes on civilians, Russia has lost its seat on the UN Human Rights Council.

Rebels trapped in Aleppo started a counter-offensive to open currently embargoed routes in the city. The Syrian government has taken a siege strategy of starving the city out, and the offensive sought to provide a path for supplies and troops to reinforce the city. It seems to have failed, however.

According to DoD press releases, ISIS has lost hundreds of fighters as Kurdish and Iraqi troops have approached the city. General Joseph Votel estimated that 800-900 ISIS troops have been killed in the last week. According to some estimates, there are only 5,000 Islamic State troops embedded within the city, and if that’s the case, one fifth of them have died already.

Finally, ISIS has been committing various atrocities and horrible murders in Mosul. Children and women were murdered after falling behind while being forced to walk from one village to another. Fifteen people were found dead in a river in an attempt ‘to spread terror’. 232 people, including 40 civilians and many Iraqi troops, were executed near Mosul. And of course, there have been reports of human shields proliferating everywhere.

Assad plays dumb, UN human rights chief calls Aleppo bombardment a ‘slaughterhouse’

October 21, 2016

zeid-al-hussein — Human rights chief Zeid Al Hussein gives a speech.

While the UN and other countries try to shed light on the horrific conditions in Aleppo and around Syria as the regime of Bashar Al-Assad and Russia continue to push to retake the country, Assad is busy doing what he does best: playing obstructionist.

After being asked by a Swiss media outlet what he would say to the family of Omar Daqneesh, the boy captured in an iconic picture that showcases the brutality of the airstrikes against Syrian civilians, Assad had no good answer to give.

“This is a forged picture and not a real one,” He said, in complete sincerity.

Despite the fact that we have Daqneesh’s rescue on video, Assad still persists in his denialism of basic reality. And Assad insists on bashing the White Helmets, a rescue group set up to save civilians from destroyed buildings and conflict zones, and possibly one of the few bright spots of the Syrian civil war thus far. He’s a truly deplorable person, unwilling to accept any evidence that indicts him of anything bad. At least if he admitted to the horrors caused by his manic desire to rule Syria, he’d have some shred of honor.

But instead, the Russian and Syrian propaganda machines are churning to make anything that seems bad okay by declaring all opposition ‘terrorists’. But Daqneesh is too young to be one, so instead Assad has to claim that the whole thing was made up, just to make his government look good, if you don’t know what’s going on. What’s even more absurd is his wife seems to think that Assad is wrong, and that the picture isn’t a forgery.

And while Assad is continuing his ‘war on truth’, the UN human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein, has come out very strongly against the airstrikes in Syria, calling the warzone a ‘slaughterhouse’. And I’m sure Al-Hussein will soon be receiving hit pieces declaring him a ‘foreign influence’ looking for a regime change, and maybe, he’ll even be accused of supporting terrorism!

Saudi Arabia admits to funeral bombing, blames bad intel

October 16, 2016

After the Saudi-led coalition bombed a funeral proceeding for the father of a notable Houthi leader last week in Yemen, killing over 140 people, the coalition promised to investigate.

And the coalition has released a press statement, blaming an unnamed source for bad intel. The investigators said that the coalition had been given intel that claimed that Houthi rebel leaders were in the building in Sana’a. Instead, the airstrike mainly killed civilians and non-militants, and injured more than 600 people.

“JIAT has found that because of non-compliance with Coalition rules of engagement and procedures, and the issuing of incorrect information, a Coalition aircraft wrongly targeted the location, resulting in civilian deaths and injuries,” the investigation team said in a statement.

The investigation team also said that compensation should be offered to the families of victims of the bombing, and that appropriate action should be taken against those who caused the incident.

The funeral bombing has caused the US to reconsider its involvement in the coalition, providing arms and support, previously stating that their help “was not a blank check” for the coalition to do whatever it pleased.

Houthi rebels attempt to shoot down US ship, US retaliates

October 13, 2016

050102-N-1444C-013 — The targeted US ship, the USS Mason.

After two missiles from a Houthi-controlled area were shot at the USS Mason earlier this week, and both missed, the US military quickly replied by launching Tomahawk missiles at the radar centers that targeted the ship. President Obama himself authorized the airstrikes, according to reports.

The US Navy recorded the USS Nitze firing the Tomahawk missiles, and you can watch the video on YouTube here. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook denied that the attack signaled greater US involvement in the Yemeni civil war.

“These limited self-defense strikes were conducted to protect our personnel, our ships and our freedom of navigation,” Cook said.

According to officials, the three radar sites that targeted the USS Mason were destroyed in the US’s retaliation.

Analysis as to why these shots were fired seem to be wildly varying; there are some that think that the Houthis are trying to pull the US into the Yemeni civil war, and some think that it was just the Houthis lashing out after the disastrous funeral airstrike in Yemen a few days ago. The US was not directly involved in carrying out the airstrike, but has been providing military assistance to the Saudi-led coalition fighting on the side of the Yemeni government.

Both of these theories have problems, so I’m not really sure which I think is right. I think the Houthis have little motivation to try and pull the US into the Yemeni civil war, because it’d basically be suicide. The support the Houthis would get from countries like Iran after bringing the US in would not be worth it.

The second theory just seems a little bit dumb to me. Even if the Houthis were under great emotional unrest from the funeral strikes, surely they aren’t dumb enough to try and provoke the world’s greatest military? Furthermore, the US was not directly involved in the airstrike on the funeral. If they wanted revenge, the Houthis would attack the country that actually had the biggest part, Saudi Arabia. And they’re already at war with them, so they wouldn’t be risking anything by shooting missiles at Saudi ships.

So I’m not really sure what caused the rebels to attempt a strike on the USS Mason. If I had to guess, I would say it’s probably both of the two theories operating in tandem, because neither really sounds plausible alone, but even then that answer doesn’t quite satisfy me. So take it with a grain of salt. Either way, it was a pretty bad idea to attempt, and the sad fact that the rebels still missed, twice, is a little bit funny. If you’re trying to provoke war with a superpower, you’d better make sure your missiles are aimed correctly, guys.

I just hope that this event doesn’t signal the beginning of us getting more involved in Yemen.

Please God, no.

US and Russia beginning talks over Syrian conflict again

October 12, 2016

People inspect the damage at a market hit by airstrikes in Aleppo's rebel held al-Fardous district — A market, destroyed in recent airstrikes in Aleppo. Image courtesy of Reuters.

Previous stories on this topic:

Update: US finally gives up on talks for a Syrian cease-fire deal

Update: Syrian cease-fire expires as US and Russia trade insults

After Secretary of State John Kerry threatened to end talks with Russia unless they stopped the constant, damaging airstrikes, and Russia ignored his warning, I assumed that the talks would not resume after only nine days! But then again, I’ve been making a lot of assumptions about US foreign policy, and it seems like every time my expectations are thwarted and we step on a rake.

After air strikes killed 25 on Wednesday, both countries announced that Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would be meeting to attempt and organize – another cease fire, probably. The last one was a complete failure on pretty much every level, and no aide was able to reach trapped civilians in Aleppo until the deal had expired.

The immediate rejoining of relations is silly. If you deliver an ultimatum, Kerry, you have to fulfill the stupid ultimatum, or nobody trusts your words. This isn’t even really a foreign policy question as much as a ‘give yourself some credibility’ question. Breaking relations for nine days to immediately come back is not useful when you have promised to break relations, because now the Russians know that if we make an ultimatum like that, all it takes is a little pressure and we’ll break our promises. This is not an uncommon thing in the Obama administration, however.

This cease-fire will only be useful if Syria and Russia keep terms of the deal, which they failed horribly at last time.

US says it will ‘immediately investigate’ funeral airstrike by Saudi Arabia that killed more than 140

October 9, 2016

funeral strike.png — Civilians and investigators survey the rubble after Saudi Arabian airstrikes hit a funeral.

Saudi Arabia and its army have been the backbone of the Yemeni government ever since the Houthi rebels and its massive paramilitary wing have seized power in Western Yemen. But sometimes, its actions run into controversy.

The US, who is supporting Saudi Arabia’s foray into the Yemeni civil war, has criticized them after an airstrike hit and killed more than 140 people who were mourning the death of the father of a prominent Houthi leader.

“U.S. security cooperation with Saudi Arabia is not a blank check,” National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said, after they learned of the airstrike.

The coalition of countries supporting the Yemeni government, including Jordan and the UAE, said they would be investigating the occurrence along with the US.

ISIS propaganda chief killed in US airstrike

September 16, 2016

abu-bakr — Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the de-facto leader of the Islamic State, gives a speech.

The propaganda of ISIS is famed for its surprising professionalism and effective messaging, but their propaganda machine may have taken a hit. (Pun not intended.) Recently, the Pentagon revealed that one of ISIS’s top propaganda chiefs, Wa’il Adil Hasan Salman al-Fayad AKA ‘Dr. Wa’il’ (Sounds like a bad rapper name to me), was hit and killed in an American airstrike.

Al-Fayad was killed on September 7th, near the Syrian city of Raqqa. He was considered a high-profile leader within the Islamic State, and had a bounty of $5 million dollars on his head.

His contributions to ISIS included the coordination of of ISIS fighters, encouraging lone-wolf attacks on civilians and military members, as well as his avid recruitment of fighters via propaganda.

Syrian Cease-Fire Update: UN Unable to Send Humanitarian Aide, Russia and US Accuse Each Other of Violations

September 15, 2016

destruction-syria

After the cease-fire was violated only an hour after it was passed, it didn’t look like things were going to well for the cease-fire negotiated between Russia and the US for a temporary truce between Syrian rebels and the Syrian government.

The first violation was minor enough that the deal held, though – and was only an hour into the truce. But these new problems look like they might stick around, and drag it down. So the first bit of big news was that the UN complained that they could not get into Aleppo, the city under siege in Syria, with humanitarian aide, which was legitimately one of the reasons they set up this cease-fire, and then the Russian ministry complained that the US wasn’t upholding their part of the deal by letting rebel groups continue assaulting, and then the US accused Russia of not holding back the Syrian government from attacking.

So the already quite unpopular cease-fire is beginning to look like it might break before seven days. And the reason that those first seven days are important is because they are required to pass without the cease-fire breaking, so that the US and Russia can create a joint organization to attack ISIS and carry out air strikes with each others’ supervision.

Most of the opposition to the cease-fire comes from the perception that the cease-fire doesn’t do enough to protect Syrian citizens and gives Bashar Al-Assad more time to coalesce and build up, while the rebels are essentially trapped and isolated in Aleppo. There’s a good article in opposition on the Daily Beast.

I’ll continue updating about the cease-fire as more news come out.

The Middle East Scroll

Analysis of the conflicts and history of the Near East

Tag: airstrike