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Russian jets pulverize jihadist rebels in northern Homs
[ALMASDARNEWS] The Russian Air Force carried out a large number of Arclight airstrikes over the northern Homs countryside on Tuesday, targeting the jihadist rebels Harakat Ahrar al-Sham
...a Syria jihadi group made up of Islamists and salafists, not that there's that much difference, formed into a brigade. They make up the main element of the Islamic Front but they don't profess adoration of al-Qaeda and they've been fighting (mainly for survival) against the Islamic State. Their leadership was wiped out at a single blow by a suicide kaboom at a crowded basement meeting in September, 2014...
 and Jabhat Fateh al-Sham
...formerly al-Nusra, the current false nose and mustache of al-Qaeda in the Levant...
 (formerly al-Nusra
...formally Jabhat an-Nusrah li-Ahli al-Sham (Support Front for the People of the Levant), also known as al-Qaeda in the Levant. They aim to establish a pan-Arab caliphate. Not the same one as the Islamic State, though .. ...
 Front) at the villages of Talbiseh, al-Ghajjar, and al-Rastan.

According to an al-Masdar correspondent in Damascus, the Russian Air Force inflicted heavy damage on the jihadist defenses, destroying at least 5 armored vehicles (3 technical vehicles and 2 BMPs) outside Jabhat Fateh al-Sham's headquarters in the village of al-Ghajjar.

The Russian Air Force conducted these Arclight airstrikes in retaliation to Jabhat Fateh al-Sham's assault on the al-Zara Thermal Power Plant that is under the Syrian Arab Army's (SAA) control.

Despite these latest Arclight airstrikes, the northern Homs front is still relatively static, as both the Syrian Armed Forces and jihadist rebels have been unable to advance.


Posted by: Fred 2016-10-19
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=470638