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| 22 ISIS targets hit in airstrikes in Palmyra |
| 2016-12-17 |
| [ARA News] Homs – Aircraft of the US-led coalition has destroyed 14 ISIS tanks and other equipment captured near Syria’s ancient city of Palmyra, which was recently taken from regime forces by ISIS. ISIS seized the tanks and other military hardware from Tiyas Military Airfield near Palmyra, Syria, between 11-13 Dec after the withdrawal of the Syrian regime forces. The US-led coalition doesn’t want these tanks to pose a threat to the coalition forces. “The [coalition’s] commanding general Lt. Gen. Stephen J. Townsend made it clear during his Dec.14th press conference that we would strike the equipment before it posed a threat to counter-ISIS operations,” said Col. John Dorrian, a spokesperson for the US-led coalition. “We will not allow ISIS to maintain capabilities that threaten Coalition or partner forces.” “The attacks occurred during daylight hours from late morning to early evening on Thursday. In addition to the 14 tanks, three artillery systems, two ISIS-held buildings, two tactical vehicles, and an air defense artillery system were also destroyed in the strike. The equipment was destroyed in the vicinity of the airfield, northeast of the city along a highway,” the coalition said. During the operation, 16 Coalition aircraft fired 22 munitions destroying 22 targets. “Regarding ISIS retaking Palmyra… if the Russians and the regime don’t strike it, we will,” LTG Townsend said, fearing that the equipment taken by ISIS could be used against the US-led coalition. The Syrian president Bashar al-Assad blamed in an interview with the Russian state channel RT the United States last Wednesday. “They came with different machineguns, cannons, artillery, everything is different. So, it could only happen when they come in this desert with the supervision of the American alliance that’s supposed to attack them in al-Raqqa and Mosul and Deir Ezzor, but it didn’t happen; they either turned a blind eye on what ISIS is going to do, or -and that’s what I believe– they pushed toward Palmyra,” he said. “So, it’s not about Mosul. We don’t have to fall in that trap. It’s about al-Raqqa and Deir Ezzor. They are very close, only a few hundred kilometers, they could come under the supervision of the American satellites and the American drones and the American support,” Assad stated. However, Western analysts suggest the Syrian Army and Russia were not well-prepared for an ISIS offensive on Palmyra, and focused all their resources on retaking the city of Aleppo from the Syrian rebels, this while ISIS needed a victory after facing several defeats at the hands of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces and Iraqi Army in Iraq, and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Manbij and near Raqqa. Last Sunday, the ISIS hardline group recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra in Homs Governorate. Activists and military sources confirmed the rout, reporting that the army had been forced to withdraw under fire. “The army withdrew after the clashes reached the city center and it became impossible for them to push ISIS back,” local media activist Abas al-Omar told ARA News. Russia had supported the Syrian Army in Palmyra, with airstrikes and logistical support but their efforts were apparently insufficient to save the city. ISIS first took over Palmyra in May 2015, following a protracted battle with regime forces. The Islamic State’s occupation was exceptionally brutal, even by the standards of Syria’s 5-year-long conflict. From From Arab News: WASHINGTON: US-led coalition aircraft have destroyed heavy weaponry seized by Daesh terrorists when they retook the Syrian city of Palmyra from regime forces over the weekend, officials said Friday. The strikes on Thursday destroyed an air defense artillery system, 14 tanks, three artillery systems, two Daesh-held buildings and two tactical vehicles, the coalition said in a statement. Among the Russian weaponry the Daesh group captured around Palmyra were thought to be modern surface-to-air missiles, or SAMs, giving terrorists the potential capability to shoot down coalition jets, a coalition official told AFP. Earlier on Wednesday, the commander of the coalition forces conducting airstrikes against the Daesh group in Iraq and Syria, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, had said that “anything they (Daesh) seize poses a threat to the coalition, but we can manage those threats and we will.” Thursday’s attack took place near the Tiyas military airfield near Palmyra, northeast of the fabled city along a highway. The Daesh group overran Palmyra on Sunday, nine months after its fighters were expelled by Russian airstrikes and forces loyal to President Bashar Assad. The radicals had initially seized Palmyra in May 2015 and went on to blow up UNESCO-listed Roman-era temples and loot ancient relics. Before the Daesh group retook the city, it had been the focus of Russian and Syrian counter-Daesh operations and not an area were the US coalition was particularly active. The White House has been withering in its criticism of Russia for losing control of the desert town, accusing Moscow of focusing more on helping the Assad regime retake Aleppo than its claim of fighting the Daesh group. “(Russia) has only had one operational gain on the ground inside of Syria against Daesh. It has had that — that gain rolled back,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “In fact, the threat that is posed by Daesh is now worse because of Russia’s failed strategy inside of Syria, because Daesh didn’t just retake Palmyra, they retook Palmyra and all of the military equipment that the Assad regime, backed by Russia, had moved in there.” Despite the rhetorical clashes and arguments over Syria, the United States and Russia have established military back channels to ensure operations outside their usual zones of interest do not result in direct confrontation. |
| Posted by:badanov |