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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Kremlin-Linked Audio Recordings On The Armed Clash With Americans In Syria Are Leaked
2018-02-27
Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova is the only Russian government official who has publicly confirmed that five people, "presumably" Russian citizens, were killed in an armed clash with U.S. forces near Deir el-Zour in Syria.

Opposition leaders inside Russia, as well as Russian and Western media reports, dispute Zakharova’s comments.

Polygraph.info has obtained audio recordings from a source close to the Kremlin who said the Russian casualties were personnel from a private Russian military company who attempted to capture an oil refinery in Syria.
Posted by:G. Whotha5763

#29  What I'd like to know is how LRRP's avoid getting spotted by omnipresent drones.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2018-02-27 23:59  

#28  So the Russians were massing for days. Without any way of hiding it. Presuming the reports are true.

All the other players are doing this on a shoestring. Only Uncle has the resources to get stuff done quickly. That kind of redundancy is what you get with a $700b defense budget. Most of Syria is desert, and deserted, so it's not like people can just loiter in the middle of nowhere, and not get noticed. And then there's sigint, Kurdish scouts and, presumably, spies working in the Syrian government.

I have a feeling our people on the ground aren't exactly sitting still. Since the original function of what are now Special Forces was intel gathering on enemy dispositions, I expect they've been running LRRP's against anyone near where they're laagered.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2018-02-27 23:56  

#27  Pttttttthhhhhppp! to you, Skidmark. Evrey word of that is literally true. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife   2018-02-27 22:33  

#26  just a little civilian housewife

AH,hahahaha!
Posted by: Skidmark   2018-02-27 19:05  

#25  I was talking to a US Marine general back before the invasion of Iraq. He made the exact same point but with Iraq. Then zero screwed the pooch by pulling out.

I wouldn’t dream of claiming I actually thought it up myself, dear G. Whotha5763 — I am, after all, just a little civilian housewife with no martial training. But I’ve read the discussion of why it’s important here at Rantburg over the years, and it makse sense to me. What President Obama did to destroy all that work, wasting all those who sacrificed life, limb, and mind, was predicted during the 2007-2008 campaign. So his place in the history books as an awful lesson is secure.
Posted by: trailing wife   2018-02-27 18:38  

#24  Russia-Russians, or their local surrogates?
Posted by: gorb   2018-02-27 17:17  

#23  So the Russians were massing for days. Without any way of hiding it. Presuming the reports are true.
So, they're idiots. Or they were signaling to the US to back off before anybody got hurt. Now they know. Don't take days to mass and don't expect the US to do an Obama.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey   2018-02-27 16:49  

#22  How many hours from the "official" time of discovery of the impending attack until the Buffs arrived? Somebody was using his ouija board pretty effectively.

Reports are that the Russians had been massing for days, getting their ducks in a row. The B-52's were probably on station just in case it wasn't just for show.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2018-02-27 15:36  

#21  They're fighting Assad's men. You know, the ones fighting the jihadis.

Assad's son sponsors jihadis and non-Islamist terror groups, and even pays them to conduct terror attacks, as long as they're not pointed at his government. He funneled jihadis into Iraq to kill US troops. He was a major sponsor of Hamas, until they started backing the rebels against him. Bottom line is that Assad's getting flack from the West today has a lot to do with Syria's sponsorship of terror groups until they fell out with the regime.

Why did the UK want Gaddafi out? Lockerbie and Gaddafi's gift of loads of AK's to the IRA. Did you know that over thousand Brits died because of IRA terror attacks - more than the number of IRA terrorists killed? There is no statute of limitations on this stuff, and this is the kind of lesson that future sponsors need to learn.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2018-02-27 15:33  

#20  First one disappeared. Being on station is even more...interesting.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey   2018-02-27 14:58  

#19  So the Buffs were in on it. How long does it take to fix up a B52 strike? The right ordnance is handy, or even loaded. IADS intel is current and put out to the crews. Targeting data and deconfliction info. Then they have to lumber up there from wherever--Diego Garcia?--all in how long? How many hours from the "official" time of discovery of the impending attack until the Buffs arrived? Somebody was using his ouija board pretty effectively.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey   2018-02-27 14:57  

#18  #16 Evidence Experience.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2018-02-27 14:09  

#17  Arm the Kurds. Train the Kurds. Give the Kurds credit for big victorys until the local Arabs start to think the Kurds have magical Israeli powers.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2018-02-27 14:07  

#16  Herb,
Evidence?
Posted by: G. Whotha5763   2018-02-27 13:42  

#15  Also saves on future pension and disability claims.

True. Ouch.
Posted by: gorb   2018-02-27 13:41  

#14  US troops in Syria aren't fighting jihadis. They're fighting Assad's men. You know, the ones fighting the jihadis.

All that's going to happen is the Deep State will arrange some event and they'll get a direct conflict between US and Russia, and then they can finally start the big shooting war with Russia that they have such a hard-on for.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309   2018-02-27 13:37  

#13   Buffs could have been flying on station.

Or launched from Moron Air Base, Spain.
Posted by: Skidmark   2018-02-27 13:19  

#12  #8 trailing wife,

I was talking to a US Marine general back before the invasion of Iraq. He made the exact same point but with Iraq. Then zero screwed the pooch by pulling out.
Posted by: G. Whotha5763   2018-02-27 12:58  

#11  Buffs could have been flying on station.
Posted by: G. Whotha5763   2018-02-27 12:21  

#10  So the Buffs were in on it. How long does it take to organize a B52 strike? Depends on planning, which ordnance is handy or even loaded. Intel as to IADS, targeting data. Then they have to lumber from wherever they were--Diego Garcia?--and get it done in...what? a dozen hours? Somebody was using his ouija board pretty effectively.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey   2018-02-27 12:09  

#9  The only way this makes sense is that the Ruskis did this to get rid of a battalion of troublemakers.

Also saves on future pension and disability claims.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2018-02-27 11:07  

#8  What possible national interest is furthered by having US troops in Syria?

I would much rather our troops are free to kill jihadis over there on a war footing rather hope the police, FBI, and sheriffs notice and watch each one here at home for the hundreds of hours and millions of dollars necessary to gather the evidence need to try, convict, and imprison them over here.

Half of the foreign ISIS jihadis were killed in Iraq, and no doubt at least similar numbers of locals. In Syria, with so many jihadi groups fighting each other for supremacy, the percentqge is orobably even higher. By comparison, the number of arrests and convictions in the U.S, Europe, and Britain can probably be numbered in the hundreds, whle we know that the authorities have tens of thousands of known jihadis that they are failing to keep track of, any one or several of whom might launch a mass ir individual attack at any moment.

The way to win a war is kill enough of the enemy that it makes sense to them to quit fighting. That is only going to happen in places like Syria, and only with the loose rules of engagement President Trump has given the generals since he came into office.
Posted by: trailing wife   2018-02-27 10:36  

#7  What possible national interest is furthered by having US troops in Syria? Where's the benefit? There isn't any. This is so the State Department can meddle in the Middle East and make things worse. You know, like they've been doing for 20 years.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309   2018-02-27 07:55  

#6  GOD has other plans for the want to be Ottomans.
One will be removing the World Fulcrum from them.
Posted by: newc   2018-02-27 03:34  

#5  I wish you [Americans] were as resolute with Erdogan Pasha.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2018-02-27 03:16  

#4  It is a probe they tried. They were warned. They were moving and firing, against US.
They were ended.

This is how this must be all the time. Our Troops are not going to play games with Russia and Russia has been read the riot act.

They know by Whom.
Posted by: newc   2018-02-27 02:19  

#3  The only way this makes sense is that the Ruskis did this to get rid of a battalion of troublemakers.
Posted by: Penguin   2018-02-27 01:10  

#2  I have a better idea! I will stick my head in sand so that I won't be bothered by anyone else.
Posted by: Daniel   2018-02-27 00:57  

#1  US-held refinery? What are US troops doing in Syria? Why are they there? What are they possibly going to accomplish? Bring the troops home, Syria isn't worth it.
Posted by: Herb McCoy7309   2018-02-27 00:27  

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