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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| US kills more than 100 Assad regime fighters in largest deliberate strike against Syrian government forces |
| 2018-02-08 |
| [Telegraph] The US-led coalition killed more than 100 Assad regime fighters in eastern Syria on Wednesday, officials said, in the largest deliberate strike carried out by Western forces against pro-Syrian government troops. The coalition said it struck regime fighters with airstrikes and artillery after they launched an "unprovoked attack" against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Western-backed rebels fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in Syria. "We estimate more than 100 Syrian pro-regime forces were killed while engaging SDF and coalition forces," a US military official said. The strikes took place in the Euphrates River valley in the province of Deir Ezzor, where Isil still holds scraps of territory but is under intense pressure from both Syrian regime forces and the SDF. The US said that around 500 pro-regime troops, backed by tanks and artillery, had launched what appeared to be coordinated attack on an SDF headquarters. |
| Posted by:Flimp Ulavinter9261 |
| #6 Am I correct that the vics were not actual Syrian Army but some combination of the various pro-regime gangs? On the radio (the Beeb, I think) they said Russia had promised the US these guys would play nice. Obviously they didn't. I wonder if Russia cares. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2018-02-08 17:22 |
| #5 This is simultaneously a warning to Turkey. I think Assad was checking to see if Uncle lacked the will/ability or simple desire to stop the Turkish incursion. He's found that that it is simple desire that's missing, not will or ability. Erdogan will be taking notes re his warnings about Manbij. And if Uncle goes after his troops in Afrin, he will see thousands of Turkish dead, given that their highly mechanized nature means big (and highly-visible to strike aircraft) targets. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2018-02-08 16:15 |
| #4 The SDF is comprised of a Kurdish core and various Arab and other auxilliary units. American trainers are embedded with them, as Bashar Assad and his generals well know. He is testing to see if he can attack with impunity, like Turkey against the Kurdish forces in Afrin, it seems to me. Guess he found the answer. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2018-02-08 15:04 |
| #3 Not sure what they were thinking then. I'm pretty sure what they are thinking now, however. |
| Posted by: gorb 2018-02-08 13:32 |
| #2 My guess is that Assad/Putin wanted to test limits. It is SecDef Jim Mattis; what were they thinking? |
| Posted by: C. Dark Lord of the Hatfields8922 2018-02-08 13:21 |
| #1 Something to do with the alleged Chlorine attacks the other day? |
| Posted by: gorb 2018-02-08 12:31 |