ISIS update 6/17/2016..Fallujah Freed

Iraqi army retakes government compound in Fallujah

URGENT: Fallujah Freed

Iraq’s Police Chief on Friday declared full liberation of Fallujah after the two-year-long ISIL control over the strategic city.

Commander of Iraq’s Federal Police Major General Raed Shaker Judat appeared on the country’s national TV in an interview carried out at the center of Falluja minutes ago, declaring that the city has been completely purged of ISIL terrorists.

Meantime, Fallujah Liberation Operation Commander Abdol-Wahhab Saedi told the state-run TV that his forces are in control of the entire city and state buildings now.

Iraqi government troops continued their advances in the city of Fallujah on Friday by winning back new strategic regions. The police and security forces seized back al-Arsan and al-Nazal regions as well as the governor’s building of Fallujah city earlier today. The ISIL terrorists had planted bombs in Fallujah governor’s building.

The government forces also purged terrorists from the entire Western bank of the Euphrates River.

On Thursday, government troops restored security to newly-liberated district of Shuhada in Southern Fallujah after they made a significant advance in the battle against ISIL militants in the Fallujah.

The victory by the Iraqi forces came as they continued their clashes with ISIL militants in Iraq’s Western province of Anbar.

Iraqi PMU Media – Liberation of Fallujah Operation “15th of Shaban” footage from Mukhtar, Fallujah

International Military Review – Syria, June 17, 2016

Syrian Special Forces in recently liberated areas in north Latakia mountains

“Russia bombed US-backed militants in Syria”

The Untold Story Behind The “Mutiny At The State Department” Where Dozens Demand War With Syria | Zero Hedge

Confirming once again that the entire US Middle-East campaign over the past 4 years has been one ongoing plan to destabilize and eliminate Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad from power – certainly including the involvement of ISIS which as we reported a year ago was “created” and facilitated by the Pentagon as a tool to overthrow Assad, an analysis which yesterday gained renewed prominence – overnight the WSJ reported that dozens of State Department officials this week protested against U.S. policy in Syria, signing an internal document that calls for “targeted military strikes against the Damascus government and urging regime change as the only way to defeat Islamic State.”

In other words, over 50 top “diplomats” are urging to eliminate Assad in order to “defeat ISIS”, the same ISIS which top US “diplomats” had unleashed previously in order to… eliminate Assad.

While one can understand the US state department’s relentless eagneress to create yet another failed state led by a US puppet ruler, one wonders if at least the boilerplate justification could not have used some more fine tuning.

Amusingly, the whole thing is wrapped in a narrative that the State Department is ready and willing to “mutiny” against Obama’s pacifism, because you see it was Obama who has been so successful in extricating and removing US troops from harm’s way in both the middle east and Afghanistan. Oh wait…

Here are the full details from he WSJ:

The “dissent channel cable” was signed by 51 State Department officers involved with advising on Syria policy in various capacities, according to an official familiar with the document. The Wall Street Journal reviewed a copy of the cable, which repeatedly calls for “targeted military strikes” against the Syrian government in light of the near-collapse of the ceasefire brokered earlier this year.

The views expressed by the U.S. officials in the cable amount to a scalding internal critique of a longstanding U.S. policy against taking sides in the Syrian war, a policy that has survived even though the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has been repeatedly accused of violating ceasefire agreements and Russian-backed forces have attacked U.S.-trained rebels.

More spin: why has Obama been so “against” unleash a full blown invasion on Syria? “Obama administration officials have expressed concern that attacking the Assad regime could lead to a direct conflict with Russia and Iran.”

Oh so that’s why the nuclear arms race is now officially back, just a few weeks after the US launched a ballistic missile shield over Europe, in the process shifting the entire post-cold war nuclear proliferation balance of power. Got it.

Meanwhile, the attempt to paint Obama as a liberal, peace loving dove continue:

“It’s embarrassing for the administration to have so many rank-and-file members break on Syria,” said a former State Department official who worked on Middle East policy. These officials said dissent on Syria policy has been almost a constant since civil war broke out there in 2011. But much of the debate was contained to the top levels of the Obama administration. The recent letter marked a move by the heart of the bureaucracy, which is largely apolitical, to break from the White House.

Oh, if only Obama would be more willing to install even more pro-US puppet regimes… like in Afghanistan, Libya, Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, Ukraine and so on, and so on… Clearly all of these have turned out so well, that certainly things would be so much better in the middle east. Well, maybe not, but at least that damn Qatari pipeline would finally start flowing.

So why leak this now:

The internal cable may be an attempt to shape the foreign policy outlook of the next administration, the official familiar with the document said. President Barack Obama has balked at taking military action against Mr. Assad, while Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton has promised a more hawkish stance toward the Syrian leader. Republican candidate Donald Trump has said he would hit Islamic State hard but has also said he would be prepared to work with Russia in Syria.

The cable warns that the U.S. is losing prospective allies among Syria’s majority Sunni population in its fight against the Sunni extremist group Islamic State while the regime “continues to bomb and starve” them. Mr. Assad and his inner circle are Alawite, a small Shiite-linked Muslim sect and a minority in Syria. In Syria’s multisided war, the regime, Islamic State and an array of opposition rebel groups are all battling each other.

It gets better: “Failure to stem Assad’s flagrant abuses will only bolster the ideological appeal of groups such as Daesh, even as they endure tactical setbacks on the battlefield,” the cable reads, using an Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

But wait, as the Pentagon itself admitted, the “Daesh” was carefully bred by the US government precisely for this reason: to overthrow Assad. Don’t believe us? Read the following line from the leaked document:

“… there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist Principality in eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran).”

Does not compute.

There is more: “The cable asserts Mr. Assad and Russia haven’t taken past cease-fires and “consequential negotiations” seriously and suggests adopting a more muscular military posture to secure a transitional government in Damascus.”

The Russian-led force is also pushing toward Raqqa from the south, making the march on the Islamic State stronghold a strategic and symbolic competition between the rival coalitions. Islamic State is also being rolled back in Iraq, where U.S.-allied government forces have retaken major cities and are advancing in Fallujah, the first city the extremists fully occupied back in 2014

Well, sure: with Russia’s backing of a sovereign nation, why should Assad fold to relentless US pressure. Actually that may well be the point: the US is humiliated that a small, feeble middle-eastern nation dares to defy it for years, just because it has the backing of the Kremlin. We don’t need to explain the ugly optics of this.

Perhaps the real reason why the cable has “emerged” now is because due to Russian intervention, ISIS will soon be history:

Although Islamic State is losing ground to multiple, U.S.-backed offensives in Syria, Iraq and Libya, Western diplomats say they worry the group has embedded itself so deeply in the population that it will be a major influence for years to come, eventually going underground as its quasi-army is defeated.

And finally, one last reason emerges: the US is merely pandering to Saudi demands, something it has clearly done very well ever since the Sep 11 attacks which covered up Saudi involvement:

The cable also echoes the growing impatience among U.S. Gulf allies with the lack of military intervention targeted at the Damascus government to force Mr. Assad to resign and make way for a transitional government. Peace talks between Syria’s government and opposition collapsed in April over Mr. Assad’s fate, with the regime insisting he should stay in power, while the negotiated cease-fire continued to disintegrate. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have pressed the U.S. to provide more sophisticated weapons to rebels. But Washington has resisted.

In other words, if the US does fold and proceeds with military strikes, i.e. full blown invasion and war, on Assad, it will once again be Saudi Arabia that is running US foreign policy, and pushing the US nation into what may be a state of open war with Russia.

We can only hope the American people wake up and stop this travesty before Saudi Arabia’s favorite presidential candidate is elected president.

Russian airstrike targets Ammo depot for Jihadists in Babis – west Aleppo countryside

Syria: Washington’s War Drums Amplify as US Diplomats Demand ‘Global Effort to End Conflict’

http://21stcenturywire.com/2016/06/17/syria-the-war-drums-amplify-as-us-diplomats-demand-global-effort-to-end-conflict/

…………Once more the US is dragging us towards the abyss of all out war, their Syria road-map is in tatters due to the solidarity of the Syrian people behind their elected government and national armed forces, the Syrian Arab Army and National Defence Forces [NDF] and the intervention of Iran, Russia and Hezbollah has turned the tide of war against the US NATO backed proxy armies of terrorists and extremists on the ground inside Syria. The frustration is revealing itself and the US Empire is seeing its hegemony challenged perhaps to an extent they had never imagined possible.

The next few months will be decisive not only for the future of Syria but for the future of the entire region.

President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said an attempt to topple the Syrian government would not help a successful fight against terrorism. He made the statement after more than 50 U.S. State Department diplomats called for targeted airstrikes against Syrian forces. Washington has deployed its special forces in Syria to help what it calls moderate opposition. It has also been conducting airstrikes against ISIL since 2014. The U-S military deployment has been criticized by the Syrian government, Russia and Iran. The opponents of the U-S intervention in Syria say Washington is not serious in its fight against the terrorists and is using the anti-government forces for political gains.

Syria in Last 24 Hours: Army Regains Control over More Strategic Regions in Homs Province

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13950328000221

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Syrian army continued marching on militant-held positions in several Syrian cities, and established full control over more strategic hilltops in the Eastern parts of Homs province.

Scores of militants were killed and injured in the fighting with the Syrian troops over strategic heights.

The Syrian troops also inflicted heavy losses on the terrorists in other provinces.

Homs

The Syrian army and National Defense Forces (NDF) won back the strategic heights of Syria Tal in the countryside of Arak region in the Eastern parts of Homs, paving the ground for liberation of al-Sukhnah region.

“After retaking control of Arak region and the third power plant, the Syria Tal heights along with several other hills were liberated by the Syrian army and resistance forces,” a field source told FNA on Thursday.

“These liberated heights are located on the way of the strategic region of al-Sukhnah and the Syrian forces are now 24km from that region,” he added.

The Syrian forces had recaptured the strategic Arak oilfield near the ancient city of Palmyra (Tadmur) in Homs province on Monday.

The Syrian government forces, backed up by the heavy shelling of artillery units, stormed the Takfiri terrorists’ positions East of Palmyra and took full control of Arak oilfield.

The Syrian army and NDF have managed to reach Arak region after purging the Third Power Plant of ISIL terrorists.

Over 25 ISIL terrorists were killed in the Syrian army’s operations on Monday.

The Syrian army is now planning to seize back the strategic al-Sukhnah region which is located to the East of Arak oilfield.

Al-Sukhnah region is at the juncture of three provinces of Deir Ezzur, Homs and Hama.

Lattakia

The Syrian army and popular forces deployed in the Northwestern province of Lattakia retook more regions and villages near the borders with Turkey.

“The resistance forces could purge the Chechnian and Caucasian terrorists from al-Shahrourah village, Tal al-Hayat hill, heights 502, 559 and 469 and a part of al-Rowaisi mountains,” a field source said on Thursday.

According to the source, the operations, supported by the Russian fighter jets, powerfully continue towards the Turkish borders.

Raqqa

A senior commander of the ISIL terrorist group was killed in the Syrian air force’s attacks in the town of al-Tabaqa in Western Raqqa.

The ISIL commander in Tabaqa, ‘Ahmad Kafroma’, was killed in an air raid by the Syrian Air Force on his base in the Western parts of Raqqa.

The Syrian warplanes also destroyed several ISIL vehicles in the Northern parts of Zakia crossroad and the Southern side of Tabaqa city in Raqqa province.

Hama

Syrian army units conducted special operations against the gatherings of ISIL Takfiri terrorists in the Eastern parts of Hama province, killing and wounding several militants.

According to a battlefield source, an army unit clashed with a group of ISIL Takfiri terrorists at the axis of al-Mab’ouje-Akareb in the Eastern parts of Salamiyeh city, killing and injuring scores of them and destroying their weapons.

Another army unit destroyed, in a special operation, a mortar launcher for the ISIL in Qleib village in the Eastern countryside of the province.

Syrian soldiers also destroyed machinegun equipped-vehicles for ISIL Takfiri terrorists and killed 7 of them in the vicinity of Aqayrabat town.

Syria: ISIL Fails to Prevail over Gov’t Forces West of Raqqa

Syrian Army Advancing in Hama’s Oil-Rich Region

Lattakia: Terrorist Groups Pull Fighters back from more Positions near Syria-Turkey Border

Syria: Russian Fighter Jets Target Terrorists’ Arms Depot North of Aleppo

Lattakia: Terrorists Withdraw from more Key Heights at Syria Border with Turkey

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