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Originally posted by kpo:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
KRAPO

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Mainstream media and even the rebel-friendly Syrian Observatory for Human Rights have confirmed the killings and the civilian victims.- SIGNY

"SOHR is a propaganda front run by one guy in London and has zero credibility."3 posts later - *cites [MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND EVEN] SOHR as evidence for the US coalition killing civilians*- KRAPO

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How about this, KRAPO? I'll disbelieve everything SOHR says if you do, too.

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Well at the moment you disbelieve all SOHR/monitoring groups' reports that speak of Russian/Assad civilian deaths, but believe without question their reports that speak of US coalition civilian deaths. You underline the words 'mainstream media' - yes mainstream media reported this instance of civilian deaths in Manjib, but what sources do you think they were quoting? The SOHR, and other similar monitoring groups of course. There's no deal I can strike with you that will get you to have intellectual standards, if you fail so utterly to impose them on yourself. Nor am I willing to compromise my own intellectual standards for such a bargain.

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A myriad of seemingly unrelated events and loose ends are converging in a manner that points in the direction of a huge win for Russian diplomacy in the Middle East, and we only need to connect the dots to see this scenario unfolding.

What dots, one might ask?

Henry Kissinger made it law for America to protect Israel. In his shuttle diplomacy trips in the lead up to the Camp David agreement, Kissinger has basically removed the USSR from the position of a superpower and a key partner on the negotiating table between Arabs and the Israelis and reduced its role to zilch. The ensuing dismantling of the USSR and the emergence of the so-called “New World Order” meant that Israel was to maintain its military superiority.

However, with the rise of Axis of Resistance in general and Hezbollah in particular, Israel’s technical military edge proved unable to provide Israel with any real security. As a matter of fact, it seems to have done just the opposite. Israel has never ever been under the kind of existential threat that it faces now, with an estimated hundred thousand Hezbollah missiles, if not more, poised to hit Israeli targets as far as Eilat.

And because America had been such a biased supporter of Israel for so long, it has lost its stature as a non-partisan arbitrator and mediator. In reality therefore, whilst America tried as hard as possible to enable Israel to impose its own peace, under its own terms, in practice, it has not been able to provide Israel with any peace under anyone’s terms.

Off to Syria.

Syria has been deadlocked in a war for more than five years. The Russian intervention that commenced in late September 2015 took the conflict, for the first time, into a direction in which the Syrian Government and its allies gained the clear upper hand.

Then, and in the height of the military operation, and seemingly just a tad before achieving and declaring victory, Russia suddenly declared a major pullout and eventually a ceasefire. Many questions were raised, and even the staunch and extremely savvy ally of Russia, Hezbollah chief Nasrallah himself has questioned publicly in a recent speech the rationale behind the Russian stand and asked: ”Who has benefited from the ceasefire?” Nasrallah was obviously referring to the fact that Al-Nusra Front and other groups have taken advantage of the ceasefire to bolster their positions and even to gain some territory in some regions.

In as much as the Russian intervention in its speed, accuracy and effectiveness has stunned the world, especially NATO, so did the pullback and ceasefire. Why did President Putin suddenly decide to scale down the military offensive, was a question that many analysts asked and tried to make speculations about.

Short-sighted analysts, especially those who love to hate Russia, found in this a golden opportunity to lash at Russia and accuse President Putin of backing off and letting Syria down. But would Putin truly back down after he had put his global political reputation on the line? Was he really expecting the Americans to come clean and work with him on identifying who is who on the ground? Would he back off after Russian lives were lost both in Syria and in the tragic jetliner crash in Sinai, and which was done in retaliation to Russia’s military action in Syria? Would Putin risk being seen in a negative way by his own people after he had risen to the level of a rescuer and hero? Last but not least, would Putin leave Turkey, and Erdogan specifically, “unpunished” after Turkey deliberately downed a Russian plane and killed its pilot?

The collective and individual answer to all of the above questions is a categorical NO. So why did Putin do it then? There seemed to be no clear answer; at least not for a while.

And of course, we cannot mention Turkey without allowing the train of events to stop at the Turkish station for a very thorough analysis.

In my analysis of the failure of “War On Syria”, which effectively began to take shape over the last two years or so, and especially after the emergence of Daesh, I had been reiterating that different elements of the “Anti-Syrian Cocktail” who were bundled together, united only by their hatred for Syria and her President, have realized that they were unable to have their collective dream materialized. They thus resorted to pursuing their own individual dreams and/or to implement some contingency plans. In that context, among other things, Daesh declared mutiny on its former allies and captured oil fields in order to be able to self-finance.

When Erdogan looked at Daesh, he could see a double-edged sword. And irrespective of politics, Erdogan’s fundamentalist ideology is not very different from that of Daesh, and according to this doctrine, putting everything else aside, Daesh members are regarded as brethren. Furthermore, the fact that Daesh and the Kurds were in conflict was something that Erdogan could not ignore. Erdogan’s fear of the Kurdish factor is very high, and the fact that America was helping some Kurdish factions has angered Erdogan to an extreme. America cannot be a friend of Turkey and the Kurds at the same time, Erdogan has said on many occasions, both directly and indirectly.

At the same time, America was growing very frustrated with Erdogan, and in turn, played its own cat and mouse game within the Daesh-Kurdish-Turkish triangle; favouring any side at a time that was convenient and suitable for its agenda.

But for Erdogan, the issue was becoming very critical. Turkey is now under attack with a string of explosions going off here and there; some purportedly perpetrated by Kurds and others by Daesh. Not only has Erdogan’s gamble in Syria failed, but he has brought the conflict home; at least partially, and the economic boom and the “zero problems” policy that crowned his early years of power were all getting eroded by the quagmire that Erdogan found himself in.

To make it worse for Erdogan, after he downed Russia’s Su-24 in November 2015, he was expecting NATO’s support, but NATO’s response was clear and brief. He was told that he needed to sort out his own problems with Russia.

He tried to use the refugees as a trump card, but this could not go far enough. Apart from the few billion dollars he was given by the EU, which is in relative terms a petty bribe, Erdogan was unable to even clinch Turkey’s longtime aspiration of becoming an EU member.

Erdogan found himself cornered, abandoned, under attack, facing severe Russian sanctions and an economic slump. He needed an exit strategy; an exit from trouble and into a totally new era.

In the meantime, Israeli PM Netanyahu made an unprecedented number of trips to Moscow. Why? Many asked.

The dust has not even began to settle yet, but there are markers that indicate that we are about to see a huge shift in Middle Eastern politics, conflicts and alliances.

We are now hearing formal Turkish statements accusing the USA of plotting the recent failed coup attempt. Turkey has even imposed a lockdown on Incirlik airbase, a NATO airbase, in which America stock piles nuclear weapons, and has even cut off power supplies to the base. This is tantamount to declaring mutiny on NATO. When Erdogan said that the coup was a “gift from God” to cleanse the army, he might as well have also said that it was a gift from God for him to show his resentment to the USA.

We also hear of counter-rumours that Erdogan has staged the failed coup in order to cleanse the military from elements that are not loyal to him. Whilst this scenario cannot either be confirmed or discounted, Erdogan is not mincing either his words or his actions with his NATO boss the USA.

It is important to note here that in the last few weeks, Erdogan and Netanyahu made up, and furthermore, the Turkish-Russian relationship was normalized. Erdogan has been seen to be making a turn, and perhaps a U-turn in regard to his policies in Syria, but for what ends?

For anyone to make a decisive win in Syria, the city of Aleppo holds the key. Whoever takes full control of Aleppo will win the war. The Syrian-Russian coalition has the upper hand to win the battle of Aleppo, but at what civilian cost? The other way to win it is to bring Erdogan down to his knees; and this seems to be what has happened. If Erdogan seals Turkey’s borders, the terrorists will be doomed.

If we were to connect the above main dots, ignoring many other minor dots which do not need to be discussed individually, we can only see a Middle Eastern Russian-brokered masterplan coming to fruition.

What puts Russia in the position to be able to muster such a plan is the fact that Russia is highly respected and is on fairly good terms with all major players. After mending relationships with Turkey, Russia is now on very good terms not only with Turkey, but also with Syria, Israel and Iran. The foolhardy foreign American policies in the Middle East have turned America into a force that cannot be trusted even by its own allies.

Putin is adamant on fighting terrorism. Whether he is able to do this or not is another story, but strategically speaking, he knows well that the military fight against terrorism cannot be won, let alone properly conducted, if other players in the region are in a state of conflict.

According to this analysis, we are on the verge of seeing a Russian plan unfolding, a plan that will not only form a foundation for ending the “War On Syria”, but also one that will seek an Arab/Israeli settlement.

The plan will have to be based on a win-win situation for all parties involved. The Saudis (and Qataris) will be the only losers. They will probably be left out in the cold and hung to dry. No one really wants to or needs to appease them any longer. Their clout is shrinking, and so are their resources. If anything, the war on terror, if it takes form under a Russian umbrella, may need to confront Al-Saud’s sponsorship to the spread of religious radicalism.

The avalanche of events has started, and as the USA is being shown the exit door by its closest allies, Russia is coming in as the only power that has the ability of resolving long standing niggling issues and cleaning up America’s mess.

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Aren't you the one who complained about insults? Yes, that was you. As soon as we contest what you write you get pissy - why is that? Just naturally immature?

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I'm having a hard time understanding what your problem is with the video. There's no denial of the connection. There's disgust and plans to investigate and reasonable assurances that if it's confirmed there will be consequences which include dropping any aid. I'd understand if they said they had no knowledge of the connection - did they do that?

This still stands btw:
Looking at this article even you must have been struck by how many IF runs throughout:
appear
they say
who could be
apparently
allegedly

Are you equating what a few men may have done in Syria with US intentions? Are you equating what a few men may have done in Syria with an entire nation's army and air force do to thousands of civilians?

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Do you ever answer questions directly as I just did?

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And this is complete made up bullsh*t again from you:
"In reality- the reality that you try so hard to deny- a large part of the "FSA" consists of Wahhabi Sunni extremists - many of them foreign- fighting under the "FSA" flag." Where did I or anyone here ever say that or make that claim? I know, I know, it's a total deflection on your part.

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8 simple ridiculous questions - go for it.

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Originally posted by G:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Just so you know, I may be away from the board more for the next few months.

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Helping out Trump?

I'm not sure what we'll do without your lies, deflections and denials, er, I mean "analysis."

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Originally posted by G:

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Just so you know, I may be away from the board more for the next few months.

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Helping out Trump?

I'm not sure what we'll do without your lies, deflections and denials, er, I mean "analysis."

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Originally posted by THGRRI:
Putin saw SIG constantly getting her clock cleaned here G and ordered her back to propaganda school.

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Just so you know, I may be away from the board more for the next few months. - SIGNY

Helping out Trump? -GSTRING

I'm not sure what we'll do without your lies, deflections and denials, er, I mean "analysis." Putin saw SIG constantly getting her clock cleaned here G and ordered her back to propaganda school.- THGUR

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Seemingly not satisfied with the domestic blowback from their interventionist-driven Washingtonian foreign policy, Francois Hollande - lagging badly in the polls - has decided to double-down following the recent terror attack in Nice. As Sputnik News reports, France will send artillery to Iraq and its Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier to assist the US-led coalition’s efforts in Syria and Iraq in the coming months.

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An outpost near the Jordanian border that is used by U.S. and British special forces was hit by the airstrikes last month

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Just so you know, I may be away from the board more for the next few months. - SIGNY

Helping out Trump? -GSTRING

I'm not sure what we'll do without your lies, deflections and denials, er, I mean "analysis." Putin saw SIG constantly getting her clock cleaned here G and ordered her back to propaganda school.- THGUR

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Yes, thank you for proving my point that you have nothing worthwhile to say. Sheesh, you guys are even more puerile than I thought.

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Just so you know, I may be away from the board more for the next few months. - SIGNY

Helping out Trump? -GSTRING

I'm not sure what we'll do without your lies, deflections and denials, er, I mean "analysis." Putin saw SIG constantly getting her clock cleaned here G and ordered her back to propaganda school.- THUGR

Yes, thank you for proving my point that you have nothing worthwhile to say. Sheesh, you guys are even more puerile than I thought.- SIGNY

Are you saying you are upset that some of us here don't cut and paste entire news articles like you do? Articles that many times conflict with what you claim they report. Are saying you are disappointed that we don't post with an agenda like you do? Are you further saying you are disappointed that the rest of us hear don't lie and deny in order to promote our agenda like you do? Etc.... -THUGR

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Guilty as charged

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Syrian government air raids have struck five medical clinics in the northern province of Aleppo, where violence has intensified in recent weeks, opposition activists have said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross tweeted on Sunday after reports of air raids on the provincial capital of Aleppo and the nearby town of Atareb:

Rival sides in Syria’s five-year conflict have targeted hospitals and clinics in the past, mostly in the country’s north.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Just so you know, I may be away from the board more for the next few months. - SIGNY

Helping out Trump? -GSTRING

I'm not sure what we'll do without your lies, deflections and denials, er, I mean "analysis." Putin saw SIG constantly getting her clock cleaned here G and ordered her back to propaganda school.- THUGR

Yes, thank you for proving my point that you have nothing worthwhile to say. Sheesh, you guys are even more puerile than I thought.- SIGNY

Are you saying you are upset that some of us here don't cut and paste entire news articles like you do? Articles that many times conflict with what you claim they report. Are saying you are disappointed that we don't post with an agenda like you do? Are you further saying you are disappointed that the rest of us hear don't lie and deny in order to promote our agenda like you do? Etc.... -THUGR

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YOU DO ALL OF THOSE THINGS. You lie to yourself, you lie to everyone else, your push your agenda nonstop, AND you troll people from post to post and thread to thread, adding NOTHING except childish insults. Yes, you do.

But I'm not upset by that, and that's not why I have to take less time here. I have a real life, yanno, and I expect I will be very, very busy until January, that's all.

You are

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Guilty as charged

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Syrian government air raids have struck five medical clinics in the northern province of Aleppo, where violence has intensified in recent weeks, opposition activists have said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross tweeted on Sunday after reports of air raids on the provincial capital of Aleppo and the nearby town of Atareb:

Rival sides in Syria’s five-year conflict have targeted hospitals and clinics in the past, mostly in the country’s north.

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U.S.-Led Coalition Airstrike in Syria Killed Civilians, Opposition Says
An airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition killed about 25 civilians late Thursday in an Islamic State-held town in northern Syria, Syrian opposition and activist monitoring groups said.

The attack on a market in the village of Ghandora came less than two weeks after opposition and monitoring groups blamed coalition strikes for the deaths of dozens of people, possibly more than 100, in Tokhar, another village in the region.

The incidents come as the U.S.-led coalition aids Kurdish and Arab forces pushing to retake the Syrian city of Manbij from Islamic State militants with airstrikes and other assistance.

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A massive car bomb Wednesday struck the Kurdish-controlled city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria, killing at least 44 people and wounding hundreds in what was seen as a vengeance attack by Islamic State, officials and Syrian state media reported.

Carried aboard a large truck, the bomb detonated a little after 9 a.m. near a center for the Asayesh, the local Kurdish police, as well as several governmental buildings, according to Canaan Barakat, interior minister of the Syrian Kurdish regional administration in Qamishli.

Activists said the blast destroyed 30 stores and at least 15 homes in an area that is also a vibrant residential and commercial district.

“There were children and women… they were in the market, and the bomb targeted commercial areas,” Barakat said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Shrapnel from the blast struck a fuel tank more than 400 feet away, triggering a second explosion that initially was mistaken for another suicide bomb attack.

Amaq, a news agency affiliated with Islamic State, reported that the extremist group had claimed the attack, which it said targeted “the headquarters of the Kurdish units in the city.” It also claimed more than 100 people had been killed. The group often inflates casualty numbers in its statements.

Photographs published by Syrian state news outlet SANA showed a swath of buildings devastated by the blast, with crowds converging to help the wounded.

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War crimes SIG chooses to ignore or deny

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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War crimes SIG chooses to ignore or deny

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Why should I focus on that topic? You shine a bright light on anything and everything that Russia does or is alleged to have done (taking the word of terrorist sympathizers, among others).

Say, did you know that the USA constructed an illegal airbase in SE Syria, which the Russians bombed?

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
In the meantime, it looks like US airstrikes are back on after the Turkish attempted coup as

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U.S.-Led Coalition Airstrike in Syria Killed Civilians, Opposition Says
An airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition killed about 25 civilians late Thursday in an Islamic State-held town in northern Syria, Syrian opposition and activist monitoring groups said.

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Say, did you know that the USA constructed an illegal airbase in SE Syria, which the Russians bombed?

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
So, when Signy quotes a 'source' you approve it suddenly becomes suspect? Are you all THAT scrambled?

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In the meantime, it looks like US airstrikes are back on after the Turkish attempted coup as

U.S.-Led Coalition Airstrike in Syria Killed Civilians, Opposition Says
An airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition killed about 25 civilians late Thursday in an Islamic State-held town in northern Syria, Syrian opposition and activist monitoring groups said.

Lolol, literally the next line after scoffing at Syrian activists' reporting of Russian war crimes, you cite Syrian activists' reporting as evidence of US war crimes. This is the exact same hypocrisy I pointed out just a few posts earlier, and you're at it again...

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Say, did you know that the USA constructed an illegal airbase in SE Syria, which the Russians bombed?- SIGNY

An airbase being used to fight ISIS- KRAPO

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
So, you have to derail the conversation off of Signy's post because you DO trust the 'source' and you can't afford to admit that it's telling the truth when it says 'our side' killed civilians?

Yanno, this: U.S.-Led Coalition Airstrike in Syria Killed Civilians, Opposition Says
An airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition killed about 25 civilians late Thursday in an Islamic State-held town in northern Syria, Syrian opposition and activist monitoring groups said.

And also, since you're not disputing that krappostooge's random photo with random words doesn't constitute evidence, you, too, think it's a 'fail'?

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Once again stupid. KPO was pointing out that the same group that SIG quotes when it supports her agenda she suggests is biased when it doesn't.

OK, got it this time
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Once again stupid. KPO was pointing out that the same group that SIG quotes when it supports her agenda she suggests is biased when it doesn't.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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Once again stupid. KPO was pointing out that the same group that SIG quotes when it supports her agenda she suggests is biased when it doesn't.

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No, I'm just quoting sources when it's inconvenient for YOU!

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So, do you now believe that source because you previously believed it and cited it endlessly.
Or do you disbelieve that source because it's saying something you don't want to hear?
Or will you just plug your ears with your fingers saying "la la la I can't hear you" because you don't want to have to even THINK about who to believe?

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Apparently you can't keep from spewing TRUMP all over every thread. And you're not even American!

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So, when Signy quotes a 'source' you approve it suddenly becomes suspect? Are you all THAT scrambled?

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And random photos with random words typed on them are credible evidence?

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"We are dismayed and in mourning today at well-founded reports of the loss of life of colleagues and civilians killed by an airstrike serving the needs of desperate people in a hospital in Dara'a, Southern Syria. We are also angry: year upon year we have warned and mourned about civilian loss of life in Syria, and yet the situation goes from bad to worse.

These reports are a horrific reminder that civilians and aid workers are not just on the frontline of the Syrian civil war. They are bearing an intolerable price. The bombing of hospitals is never justified. All those involved must be held to account.

It is right to have global attention on Aleppo, but it would be tragic if people came to believe Aleppo is the only crime scene in Syria. Across the country, aid workers and civilians are being targeted in a merciless way on a daily basis.

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"We are dismayed and in mourning today at well-founded reports of the loss of life of colleagues and civilians killed by an airstrike serving the needs of desperate people in a hospital in Dara'a, Southern Syria. We are also angry: year upon year we have warned and mourned about civilian loss of life in Syria, and yet the situation goes from bad to worse.

These reports are a horrific reminder that civilians and aid workers are not just on the frontline of the Syrian civil war. They are bearing an intolerable price. The bombing of hospitals is never justified. All those involved must be held to account.

It is right to have global attention on Aleppo, but it would be tragic if people came to believe Aleppo is the only crime scene in Syria. Across the country, aid workers and civilians are being targeted in a merciless way on a daily basis.

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I love this classic and characteristic whataboutism. I point out yours and Siggy's hypocrisy and you both try to turn it around on me, putting words in my mouth.

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Originally posted by THGRRI:
Toxic gas dropped in Syria near site of Russian helicopter crash, rescuers say

Rescuers in Syria said Tuesday a helicopter dropped barrels filled with toxic gas, seriously injuring dozens of people, not far from where a Russian transport helicopter was shot down the day before, Reuters reported.

A spokesman for rebel fighters reportedly said 33 people, most of them women and children, were hurt. They believed chlorine gas was used, but could not confirm it.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2016/08/02/toxic-gas-dropped-in-syria-nea
r-site-russian-helicopter-crash-rescuers-say.html

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More than two dozen people have been injured in a suspected chemical attack on a town in northern Syria, a doctor who treated the victims and aid workers said.

The attack, using a gas cylinder laced with chlorine, targeted the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province, which is under opposition control, and near where a Russian helicopter was shot down on Monday.

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Watch this CCTV footage of an airstrike on an Aleppo hospital if you dare

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Corporate media regularly attempts to present Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria as solely responsible for the ongoing conflict in the region. The media does report on events that contradict this narrative — albeit sparingly — but taken together, these underreported details shine a new light on the conflict.

10: Bashar al-Assad has a higher approval rating than Barack Obama

Despite Obama’s claims Assad is illegitimate and must step down, the fact remains that since the conflict erupted in 2011, Assad has held the majority support of his people. The elections in 2014 – which Assad won by a landslide with international observers claiming no violations – is a testament to the fact that although Assad has been accused of serious human rights violations, he continues to remain reasonably popular with the Syrian people.

Obama, on the other hand, won elections in 2012 with a voter turnout of a mere 53.6 percent of the American public; only 129.1 million total were votes cast. This means approximately 189.8 million American people did not vote for Obama. His current approval rating sits at about 50 percent.

9: The “moderate” opposition has been hijacked

There is no longer such a thing as “moderate” opposition in Syria – if there ever was. The so-called Western-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) has been dominated by extremists for years. The U.S. has known this yet has continued to support the Syrian opposition, despite the fact the New York Times reported in 2012 that the majority of weapons being sent to Syria have been ending up in the hands of jihadists. A classified DIA report predicted the rise of ISIS in 2012, stating:

“If the situation unravels, there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria… and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime.”

Further, an FSA commander went on record not only to admit his fighters regularly conduct joint operations with al-Nusra (al-Qaeda in Syria), but also that he would like to see Syria ruled by Sharia law.

Apparently, moderate can also mean “al-Qaeda affiliated fanatic.”

8: Assad never used chemical weapons on his own people

A U.N. investigation into the first major chemical weapons attack committed in early 2013 — an atrocity the West immediately pinned on Assad — concluded the evidence suggested the attack was more likely committed by the Syrian opposition. A subsequent U.N. investigation into the August 2013 attack never laid blame on anyone, including Assad’s forces. In December 2013, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh released an article highlighting deficiencies in the way the situation was handled:

“In the months before the attack, the American intelligence agencies produced a series of highly classified reports…citing evidence that the al-Nusra Front, a jihadi group affiliated with al-Qaida, had mastered the mechanics of creating sarin and was capable of manufacturing it in quantity. When the attack occurred al-Nusra should have been a suspect, but the administration cherry-picked intelligence to justify a strike against Assad.”

7: Toppling the Syrian regime was part of a plan adopted shortly after 9/11

According to a memo disclosed by 4-star General Wesley Clark, shortly after 9/11, the Pentagon adopted a plan to topple the governments of seven countries within five years. The countries were Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Iran.

As we know, Iraq was invaded in 2003. American ally Israel tried its hand at taking out Lebanon in 2006. Libya was destroyed in 2011. Prior to this intervention, Libya had the highest standard of living of any country in Africa. In 2015, alone, it dropped 27 places on the U.N. Human Development Index rating. U.S. drones fly over Somalia, U.S. troops are stationed in South Sudan — Sudan was partitioned following a brutal civil war — and Syria has been the scene of a deadly war since 2011. This leaves only Iran, which is discussed below.

6: Iran and Syria have a mutual defense agreement

Since 2005, Iran and Syria have been bound by a mutual defense agreement. The Iranian government has shown they intend to fully honor this agreement and has provided the Syrian regime with all manner of support, including troops, a $1 billion credit line, training, and advisement. What makes this conflict even more dangerous, however, is the fact Russia and China have sided with Iran and Syria, stating openly they will not tolerate any attack on Iran. Russia’s military intervention in Syria in recent months proves these are not idle threats – they have put their money where their mouth is.

Iran has been in the crosshairs of the U.S. foreign policy establishment for some time now. George W. Bush failed to generate the support needed to attack Iran during his time in office — though not for lack of trying — and since 2012, sanctions have been the go-to mantra. By attacking and destabilizing Iran’s most important ally in the region, the powers that be can undermine Iranian attempts to spread its influence in the region, ultimately further weakening Iran.

5: Former Apple CEO is the son of a Syrian refugee

The late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, was the son of a Syrian who moved to the United States in the 1950s. This is particularly amusing given the amount of xenophobia, Islamophobia, racism and hatred refugees and migrants seem to have inspired — even from aspiring presidents. Will a President Donald Trump create the conditions in which future technological pioneers may never reach the United States? His rhetoric seems to indicate as much.

4: ISIS arose out of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, not the Syrian conflict

ISIS was formerly known as al-Qaeda in Iraq, which rose to prominence following the U.S.-U.K. led invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is well-known that there was no tangible al-Qaeda presence in Iraq until after the invasion, and there is a reason for this. When Paul Bremer was given the role of Presidential Envoy to Iraq in May 2003, he dissolved the police and military. Bremer fired close to 400,000 former servicemen, including high-ranking military officials who fought in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. These generals now hold senior ranking positions within ISIS. If it weren’t for the United States’ actions, ISIS likely wouldn’t exist.

ISIS was previously known by the U.S. security establishment as al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI), but these fighters ultimately became central to Western regime change agendas in Libya and Syria. When the various Iraqi and Syrian al-Qaeda-affiliated groups merged on the Syrian border in 2014, we were left with the fully-fledged terror group we face today.

3: Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia wanted to build a pipeline through Syria, but Assad rejected it

In 2009, Qatar proposed a pipeline to run through Syria and Turkey to export Saudi gas. Assad rejected the proposal and instead formed an agreement with Iran and Iraq to construct a pipeline to the European market that would cut Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar out of the route entirely. Since, Turkey, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia have been staunch backers of the opposition seeking to topple Assad. Collectively, they have invested billions of dollars, lent weapons, encouraged the spread of fanatical ideology, and helped smuggle fighters across their borders.

The Iran-Iraq pipeline will strengthen Iranian influence in the region and undermine their rival, Saudi Arabia — the other main OPEC producer. Given the ability to transport gas to Europe without going through Washington’s allies, Iran will hold the upper-hand and will be able to negotiate agreements that exclude the U.S. dollar completely.

2: Leaked phone calls show Turkey provides ISIS fighters with expensive medical care

Turkey’s support for hardline Islamists fighting the Syrian regime is extensive. In fact, jihadists regularly refer to the Turkish border as the “gateway to Jihad.” In May 2016, reports started emerging of Turkey going so far as to provide ISIS fighters with expensive medical treatment.

Turkey is a member of NATO. Let that sink in for a moment.

1: Western media’s main source for the conflict is a T-shirt shop in Coventry, England

This is not a joke. If you follow the news, you most probably have heard the mainstream media quote an entity grandiosely called the “Syrian Observatory for Human Rights” (SOHR). This so-called “observatory” is run by one man in his home in Coventry, England — thousands of miles away from the Syrian conflict — yet is quoted by most respected Western media outlets (BBC, Reuters, The Guardian, and International Business Times, for example). His credentials include his ownership of a T-shirt shop just down the road, as well as being a notorious dissident against the current Syrian president.

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Despite the fact much of the information in this article comes from mainstream outlets, those circulating it refuse to put all of the storylines together to give the public an accurate picture of what is going on in Syria.

Assad may be brutal — and should face trial for allegations of widespread human rights abuses — but this fact alone does not make the other circumstances untrue or irrelevant. People have the right to be properly informed before they allow themselves to be led down the road of more war in the Middle East, and consequently, more terror attacks and potential conflicts with Russia and China.

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Samer Attar, a surgeon with Northwestern Medicine in Chicago, is a volunteer with the Syrian American Medical Society and the Aleppo City Medical Council.

“Please don’t cut off my leg,” a Syrian man pleaded. He had been shopping when a missile hit a crowded market. The blast seared off his hair and charred his face. He could not see that his leg was hanging by a thread of flesh and could not be saved. His screams were amplified by the echoes of the dozens just as horrifically injured around him.

I am an American surgeon who recently spent two weeks working in an underground hospital in eastern Aleppo, Syria. I have been there a few times, and each time I go, I descend into lower depths of hell. It’s shocking how the very same inhuman conditions have been allowed to continue for years.

The path to this hell is Castello Road — which was the last remaining road leading into rebel-held Aleppo when I was there. The road smells of burned metal and rotten flesh, and it is littered with charred vehicles. Plumes of smoke scatter the horizon. Gutted homes with pancaked roofs, exposed wires and twisted rebar line the sides. At every moment, you feel you may be hit by a bomb or a rocket.

Inside the city, the screech of jets, the whirring of helicopters, the vibrating blasts of mortar shells and barrel bombs, the incessant ricochet of bullets — these sounds and sensations rarely stop. Civilians still manage to live there. They would rather die at home than live in a tent or drown in a boat, or they are simply too poor, too crippled, too sick or too defiant to leave their homes.

The hospital where I worked has been attacked so many times by airstrikes that it has been driven literally underground — with a ramp leading into the basement. Scalpels are dull, anesthesia is a luxury, sterility is an approximation.

Inside, the scenes are grim.

On July 1, a rocket hit a nearby marketplace. The hospital shook from the blast. The victims were not terrorists or soldiers. They were civilians shopping for the upcoming Eid celebration. Twenty-five people were killed. Dozens more were injured. There were not enough beds, so patients were placed on floors smeared with blood and body parts, with barely a place to step. Dead bodies were piled into the street to make room for incoming wounded.

The screaming never let up. Children covered in blood and dust and pockmarked with shrapnel screamed for their parents and siblings. Some would be reunited whole; others would learn whom they had lost, or which of their children’s limbs were missing or mutilated. Some had the bone shards of disintegrated bystanders embedded in their skin — routine findings after such attacks.

I saw a child, breathing but silent, with severe burns and his intestines protruding from his belly. His skin and hair were burned off. He died a couple of days later. A 5-year-old had just died before him due to respiratory failure — shrapnel from a bomb cut his spinal cord and paralyzed him from the chest down. One surgeon cut open a man’s chest in a last-ditch effort to clamp a bleeding vessel near the heart. It worked temporarily, but the man had lost too much blood, and there was no more blood to give him. Two children would later bleed to death in the operating room for similar reasons. I did an above-knee amputation on a stretcher in a hallway because all the operating rooms were full. Others whose limbs were traumatically amputated in the attack had to sit with tourniquets until an operating room opened. We later learned that a child had been decapitated by the blast.

Such slaughter occurred daily. Here, innocent civilians being blinded, amputated, burned, paralyzed, crushed and mutilated by bombs is the routine. Here, the world has shown little solidarity with innocents being massacred. This was not the work of the Islamic State. The terrorism I saw in Aleppo came from helicopters and jets in the sky.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
"An" airstrike on "a" hospital.... who knows when? Who knows where? Who knows by whom?

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"An" airstrike on "a" hospital.... who knows when? Who knows where? Who knows by whom?- SIGNY

Where else are hospitals routinely bombed but rebel-held Syria?

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And by whom else but Assad and Putin?

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What other past incidents of airstrikes on hospitals are you thinking of that this could be mistaken for, and why has the footage of it emerged only now?

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Another CCTV video of an Aleppo hospital being bombed, verified by the UK's Channel 4 News:

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A Syrian hospital backed by Médecins Sans Frontières and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been destroyed in an airstrike in Aleppo, killing patients and doctors including one of the last paediatricians remaining in the rebel-held part of the city.

MSF said the al-Quds hospital was targeted in an airstrike on Wednesday that killed 14 patients and staff members including at least two doctors, with the toll expected to rise.

The latest attack is part of a broader pattern of systematic targeting of hospitals by the government of Bashar al-Assad

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as the humanitarian situation in the divided commercial capital of Syria grows more desperate under intense combat.

“MSF categorically condemns this outrageous targeting of yet another medical facility in Syria,” said Muskilda Zancada, MSF’s head of mission in Syria. “This devastating attack has destroyed a vital hospital in Aleppo, and the main referral centre for paediatric care in the area. Where is the outrage among those with the power and obligation to stop this carnage?”

— MSF International (@MSF)
April 28, 2016
We are outraged at the destruction of Al Quds hospital in #Aleppo, #Syria. Hospitals are #notatarget

— MSF International (@MSF)
April 28, 2016
Our supported hospital in #Aleppo was the main referral centre for paediatrics and had 8 doctors & 28 nurses. Hospitals #notatarget, #Syria

- MSF International (@MSF)
April 28, 2016
@MSF-supported hospital in #Aleppo had an ER, an intensive care unit, an operating theatre. Now destroyed. Hospitals are #notatarget #Syria

Marianne Gasser, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s Syria mission, said in a statement: “The recent attack on the ICRC-supported Quds hospital is unacceptable and sadly this is not the first time the lifesaving medical services have been hit.

“We urge all the parties to spare the civilians. Don’t attack hospitals, don’t use weapons that cause widespread damage. Otherwise, Aleppo will be pushed further to the brink of humanitarian disaster.”

Neither the ICRC nor MSF assigned blame for the attack, BUT

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the Syrian and Russian air forces have carried out almost all the aerial strikes on the opposition-controlled east of the city. The ICRC said the intense battles raging in Aleppo could put millions at grave risk of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Fresh airstrikes on Thursday on the rebel-held part of the city killed 20 people and brought down at least one residential building, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The UK-based monitor said shelling by insurgents on government-held areas killed at least 14.

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KPO - "What other past incidents of airstrikes on hospitals are you thinking of that this could be mistaken for, and why has the footage of it emerged only now?"
Sig - "I just told you."

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Americans have bombed hospitals, and rebels have shelled them. - SIGNY

Notice how SIG says Americans have bombed hospitals. An American would say WE have bombed hospitals. Another slip comrade.= STUPID

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So again. Why would the footage from a bombed hospital in Iraq or elsewhere, from months or years ago, emerge now, released by opposition media in rebel-held Syria?

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I don't have time to look into this further right now, and prolly not later either.

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The Syrian government considers any medical facilities in opposition-held territory as legitimate military targets, saying that they are de facto illegal.

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As early as 2013, the UN independent commission of inquiry investigating alleged war crimes in Syria said attacks on medical facilities were being used systematically as a weapon of war by the Assad regime.

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In February last year, the NGO Physicians for Human Rights said it had documented 224 attacks on 175 health facilities since the start of the conflict, and 599 medical personnel had been killed. The attacks continued after the Russian intervention – the organisation documented at least 10 attacks by Russian aircraft on medical facilities in October alone, the first month of Russia’s aerial campaign.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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So again. Why would the footage from a bombed hospital in Iraq or elsewhere, from months or years ago, emerge now, released by opposition media in rebel-held Syria?

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Do you know that's it's only been just released? This wouldn't be the first time that something was tweeted months or even years later, from a country far away, by someone claiming it to be part of a more recent event.

That's one of the things that the news outlets do, they do search for previous-released images to see if they've been seen before. There was an article about that a couple of years ago, it was very interesting because they showed the image and what it was claimed as (civilians injured in Venezuela, for example) and explained what it really was (boy being treated in Lebanon). You should look it up, it was fascinating.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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So again. Why would the footage from a bombed hospital in Iraq or elsewhere, from months or years ago, emerge now, released by opposition media in rebel-held Syria?

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Do you know that's it's only been just released? This wouldn't be the first time that something was tweeted months or even years later, from a country far away, by someone claiming it to be part of a more recent event.

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Medics and civilians in a war-torn province of Syria are trying to rebuild a vital maternity hospital after it was hit by air strikes in the latest attack on health facilities.

Two people were killed in Friday’s bombing, which destroyed part of the building as two operations were underway and a woman went into labour.

Save the Children, which supports the hospital, said six newborn babies were injured when the blast sent their incubators crashing to the floor and a woman who was six months pregnant had her leg severed.

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Amnesty International blamed Syrian or Russian forces for the strike, saying it fitted a “despicable pattern of unlawful attacks deliberately targeting medical facilities”.

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Well then, all you have to do is put both of these ideas together - do a few quick Google searches and see if the CCTV footage is from one of these old bombings. The CCTV footage is very shocking and recognisable, and the bombing of a hospital is particularly newsworthy, so it will surely not be too difficult to find.

Let us know how you get on.

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