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The truce broadly holding in Syria will create momentum behind peace talks, major European powers say.

The leaders of Russia, Germany, France, Italy and the UK had a telephone conversation on Friday after which they agreed to use the "positive dynamic", said the office of UK PM David Cameron.

EU countries asked Russia to exert influence over Syria's government to respect the truce, Germany said.

Scattered attacks have not threatened the truce, which began last Saturday.

However, both the opposition and the government have accused each other of violating the cessation of hostilities agreement brokered by the US and Russia.

The truce does not include the jihadist groups Islamic State (IS) and al-Nusra Front.

Taking advantage of the lull, thousands of protesters across Syria took to the streets for some of the most widespread rallies in years.

Demonstrators in parts of Aleppo, Damascus, Daraa and Homs called for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:
Turkey's newspaper was taken over by the Turkish government, not by Russia.

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One of the protest’s organizers, local religious leader Sheikh Isa a-Seyyed, gave warring factions Jaish al-Islam and Tahrir a-Sham until Friday to remove snipers from the roofs of buildings and clear away earthen berns constructed inside the city, promising that if their demands were not met, residents would take to the streets and “clean the city” of the military installations.

The infighting between Jaish al-Islam and Tahrir a-Sham, both of which have a notable military presence in the city, arises from the former’s accusations that Tahrir a-Sham has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS). Tahrir a-Sham claimed in a February statement that it was the enemy of the Islamic State, calling it by its derogatory Arabic acronym, Daesh, in the same announcement.

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The Jabhat a-Nusra-led General Management of Services (GMS), which works to maintain and repair water, electricity and services in and around Aleppo, announced on Sunday that its workers successfully repaired the 230 kilovolt power line, promising “the expected return of electricity within two days” to “all Aleppo city and the western countryside.”

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
NATO praises the accuracy of Russian airstrikes

From the German http://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/nato-geheimpapier-russland-ist-nat
o-kraeften-in-syrien-ueberlegen_id_5336051.html

google translated

Since September, the Russian Air Force is flying attacks in Syria. Here is denounced repeatedly that Putin bombers kill hundreds of civilians. Ironically, however, NATO praises Russia: is the use "accurately and efficiently," it says - and would have a much greater effect than the use of the NATO fleet.

The North Atlantic military alliance NATO, the Russian Air Force deployed in Syria certifies a high level of professionalism. This was reported by the news magazine FOCUS, citing a confidential NATO analysis from Brussels.

Although the combat aircraft of the Russian armed forces are clearly inferior to the Jets of the Western alliance numerically, the Kremlin pilots achieved in operations against the terrorist network IS and other rebel groups in total a greater impact. This was due to the higher frequency of Russian air raids, FOCUS quoted from the secret document.

Accordingly, around 40 stationed at Latakia Russian fighter jets flew last up to 75 inserts per day. The air strikes were "accurately and efficiently". The NATO fleet with a total of 180 machines seized daily at only 20 targets on the ground. President Vladimir Putin, Supreme Commander of the Russian forces want to use in the near future up to 140 fighters in Syria. Recently he had been embarrassed Su-35 to Latakia four hochmodernde machines type Sukhoi. The Su-35 is superior to most airmen from western production according to experts.

IS has set a show of force on the ground

According to NATO so far were only 20 percent of Russian attacks of the terrorist IS militia. The other attacks were directed against anti-Assad militias, some of which are supported by the West. The strong presence of the fighters has meant that there are no major movements of the insurgents more on the ground for weeks. In particular, the terror militia IS, the long vehicle convoys drove to propaganda through occupied territories, now waived for fear of air raids on their power demonstrations.

When targeting the Kremlin pilots engage loud FOCUS back on the Syrian aerial reconnaissance. In addition, Russian special forces and spies labeled strategically important facilities on site. About the people killed in the attacks of Allied and Russian Air Force civilians there is no information in the secret document. According to information from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights more than 1,700 civilians since September 2015 came solely with Russian air strikes killed, including 423 children.

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
NATO praises the accuracy of Russian airstrikes

From the German http://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/nato-geheimpapier-russland-ist-nat
o-kraeften-in-syrien-ueberlegen_id_5336051.html

google translated

Since September, the Russian Air Force is flying attacks in Syria. Here is denounced repeatedly that Putin bombers kill hundreds of civilians. Ironically, however, NATO praises Russia: is the use "accurately and efficiently," it says - and would have a much greater effect than the use of the NATO fleet.

The North Atlantic military alliance NATO, the Russian Air Force deployed in Syria certifies a high level of professionalism. This was reported by the news magazine FOCUS, citing a confidential NATO analysis from Brussels.

Although the combat aircraft of the Russian armed forces are clearly inferior to the Jets of the Western alliance numerically, the Kremlin pilots achieved in operations against the terrorist network IS and other rebel groups in total a greater impact. This was due to the higher frequency of Russian air raids, FOCUS quoted from the secret document.

Accordingly, around 40 stationed at Latakia Russian fighter jets flew last up to 75 inserts per day. The air strikes were "accurately and efficiently". The NATO fleet with a total of 180 machines seized daily at only 20 targets on the ground. President Vladimir Putin, Supreme Commander of the Russian forces want to use in the near future up to 140 fighters in Syria. Recently he had been embarrassed Su-35 to Latakia four hochmodernde machines type Sukhoi. The Su-35 is superior to most airmen from western production according to experts.

IS has set a show of force on the ground

According to NATO so far were only 20 percent of Russian attacks of the terrorist IS militia. The other attacks were directed against anti-Assad militias, some of which are supported by the West. The strong presence of the fighters has meant that there are no major movements of the insurgents more on the ground for weeks. In particular, the terror militia IS, the long vehicle convoys drove to propaganda through occupied territories, now waived for fear of air raids on their power demonstrations.

When targeting the Kremlin pilots engage loud FOCUS back on the Syrian aerial reconnaissance. In addition, Russian special forces and spies labeled strategically important facilities on site. About the people killed in the attacks of Allied and Russian Air Force civilians there is no information in the secret document. According to information from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights more than 1,700 civilians since September 2015 came solely with Russian air strikes killed, including 423 children.

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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

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Originally posted by 1kiki:

Troll, much?

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The problem you have is that you and SIG are considered the trolls here. Comrade trolls to be exact. The rest of us are the firewall that points out the hypocrisy in what you post. Check out all the threads you two have started promoting your agenda. All the West bad and thank god for Russia bullshit. Too much proof here to support your claims that it is the rest of us who are trolls and not you and SIG.

Anyway, aren’t you leaving with SIG

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
The planned path forward in the Syrian truce, according to Russian military spokesperson. Since Russia is the main driver of events in Syria, it stands to reason that what they have to say is relevant.



In case you might not be aware, these are the terms of the cease-fire, as viewed form the Russian side


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You can't build a nation with bombs. You can't create a society with guns.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he was instructing his armed forces to start pulling out of Syria, over five months after he ordered the launch of a military operation that shored up his ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Putin, at a meeting in the Kremlin with his defense and foreign ministers, said Russian military forces in Syria had largely fulfilled their objectives and ordered an intensification of Russia's diplomatic efforts to broker a peace deal in the country.

But the Russian leader signaled Moscow would keep a military presence: he did not give a deadline for the completion of the withdrawal and said Russian forces would stay on at the port of Tartous and at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria's Latakia province.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had telephoned Assad to inform him of the Russian decision. The move was announced on the day United Nations-brokered talks between the warring sides in Syria resumed in Geneva.

"The effective work of our military created the conditions for the start of the peace process," Putin said.

"I believe that the task put before the defense ministry and Russian armed forces has, on the whole, been fulfilled. With the participation of the Russian military... the Syrian armed forces and patriotic Syrian forces have been able to achieve a fundamental turnaround in the fight against international terrorism and have taken the initiative in almost all respects," Putin said.

"I am therefore ordering the defense minister, from tomorrow, to start the withdrawal of the main part of our military contingent from the Syrian Arab Republic."

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu to start the withdrawal of forces from Syria starting Tuesday.

“I consider the objectives that have been set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished. That is why I order to start withdrawal of the main part of our military group from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic starting from tomorrow,” Putin said on Monday during a meeting with Shoigu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Moscow launched its anti-terror campaign in Syria on September 30 last year. Russia’s participation in the operation, according to a previous statement by Putin, has its basis in international law and has been conducted “in accordance with an official request from the president of the Syrian Arab Republic [Bashar Assad].”

The Russian Air Force has been carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) and other terrorist targets in the region, eliminating military equipment, communication centers, vehicles, arms and fuel depots.

At Moscow's initiative, a phone conversation between Vladimir Putin and Syria's President Bashar Assad was held on Monday evening, the Kremlin reported.

The two leaders agreed that the actions of Russia's Air Force in Syria have allowed them to "profoundly reverse the situation" in connection to fighting terrorists in the region, having "disorganized militants' infrastructure and inflicted fundamental damage upon them."

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KPO tries to spin even a Russian withdrawal as a "war crime".

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But Aleppo hasn't been fully freed

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and Raqqa is still in jihadist hands.

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Our source has obtained these draft notes from the waste paper basket in the office of the Director, Spin Central, Western Main Stream Media Holdings.

ISSUE: Putin has recently announced a partial pullout from Syria and claimed success.

BACKGROUND: For months we have been saying that Putin's air force has been clusterbombing civilians, good moderate rebels, sand and hospitals; that Putin is getting bogged down; that it was turning into another Afghanistan; that he was lying when he said he was bombing terrorists; that all he was doing was propping up Assad. In short that it was a failure that could only grow worse. "Russia's Failed Adventure in Syria" by Con Coughlin, Defence Editor of the Daily Telegraph is a typical example. Others are "Putin bogging down in Syria", "Russian army in Syria: A failure foretold" and "Putin Dare Not Send More Forces to Syria". These must now, as it were, be unspun in such a way that we do not look like fools [who were just speaking stenography to power -crossout].

PROBLEM: Many of our [dupes -punters -sheeple - crossout] citizens are in danger of forming the impression that Putin actually did what he said he would do, when he said he would do it and, having done it, is finished. Some are even going so far as to suggest Putin did us a service by attacking ISIS. Such an impression would directly threaten our [credibility- profits- crossout] freedoms and values.

SOLUTION: It is imperative that we develop a media campaign to [save our faces-crossout] regain the moral high ground. Consultations with our specialists have developed the following themes. The essence is that, while not a complete failure, Putin's war had a very limited and short-lived success. All writers are instructed to work these themes into their coverage.

* Putin attacked Syria to distract the population from the catastrophic economy. Nonstop videos of explosions on state-controlled TV had an initial effect which soon wore off. With the collapse of his popularity ratings [from 90% to 85%- crossout] he realised he had milked it for as much as he could and it was time for another diversion.

* The attack on Syria diverted attention from Putin's war in Ukraine. The pullout has successfully diverted attention from Putin's war in Syria.

* Putin's war has been countered by the successful diplomacy of President US President Obama and (insert the name of local stooge leader) which created the ceasefire and brought the warring parties to the negotiating table.

* Humorists can make the point that Putin has run out of Syrian hospitals and orphanages to bomb.

* Find "some expert" to "believe" that the cost of the intervention was ruinously high and that "probably" Putin's supporters told him to stop or they would dismiss him.

* Suggest there was a big argument with Assad and Putin left to punish him. "Some experts believe" is the way to introduce this story.

* Other departments will be trying to create a "Soldiers' Mothers Committee" to claim there were thousands of hidden casualties. Be ready to quote them.

* Don't forget to say that Putin claimed "mission accomplished" and that he promised to completely withdraw. This allows us to call him a liar if these things do not happen. In the meantime, anything short of 100% "accomplished" can be spun as failure.

Standard instructions continue as usual:

Scatter the expressions "barrel bombs", "troll factories", "hybrid war", "carpet bombing" and "weaponising" freely through your writings. But I don't think we can get away with "weaponising success" though.

Question the reliability of everything Putin says and observe that, while his motives are always obscure, they are always malign.

Don't forget personalisation: everything is "Putin's"

When you can't find a source for some assertion, make frequent use of the formula: "Many experts say -------"

Try and say "Putin's war on Syria" as much as possible; this makes him out to have been on the morally wrong side.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Originally posted in the Hillary thread, I removed it from there to here, where it's more germane. I thought this was funny...

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Palmyra (Syria) (AFP) - Syrian troops recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from the Islamic State group and pledged to build on the win with an advance against other jihadist strongholds.

President Bashar al-Assad hailed the victory as "important," as his Russian counterpart and ally Vladimir Putin congratulated Damascus for retaking the UNESCO world heritage site. An AFP correspondent inside Palmyra said monuments destroyed by the jihadists, including the iconic Temple of Bel, were in pieces but much of the ancient city was intact. Residential neighbourhoods in the adjacent modern town, where 70,000 people lived before the war, were deserted and damage was widespread, the correspondent said.

Syrian soldiers, pro-government militiamen, and Russian fighters strolled among the ruins in awe, while a group of regime fighters kicked around a football in the middle of a street. But one Syrian fighter stood sobbing loudly in the old ruins.

"I'm sad to see some of the old city destroyed, but I'm also weeping for my brother, who died in the battle here," the soldier said. "By taking the city, I feel I've avenged his death."

Islamic State jihadists sparked a global outcry when they started destroying Palmyra's treasured monuments, which they consider idolatrous, after seizing it in May 2015. But Syria's antiquities chief on Sunday said the priceless artefacts had survived better than feared.

"We were expecting the worst. But the landscape, in general, is in good shape," Maamoun Abdulkarim told AFP from Damascus. "We could have completely lost Palmyra... The joy I feel is indescribable."

The Syrian army said that Sunday's victory meant the city would now serve as a base to "broaden operations" against IS, including in its stronghold of Raqa and Deir Ezzor further east.

Backed by Russian air strikes, Syrian troops and allied militia launched a major offensive to retake Palmyra this month. The city is both a symbolic and strategic prize for Assad's forces, as it provides control of the surrounding desert extending all the way to the Iraqi border. At least 400 IS fighters were killed in the battle for the city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. On the government side, 188 troops and militiamen were killed.

"That's the heaviest losses that IS has sustained in a single battle since its creation" in 2013, the director of the Britain-based monitoring group, Rami Abdel Rahman, told AFP. A military source told AFP on Sunday that IS militants had retreated towards the east as the army made its final push.

After seizing Palmyra last year, IS blew up two of the site's treasured temples, its triumphal arch and a dozen tower tombs, in a campaign of destruction that UNESCO described as a war crime. The jihadists used Palmyra's ancient theatre as a venue for public executions and also murdered the city's 82-year-old former antiquities chief.

Palmyra, northeast of Damascus, drew some 150,000 tourists a year before Syria's civil war and is known to Syrians as the "Pearl of the Desert". Syrian state television broadcast footage from inside Palmyra's famed museum, showing jagged pieces of sculptures on the ground and blanketed in dust.

IS, behind a string of attacks in the West including last week's Brussels bombings, is under growing pressure from Syrian and Iraqi forces determined to retake bastions of its self-proclaimed "caliphate". On Thursday, the Iraqi army announced the launch of an offensive to eventually recapture second city Mosul, held by the jihadists since June 2014.

Russian forces, which intervened in support of longtime ally Assad last September, were heavily involved in the Palmyra offensive despite a major drawdown last week. Russian warplanes carried out 40 combat sorties around Palmyra in the last 24 hours, striking 117 "terrorist targets" and killing 80 IS fighters, Moscow's defence ministry said Sunday.

Putin telephoned Assad to congratulate the Syrian leader, adding that "successes such as the liberation of Palmyra would be impossible without Russia's support," a Kremlin spokesman said. Assad said the victory was "fresh proof of the efficiency of the Syrian army and its allies in fighting terrorism".

IS and its jihadist rival, the Al-Qaeda-affiliated Al-Nusra Front, are not party to a ceasefire in force across Syria since February 27. The truce has brought relative quiet to many areas across Syria, where more than 270,000 have been killed and millions had fled their homes in the last five years.

The Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday that 363 civilians had been killed since the truce went into effect -- the lowest monthly toll in four years.

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A RUSSIAN special forces commando on a Rambo-style solo mission in Syria died a "hero" after calling in an air strike on himself to wipe out a group of ISIS terrorists.

The fearless soldier was surrounded by jihadis while on a secret deployment directing aerial bombardment on targets near the ancient city of Palmrya.

Facing certain death he radioed Russian jets ordering them to attack his own position and died in the blast along with a number of ISIS fanatics.

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Mid-March Putin ordered a drawdown of Russian forces in Syria. Satellite images show that what Russians subsequently withdrew was 3 out of their 15 Su-24 tactical bombers. 4 out of their 8 Su-34 tactical bombers. As well as their entire fleet of 12 Su-25 ground assault aircraft.

They left behind all of their Su-30 and Su-35 air superiority fighters and also flew in at least 4 more additional Mi-28 and Ka-52 attack helicopters. Overall since January through March the number of Russian helicopters in its Syria air base went up from some 4 machines to about 14.

Thus the Russian drawdown did not only mean a reduction of Russian forces, it also meant a change in its composition. Fixed-wing assault aircraft were withdrawn completely and rotary-wing attack aircraft were brought in their place.

A Su-25 has different capabilities than an attack helicopter but their roles are the same. They are meant to provide close air support to frontline ground units. So why change one for the other?

The Su-25s the Russians had in Syria were old airframes. It is likely that in a space of six months the Russians flew so many sorties on these machines that they needed to be flown back for factory-level overhauls.

However, this can not be the reason why they were replaced by attack helicopters. The Russians could have easily flown in a new rotation of Su-25s but they opted not to.

Here is where it gets interesting. Syrian rebels were always known to possess some anti-aircraft capability including shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. (Also "MANPAD" as in "man-portable air defense system".)

However, they were believed to have only a very small number of these as there was a taboo among their backers against introducing such weapons (which could be used in terrorist attacks) to the battlefield.

Recently, however, it has become apparent this taboo has been broken as two Syrian jets were brought down with such weapons this month and pictures of rebels posing with such weapons begun popping up on the internet.

It is also certain that Russians observed rebels being increasingly armed with such weapons, or even knew about MANPAD shipments in advance.

So Russians either knew, or very quickly realized that risks would increase for their planes in Syria's skies. Why pull out the Su-25s?

A Su-25 is a ground attack plane similar in concept to the American A-10 Thunderbolt II, albeit the Russians really have a longer tradition of building such planes going back to the legendary Ilyushin Il-2 of World War II.

It is supposed to attack the enemy in a dive run and from a close proximity. That naturally exposes it to short-range anti-aircraft fire far more than a Su-24 or a Su-34 which generally attack from a higher attitude and further from the front line.

Thus it makes every sense for the Russians to withdraw Su-25s rather than their other planes, but why then fly in attack helicopters?

A Su-25 is a far more survivable airframe than a helicopter. It is armored, able to vacate the battlefield faster, drops down only for the attack, and most of all – can pull off high g-force evasive maneuvers that a rotary-wing can not.

But here is the catch:

Russian attack helicopters come with the Russian MANPAD-jamming wonder system and Su-25s do not.

Russians have developed an "airborne defense system" President-S which their tests show defeats their Strela-2, Strela-3 and Igla shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles with ease. It makes an aircraft equipped with it practically completely immune to all such weapons except the very new ones, like the Russian Verba missile.

According to the manufacturer this has been demonstrated on the battlefield in Syria as well:

"In Syria, jamming systems mounted on the Mi-28N, were easily able to suppress the guidance systems of early examples of man-portable air defense systems at the disposal of the of terrorists, in particular, the Soviet Strela-2 and Igla-1, as well as the Chinese HN-5."

Modern Russian helicopters are equipped with the President-S system of countermeasures, but so far the Su-25 bombers are not. The modernized Su-25SM3 variant will boast a similar Vitebsk-25 system but so far there are none in service.

So here is the scary thought: Russians have developed a MANPAD-jamming system which in their opinion is so effective that it makes a delicate rotary-wing like the Ka-52 more survivable than a no frills flying tank like the Su-25. After modernization they could be back.

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A Syrian military official, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, denied the army had carried out any operation against the Sarmada refugee camp on Thursday, where 28 people died, including women and children, and dozens were wounded. The official said all reports about the attack are false.

A Russian military official said Friday that no Russian or any other aircraft made flights over the camp in Sarmada, home to about 2,000 internally displaced people who fled the fighting from the surrounding Aleppo and Hama provinces over the past year.

Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in remarks carried by Russian news agencies that the Russian military had closely studied data from an air space monitoring system and determined that no aircraft had flown over the camp on Wednesday or Thursday.

Konashenkov said the destruction seen on photographs and videos suggested the camp could have been shelled, whether intentionally or by mistake, from multiple rocket launchers that the Syrian al-Qaida affiliate, known as the Nusra Front, has been using in the area.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:

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I'll tell you what I DON'T like about Trump: I think that he has never confronted either the international banking cartel, nor the CIA-State Dept multi-headed hydra, nor the military-industrial complex. The last person to confront them was JFK (BTW, ALL immigration was illegal under JFK) and look what happened to him.

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Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I'm saying this because of your evident fascination with only ONE aspect of the Syrian conflict: Russian and Syrian "war crimes". You never seem to post about ISIL or al Nusra war crimes, or the complicity of the FSA and parts of the Syrian Sunni population with the concept of a wahhabist theocratic nation.

Have you EVER posted about that?

In any case, I withdraw the snarky comment. The sitrep should stand on its own.

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