Syrian army sees Aleppo encircled soon; rebels hope for more weapons

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A Syrian army source said the city of Aleppo would soon be encircled by government forces as rebels pounded by Russian air strikes expressed hope that the failure of Geneva peace talks would encourage their foreign backers to send better weapons.

Turkey, a major sponsor of the insurgency against President Bashar al-Assad, said there was no point to peace talks while Russia carried out attacks in Syria. Moscow confirmed a Russian military trainer was killed in Syria this week, but denied that Russian servicemen were fighting on the ground.

The United Nations on Wednesday suspended the first peace talks in two years, halting an effort that seemed doomed from the start as the war raged unabated on the ground and government forces severed a major rebel supply route into strategically-important Aleppo, Syria's biggest city before the war began.

Turkey said on Thursday that tens of thousands of refugees from Aleppo were moving towards the border due to air strikes.

http://in.reuters.com/article/mideast-crisis-syria-idINKCN0VD1OZ?rpc=401

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1. Russia says Turkish accusations are cover up for military activity on Syrian border

Feb 4 Russia reiterated on Thursday that its warplanes had not violated Turkish airspace and such accusations served as a cover-up for Ankara's increased military activity on the Syrian border.

Ankara has repeatedly failed to respond to Moscow's requests to provide any evidence of violations of its airspace by Russian jets, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told a news briefing.

http://www.reuters.com/article/mideast-crisis-russia-turkey-idUSR4N15H006?rpc=401

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5. Grounds to believe Turkey planning military invasion in Syria - Russian military

Developments on the Turkish-Syrian border give serious grounds to suspect that Ankara is planning a military invasion in Syria, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

“We have serious grounds to suspect intensive preparations by Turkey for a military invasion on the territory of the sovereign state of Syria,” Major General Igor Konashenkov, Defense Ministry spokesman, told journalists.

“We are recording more and more signs of concealed preparations by the Turkish military,” he added.

The spokesman reminded that Moscow had previously provided the international community with irrefutable video evidence of Turkish artillery firing on Syrian populated areas in the north of Latakia Province.

WATCH: 'Irrefutable proof Turkey shell borderline Syrian settlements' - Russian military https://t.co/vkcyDRLkqBhttps://t.co/uNOManS4qC
— RT (@RT_com) February 1, 2016

https://www.rt.com/news/331278-turkey-military-invasion-syria/

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2. Putin vs. Erdogan — This Time It's Personal

On Feb. 2, Turkish President Recep Erdogan urgently sought an audience with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. The Turkish ambassador in Moscow relayed the message, but has, it seems, yet to receive a response.

It was the second time Erdogan has been rebuffed by Putin following Turkey's downing of a Russian military jet in November. Instead of talking, Putin has accused Turkey of stabbing Russia in the back and supporting terrorists in Syria.

The underlying conflict is Putin's support for Syrian President Bashar Assad. When Russia intervened in Syria's civil war at the end of September, it saved an embattled regime that Erdogan had sought to overthrow.

The incompatibility of these strategic visions has been exacerbated by a developing personal rivalry between Putin and Erdogan.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/putin-vs-erdogan--this-time-its-personal/558533.html

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3. Syria Kurds advance in north Aleppo following regime victory

BEIRUT – Syrian Kurdish forces have advanced along the border of their de-facto autonomous Afrin canton west of Aleppo after pro-regime forces notched a major success in the nearby Shiite villages of Nubl and Zahra.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported Thursday that the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) had taken control of Al-Ziyara and Khuraybika—two villages in Shirawa region of the Afrin canton, which is administered by the YPG's parent organization the Democratic Union Party (PYD).

According to the SOHR, the two villages, which were previously controlled by "Islamist factions," had been "subjected to shelling two days previously, which caused deaths and injuries in the village of Al-Ziyara."

A former spokesperson for the Afrin canton's government told ARA news that the YPG had entered the area in order "to answer the calls of locals," in reference to ethnic Kurds living in the two villages.

https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566572-syria-kurds-advance-in-north-aleppo-following-regime-victory

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4. Kremlin Confirms Death of Another Russian Serviceman in Syria

A Russian soldier has been killed after coming under fire by militants in Syria, the Russian Ministry of Defence and the Kremlin have said.

On Wednesday independent news agency Interfax cited a Ministry of Defence source, reporting that a soldier had been killed in Syria. The soldier, whose name was not given, was reportedly killed on Monday after sustaining fatal wounds from shelling by the militant group Islamic State (ISIS).

During his daily press briefing on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the serviceman, had in fact been killed but highlighted that the man had not taken part in fighting. He was there as part of a group of experts on Russian military gear.

http://www.newsweek.com/kremlin-confirms-death-another-russian-serviceman-syria-423050

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6. Moscow reveals details of death of Russian military in Syria

Russian “military adviser” killed in Syria has died from severe wounds, received during the shelling of the Syrian army training center in the province of Homs, according to the head of the press service of Russia’s Defense Ministry, Igor Konashenkov, Novaya Gazeta wrote.

http://www.unian.info/world/1255306-moscow-reveals-details-of-death-of-russian-military-in-syria.html

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7. 'Russia not interested in a political solution'

UN envoy Staffan de Mistrua has announced that Syrian peace talk slated to begin this week would be postponed. In an interview with DW, Bassma Kodmani from the Syrian negotiating team blames Russian aggression.

DW: The UN envoy Staffan de Mistrua has said that the peace talks have been suspended, but haven't failed. Would you agree with that assessment?

Bassma Kodmani: I would completely agree. We, the High Negotiations Committee, came to Geneva to see if there was a plan to implement humanitarian solutions and settle them before we could start negotiating. The recess in the talks now is simply to say: these obligations have not been met at all, and on top of that, the entire process is being jeopardized by this week's very aggressive air campaign and military operations by the regime, its foreign militias and Russian air support.

These operations are unprecedented in their intensity and must have been under preparation for several weeks. So we are wondering: how come there were all these diplomatic exchanges and commitments?

So, even while [US Secretary of State] Kerry was talking with [Russian Foreign Minister] Lavrov the last few weeks, were the Russians preparing all along to discredit the US in this very visible and obvious manner by launching this operation just as the talks were supposed to start? That is really a very big question. To us, it seems that this is about settling the whole conflict militarily; they are not interested in a political solution it seems – that really is the message we have received from Russia.

http://www.dw.com/en/russia-not-interested-in-a-political-solution/a-19027228

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8. Syrian rebels losing grip on Aleppo

Opposition forces in northern Syria say they are losing their grip on Aleppo as Russian bombardment and advances by pro-Assad militias come close to cutting their supply lines and besieging the city.

After a week of the most intensive bombardment of the five-year war, forces loyal to the Syrian leader are in control of most of the countryside immediately to the north.

Russian jets have pounded the area throughout the past week, as Syrian factions have gathered in Geneva for a faltering peace summit. The Russian defence ministry said on Thursday it had hit almost 900 targets in Syria in the previous three days.

It also accused Turkey of preparing for a military incursion. “The Russian defence ministry registers a growing number of signs of hidden preparation of the Turkish armed forces for active actions on the territory of Syria,” said spokesman Igor Konashenkov.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/04/syrian-rebels-losing-grip-on-aleppo

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9. Source: Turkey isn't preparing to invade Syria

Istanbul (CNN)Turkish forces aren't preparing to invade northern Syria and Russia's allegation that they are is an attempt to hide Moscow's crimes in the war-ravaged nation, a source within the Turkish Prime Minister's office told CNN on Thursday.

"Simply they are diverting attention from their attacks on civilians as a country already invading Syria," the source told CNN. "Turkey has all the rights to take any measures to protect its own security."

The comments come after Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov was quoted by Russian state news agency Ria Novosti as saying Moscow believes some activity on the Turkish side of the border with Syria indicates preparations for an incursion.

"The signs of hidden preparation of Turkish armed forces for activities in the territory of Syria we notice more and more," the general said.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/04/middleeast/turkey-russia-syria-invasion-denial/

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10. Will Turkey intervene in Syria?

As part of the post-World War II order, I am not sure whether we have experienced a period in which the term "U.S.-backed" has lost its sense to such an extent.

In Syria, the United States currently cannot stand behind any U.S.-backed group except the People's Protection Units (YPG), whose strategic partnership with Russia could not be prevented. The U.S. can neither train and equip groups, nor prevent the massacres caused by Russian airstrikes. On Wednesday, the connections of opposition groups from Azaz to Aleppo, and consequently with Turkey, were cut off by the Russia-backed regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad, which brought the reality to light even more.

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Under these circumstances it is hard to answer the question in the title. However, the promise, that founding a PKK-linked state to Turkey's south will not be allowed at any cost and the opposition will not be left alone, is still valid.

When looking at the situation through this lens, one can see that the question of whether Turkey will intervene in Syria is not a yes or no question, but a question of when.

http://www.dailysabah.com/columns/hilal_kaplan/2016/02/05/will-turkey-intervene-in-syria

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11. Syrian rebels are losing Aleppo and perhaps also the war

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Syrian rebels battled for their survival in and around Syria’s northern city of Aleppo on Thursday after a blitz of Russian airstrikes helped government loyalists sever a vital supply route and sent a new surge of refugees fleeing toward the border with Turkey.

The Russian-backed onslaught against rebel positions in Aleppo coincided with the failure of peace talks in Geneva, and helped reinforce opposition suspicions that Russia and its Syrian government allies are more interested in securing a military victory over the rebels than negotiating a settlement.

After two days of what rebel fighters described as the most intense airstrikes yet, government forces had succeeded on Wednesday in cutting off the rebels’ main supply route from the Turkish border to the portion of Aleppo city that remains under opposition control. On Thursday, the government captured several more villages in the surrounding countryside, prompting fears among residents and rebels that the city could soon be entirely surrounded.

The loss of Aleppo, Syria’s largest city and the most significant urban center to fall, at least partially, under rebel control, would represent a potentially decisive blow to the nearly five-year-old rebellion against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The rebels have maintained control of much of Aleppo since they surged into the city in 2012, prompting U.S. intelligence assessments that they eventually would topple the government in Damascus.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/syrian-rebels-are-losing-aleppo-and-perhaps-also-the-war/2016/02/04/94e10012-cb51-11e5-b9ab-26591104bb19_story.html

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12. Islamic State losing recruits to casualties and desertions, says Washington

Islamic State’s contingent of fighters in Syria and Iraq has fallen from about 31,000 to 25,000 according to a US intelligence report revealed by the White House.

Officials in Washington cited battlefield casualties and desertions to explain the roughly 20% decrease and said the report showed a US-led campaign against Isis was making progress.

US-backed security forces in Iraq, and tribal militias and moderate opposition groups in Syria, contributed, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest, alongside a US-led air campaign that has launched more than 10,000 strikes against the Islamist extremists.

The announcement came as Saudi Arabia offered to send group troops into Syria as part of “any ground operations that the coalition [against Isis] may agree to carry out”.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/feb/05/islamic-state-losing-recruits-to-casualties-and-desertions-says-washington

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13. Syrian rebel commander says northern Aleppo countryside 'totally encircled'

The commander of a U.S.-supported Syrian rebel group said on Friday the northern countryside of Aleppo province was completely encircled by Syrian government forces and its allies and heavy Russian bombardment continued.

Syrian government troops and their allies broke through rebel defenses to reach two Shi'ite villages in northern Aleppo province on Wednesday, choking opposition supply lines from Turkey to Aleppo city.

The assault in northern Aleppo province, backed by hundreds of Russian air strikes there, has also prompted tens of thousands of people to flee toward the Turkish border and helped derail peace talks in Geneva.

Hassan Haj Ali, the head of a prominent Free Syrian Army group called Liwa Suqour al-Jabal that has received U.S. military training in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, said the aerial bombardment continued.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-aleppo-idUSKCN0VE0ZA?rpc=401

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14. Syria Again

Yet again the Syrian conflict has taken the front pages of the western media outlet with the announcement that another UN sponsored Syrian peace talk is underway in Geneva. The latest round, which began last Friday in Geneva, is an attempt to bring a number of groups to the negotiating table that has nothing in common.

The so called the Syrian opposition group, which is supported by the Saudis, Qataris, Turks and other regressive regimes in the region have indicated that they intend to boycott this round of discussion as well unless their demands are met prior to negotiation despite US’s insistence that they should participate with no condition. Mike Whitney in a recent piece in CounterPunch, used the situation in eastern Oregon to assess the rationality of these demands under the current circumstance. He explained:

To appreciate how ridiculous these demands are, one would have to imagine a similar scenario taking place in the United States. Let’s say, for example, that Ammon Bundy, the crackpot leader of the armed militia that seized the federal wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon, demanded that the FBI and all other federal agents vamoose while the UN convened negotiations between his representatives and the Obama administration for the establishment of a transitional government that would remove Obama from power after 18 months while rewriting the constitution so it better reflected the far-right political and religious convictions of Bundy and his gaggle of ne’er-do-well followers.

Does that seem like a reasonable proposition to you? This is the context in which the current “talks” are being held. Is it any wonder why Moscow doesn’t take this charade seriously? It’s a joke.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/02/05/syria-again/