Moon of Alabama — Mosul Is Liberated! My Congrats To Iraq

Some good news in the Middle East.

Moon of Alabama
Mosul Is Liberated! My Congrats To Iraq

b

Steven Chovanec — Contrasting Tales of Two Besieged Cities

During the Syrian army’s offensive to retake the eastern part of Aleppo from the insurgent opposition, the Western media portrayed the assault as if Russia and Syria were carrying out a campaign primarily aimed at killing and harming civilians. The humanitarian crisis dominated headlines while key facts, such as Al Qaeda’s domination of the opposition forces and the way in which the militants had brutally conquered the city’s civilians, were marginalized or not reported at all.

A similar military offensive being carried out by the U.S. and its allies in the Iraqi city of Mosul reveals the hypocritical nature of Western news outlets, which portray their own countries’ actions as targeting only Islamic State terrorists and scrupulously avoiding harm to civilians.

There is no doubt that the siege in eastern Aleppo resulted in a humanitarian crisis for the civilian population trapped within the warzone. As the Washington Institute’s Fabrice Balanche described: “What the United Nations is describing [about] the humanitarian situation is correct: hospitals destroyed, people living in shelters, women and children trapped in the rubble, and so on.”

Yet in reality the destruction waged upon Aleppo was hardly different from what is now being done in Mosul as the U.S.-led coalition carries out a similar campaign of counterinsurgency and siege warfare.

Currently the Iraqi army, backed by U.S. airstrikes, is conducting a violent and brutal assault on the western parts of Mosul city in order to drive out the Islamic State. A whole population of civilians is trapped within an ongoing warzone and cut off from food supplies and basic necessities as the military offensive hits heavily populated areas killing civilians while destroying important infrastructure in the process, including hospitals.
Yet, while Western officials and media pundits vehemently condemned the Syrian assault on Aleppo, they are largely silent — or congratulatory and supportive — as the U.S. and its partners lay waste to the more heavily populated city of Mosul.

A senior Iraqi politician told veteran journalist Patrick Cockburn that “the Iraqi armed forces will eventually capture west Mosul … but the city itself will be destroyed in the fighting,” pointing to the massive destruction already inflicted upon eastern Mosul which was recently captured by the U.S.-backed forces.

So, even though the current U.S.-led siege has resulted in a larger humanitarian crisis in purely quantitative terms, the outcry over it is largely nonexistent. The trauma is reported on, but selectively, while the full extent of the civilian catastrophe is hidden from view.…

Consortium News
Contrasting Tales of Two Besieged Cities 

Steven Chovanec

Pat Lang — Syria/Iraq Roundup

Col. Lang mentions the involvement of the UK at the end. Some may be wondering what's up with that, as well as why France is so interested in Syria, too. Britain and France were the colonial powers in the region and can't beyond it. Of course, this pertains to much more than in the Middle East and Africa.

Sic Semper Tyrannis 

Syria/Iraq Roundup - 17 December 2016

Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.), former military intelligence officer at the US Defense Intelligence Agency

Pat Lang — The Turks want Mosul and Aleppo "back."

This statement makes clear what Erdogan's ultimate ambition is….

Sic Semper Tyrannis
The Turks want Mosul and Aleppo "back."
Col. W. Patrick Lang, US Army (ret.), former military intelligence officer at the US Defense Intelligence Agency

Moon of Alabama — Renewed Jihadi Attack On Aleppo Supported By "Western" Propaganda Fakes

More news from the snake pit.

Erdogan claims Aleppo and Mosul for Turkey under revanchism.

We have maintained here for some time that the Turkish President Erdogan has designs for Aleppo as well as Mosul. He wants to incorporate both cities and all areas north of them into Turkey. Erdogan now publicly announced these aims:

Speaking during an opening ceremony for an educational institution in Bursa on Saturday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared the way that Syrians and Iraqis have been driven away from homes because of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS; ISIS/ISIL), to how Turkish people were once forced out from the same cities.

Erdogan added that the cities of Mosul and Aleppo belong to the Turkish people.

This is a serious misinterpretation of teh areas population history and of Turkey's international agreements and borders as delineated after the first world war.

Erdogan also lamented that Turkeys national leaders were born outside of Turkey's current borders. Something he implied he will strive to correct. The Greek will not be happy to hear that. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey, was born in Thessaloniki…

Much more in the post, but this is the game-changer. Neo-Ottomanism openly declared.

Moon of Alabama
Renewed Jihadi Attack On Aleppo Supported By "Western" Propaganda Fakes

RT — No one allowed to leave: Militants shell East Aleppo exit route as humanitarian pause ends

So much for that. It was a forgone conclusion, but Russia and Syria were wise to call the Western bluff, although Russia and Syria are being blamed anyway.

RT
No one allowed to leave: Militants shell East Aleppo exit route as humanitarian pause ends


Backgrounder on Mosul. Another mess.

Defend Democracy Press
Mosul’s Frightening and Uncertain Future
Patrick Cockburn

Pepe Escobar — The Aleppo/Mosul Riddle

Backgrounder on Mosul.

Strategic Culture Foundation
The Aleppo/Mosul Riddle

Pepe Escobar

Robert Parry — Good Deaths in Mosul, Bad Deaths in Aleppo

US double-standard, because "exceptionalism." The larger title is. US, good; Russia, China, Iran and anyone else the US elite disagrees with, bad.

Meanwhile, Americans are distracted by pussy and booty.

Consortium News
Good Deaths in Mosul, Bad Deaths in Aleppo

Robert Parry

Reuters
Islamic State said to use human shields as coalition advances on Mosul

The United Nations has said the Mosul battle could leave as many as 1 million people homeless.

"There's a chance, maybe a significant chance, that it's going to be fewer people than we expect, but of course it would be dangerous to assume that," the senior State Department official said.

Reuters
For U.S. and Obama, Mosul campaign is calculated risk

RT
‘Get out, Erdogan!’ Huge demo in Baghdad protests Turkey’s Iraq presence

Moon of Alabama — ISIS Moves To Syria Where Erdogan Still Aims For Aleppo

The attack on Mosul proceeds on three axes. From the north Kurdish Peshmerga under U.S. special force advisors lead the fighting. Iraqi forces attack from the east and south. The way to the west, towards Syria, is open. The intend of the U.S. is to let ISIS fighters, several thousand of them, flee to Deir Ezzor and Raqqa in Syria. They are needed there to further destroy the Syrian state.

We pointed out here that this move will create the "Salafist principality" the U.S. and its allies have striven to install in east-Syria since 2012. The "mistake" of the U.S. bombing of Syrian army positions in Deir Ezzor was in support of that plan. Other commentators finally catch up with that conclusion.

The Turks are openly talking about such an escape plan for ISIS in Mosul.…

The only U.S. "hope" for its Syria plans is now the facilitation of another ISIS influx. That and the CIA coordinated actions of its allies. The Saudis Foreign Minister announced that his country will increase weapons flow to its al-Qaeda proxies in Syria. The "rebels" are still receiving TOW anti-tank missiles and other heavy weapons.…

In east-Syria the Russian and Syrian air-forces, Hizbullah and more Shia militia from Iraq are now preparing surprises for the expected ISIS influx from Mosul. How much can they risk when the U.S. provides further air-support for the ISIS move?

The proxy war continues with the US, UK and allies using ISIS and Al Qaeda as proxies. Because "Asad must go."

Meanwhile, the American  public is distracted with pussy and booty, and the US media touts the propaganda line. The New York Times and Washington Post descend to the level of the National Enquirer.

Moon of Alabama
ISIS Moves To Syria Where Erdogan Still Aims For Aleppo

Moon of Alabama— The "Salafist Principality - ISIS Paid Off To Leave Mosul And To Take Deir Ezzor?

Empire to ISIS proxies: return to based await further instructions.

Erdogan predicts that his troops and proxy forces will march into Mosul just like they marched into Jarablus: In a peaceful walk, without any fight, into a city free of Jihadis.
The Saudis and the U.S. arranged for that.

The U.S. bombed the most important SAA position in Deir Ezzor so that ISIS, now with the help of its cadres from Mosul, can take over the city. A nice place to keep it holed up in east-Syria until it can further be used in this or that imperial enterprise.…A good plan when your overall aim is to create an obedient mercenary statelet in the center of the Middle East. As the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency wrote in 2012:

THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME.

But this plan requires to fight the Syrian and Russian air-forces which will do their utmost to defend the SAA group and the 100-200,000 ISIS besieged Syrian civilians in Deir Ezzor.

The the U.S. and its allies may be willing to do that. A well known British Tory member of parliament already made noise that British fighter jets should be free to shoot down Russian planes in Syria. The U.S. had claimed that British planes took part in the Deir Ezzor ambush.

The defenders of Deir Ezzor lack their own air defenses. The Russian systems at the Syrian west-coast can not reach that far east. The Syrian system are mostly positioned to defend Damascus and other cities from attacks by Israel.

Russia recently talked about delivering 10 new Pantsyr-S1 short-to-medium range air defense systems to Syria. At least two of those should be airlifted to Deir Ezzor as soon as possible.

UPDATE: I was just made aware of a recent speech by Hizbullah leader Nasrallah who smellsthe same stinking plot:

Sayyed Nasrallah said that the Americans intend to repeat Fallujah plot when they opened a way for ISIL to escape towards eastern Syria before the Iraqi warplanes targeted the terrorists’ convoy, warning that the same deceptive scheme is possible to be carried out in Mosul.

Moon of Alabama
The "Salafist Principality - ISIS Paid Off To Leave Mosul And To Take Deir Ezzor?

The US and Saudi Arabia have agreed to grant free passage to thousands of Islamic State militants before the Iraqi city of Mosul is stormed. The jihadists will be redeployed to fight against the government in Syria, a military-diplomatic source told RIA Novosti.

There you go.

RT
US, Saudis to grant 9,000 ISIS fighters free passage from Iraqi Mosul to Syria – source