These clashes come as a part of regime forces’ attempts to put an end to activities by ISIS which have stepped up its operations with the aim to deplete regime forces in the region.

On the other hand, Russian fighter jets have executed nearly 40 airstrikes on ISIS positions throughout the Syrian desert since last night.

Yesterday, Observatory activists monitored a squadron of Russian fighter jets flying over the Syrian desert since the early hours of Sunday morning, along with executing intensive strikes on ISIS positions in Aleppo-Hama-Al-Raqqah triangle. The Russian airstrikes coincide with fierce clashes and exchange of shelling in the same region between ISIS members on one hand, and regime forces and their proxy militias on the other. It is worth noting that the Russian jets carried out over 70 airstrikes on the Syrian desert in the previous 24 hours.

Meanwhile, SOHR activists documented new human losses in the intensive bombardment and violent clashes in 24 hours, as seven regime soldiers and loyalists were killed, while ISIS lost 15 members. The death toll is expected to rise further as there are several combatants injured, some seriously. There are also unconfirmed reports of more casualties.

Since the 24th of March 2019, SOHR has documented the killing of at least 1,066 regime soldiers and loyalists of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities, including at least two Russians, and 144 Iranian-backed militiamen of non-Syrian nationalities. All were killed in attacks, bombings, and ambushes by the “Islamic State”, west of Euphrates in the deserts of Deir Ezzor, Homs, and Al-Suwaidaa.

Also, four civilians working in gas fields, 11 shepherds, and four other people were killed and documented by SOHR in the same period, from late March 2019 until today. They were killed in attacks by ISIS cells. While 601 ISIS members were also killed in attacks and bombardment in the same period.

Source: https://www.syriahr.com/en/195945/

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Citing military sources, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that as many as 30 heavily-armed military vehicles, carrying 200 Marines, entered northeastern Syria.

The monitor said that the U.S. military convoy was seen heading to the Istrahat Wazir area, which is where they are currently expanding their base.

According to the SOHR report, the U.S. has been dispatching hundreds of Marines to the Al-Hasakah Governorate to disrupt the Russian military’s operation.

“The US dispatch of hundreds of marines to Syria is believed to disrupt the Russian military operation in Al-Hasakah in the context of its active support of Syria in regional security and M-4 national highway connecting Al-Hasakah with Aleppo,” they said.

At the same time, a military source from the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) told Al-Masdar News on Wednesday evening that the Russian Armed Forces have also been expanding their presence in the Al-Hasakah Governorate by sending fresh reinforcements and heavy weapons to this region of the country.

While the U.S. and Russian troops attempt to avoid one another in Al-Hasakah, the two forces have encountered one another on a number of occasions this year, especially in the Al-Qamishli countryside.

Source: https://www.syriahr.com/en/?p=165865&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=heavily-armed-us-convoy-enters-syria-to-expand-base-and-disrupt-russian-operation

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US President Donald Trump warned Turkey Monday (6 October) against going too far in Syria, one day after giving Ankara a green light to invade its southern neighbor, sparking panic among Washington’s Kurdish allies.

The Pentagon pulled back only about two dozen of its forces from Syria’s northern frontier, where they serve as a buffer between the Turkish military and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, after Trump’s surprise announcement late Sunday that US forces “will no longer be in the immediate area.”

At the news of US withdrawal, on Saturday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said a military incursion of Turkish troops into northeastern Syria was imminent.

But amid an outcry from the region and strong opposition at home from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, the US leader appeared to reverse himself, though without drawing any specific red lines that might protect Kurdish allies.

“If Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off-limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey (I’ve done before!),” Trump tweeted.

Other US officials, apparently surprised by Trump’s Sunday announcement, stressed that Washington will not actively support the long-threatened Turkish action, warning of destabilizing blowback to the region.

“The Department of Defense made clear to Turkey — as did the president — that we do not endorse a Turkish operation in Northern Syria,” said Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman.

A senior State Department official said the United States would not “act militarily” to stop the Turks.

However, the official added, “We think this operation is a very bad idea. We do not think this operation will provide more security.”

Invasion could ‘come any night’

The region has been on edge for weeks over expected Turkish military operations across the border, which Erdoğan warned Monday could “come any night without warning.”

It would threaten the Kurds who dominate the SDF militia, a crucial partner in the US-led coalition that defeated the Islamic State and currently controls much of northeastern Syria.

Turkey regards the SDF as a terror threat because it maintains ties to Kurdish militants inside Turkey, and it has vowed to crush them.

Ankara says it wants to establish a “safe zone” on the Syrian side of the border where it could send back some of the 3.6 million refugees from the eight-year civil war.

Kurds argue that Ankara’s goal is to dilute its dominance in the region with an influx of mostly Sunni Arab refugees.

IS fighters could be freed

Trump said via Twitter Monday that he wanted to extricate the United States from “endless and ridiculous wars.”

But a Turkish attack could force the SDF to free some 10,000 Islamic State fighters captured in battle over the past two years, potentially allowing them to reconstitute the violent jihadist group.

Trump declared that it would be the responsibility of Turkey and other countries to deal with the ISIS prisoners.

“Turkey, Europe, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Russia, and the Kurds will now have to figure the situation out, and what they want to do with the captured ISIS fighters in their ‘neighborhood.’”

Fearing yet another chapter of bloodshed and mass displacement, the United Nations said it was “preparing for the worst”.

EU position

The European Union warned that civilians would once again bear the brunt of a military assault.

“We call on Turkey to avoid any initiative that would run counter to the interests of the global coalition” fighting IS in Syria, the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

Commission spokesperson Maja Kocijancic said that while recognizing Turkey’s legitimate security concerns, the EU has from the very beginning said that any sustainable solution to the Syria conflict will not be reached through military means, but requires a genuine political transition, in line with UN Security Council resolution 2254 and the 2012 Geneva communiqué negotiated by the Syrian parties within the UN-led Geneva process.

Renewed armed hostilities in the north-east will not only exacerbate civilian suffering and lead to massive displacement, but risk severely undermining current political efforts, she said.

“We continue to urge the Astana guarantors, which include Turkey, to ensure a cessation of hostilities, the protection of civilians and unhindered safe and sustainable humanitarian access through all of Syria”, she said.

The so-called Astana process, parallel to the UN-led Geneva process, is led by three “guarantor” countries, Turkey, Russia, and Iran.

Minimal US pullback

Washington officials minimized the pullback of troops that Trump had announced late Sunday.

The State Department official indicated that the number pulled back – out of as many as a thousand estimated in place along the border — was “two very small detachments” numbering about 25 people, who would move only a “very short distance.”

“We don’t want those troops to be there and thus send a signal that they are supporting the operation,” the officials said.

“Beyond that, there’s no change to our military posture in the northeast.”

Trenches and tunnels

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor confirmed Monday that US forces had departed key positions in Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad, where Kurdish forces have dug trenches and tunnels to defend against attack.

A US base in Ras al-Ain was empty of personnel on Monday, said an AFP photographer, who had seen troops there the night before.

SDF spokesman Mustefa Bali said Washington’s decision “is about to ruin the trust and cooperation between the SDF and US.”

The group noted it had already lost some 11,000 fighters in the fight against Islamic State.

“As the Syrian Democratic Forces, we are determined to defend our land at all costs,” the group said.

‘Prepare for war’

In Ras al-Ain on Sunday, local armed forces allied with the Kurdish administration stood behind dirt berms, monitoring the frontier.

They had covered streets in the town with large metal canopies to block the view of Turkish drones, sources there told AFP.

“The prudent should prepare for war,” said Mustefa Bozan, a 79-year-old shopkeeper.

“The fate of the region will be the same as that of Afrin,” 38-year-old Issam Daoud said, referring to a former Kurdish enclave captured by Turkish troops and Syrian rebels last year.

Source: https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/trump-reconsiders-syria-withdrawal-strongly-warns-turkey-against-military-adventures/

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Russia, a key ally of Syrian government, joined the seven-year war in 2015 [File: Alexei Nikolsky/Reuters]

Russia has completed the delivery of an S-300 surface-to-air missile system to the Syrian military as part of new security measures following the downing of a Russian plane last month.

Russian Defense Minister Sergi Shoigu on Tuesday said at a meeting of the country’s security council that its army had “finished the deliveries of S-300 systems” including a total of four launch platforms.

Shoigu said it would take three months to train the Syrian military to operate the new air defence systems, while the integration of Russian and Syrian air defence assets into a single automated system will be completed by October 20.

“We now control a close zone of up to 50km (30 miles) and the far zone of 200km (124 miles) from where attacks on the Syrian territory were launched,” Shoigu said.

Russia, a key ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, joined the seven-year war in 2015.

The decision to deliver the modern defense system was reached following the shooting down of a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance aircraft, which was accidentally hit by a Syrian missile, killing 15 troops.

Moscow said Israel was culpable as the Il-20 had caught in the crossfire as four Israeli F-16 jets attacked targets in northwestern Syria.

The Israeli military said Syria’s indiscriminate air defence fire was the cause of the incident.

‘A serious escalation’

The United States has called the Russian move to arm Syrian military “a serious escalation”.

US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert on Tuesday said she could not confirm that Russia had delivered the system to Syria, but said it would be a “concern” if it had.

“I hope that they did not,” Nauert told reporters in Washington, DC, when asked about the Russian announcement. “That would be sort of a serious escalation.”

Russia-Israel tightrope

Israel has, in the past six years, carried out hundreds of attacks inside Syria, varying from firing rockets to air raids, which have increased in intensity and frequency since 2012, when Iranian paramilitary fighters joined the conflict.

Israel has carried out about 200 air raids in the last two years, according to its officials.

Since it joined the Syrian conflict, Russia has generally turned a blind eye to Israeli attacks inside the country.

Israel and Russia have also maintained a hotline to prevent their air forces from clashing in the skies over Syria.

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