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Syria: Massacres, False Flags, Backroom Diplomacy & Endtimers

The agreement was exactely the reason why a provocation was to be expected, and this is probably what we had with the destruction of a Russian Ilyouchin 20 aircraft. Israel has kept issuing denials, but despite what appears to be attempts to de-escalate the situation, Russians are adamant that Israelian jets have deliberately acted so as to cause the downing of the IL-20. In his country, Putin is again under critics for being too soft, including from active military officers, but does he have much choice ? In my opinion, some of his actions are too lenient (notably, did he have to wait for seven years to utter the words "false-flag attack" last April, ot to accept so fast condolences from the French Defense Minister Florence Parly, despite what appears to be shaddy dealings from France at the time of the disaster ?), but the general sttrategy he followed is mostly wise, at least as wise as it is possible given the circumstances:
https://www.strategic-culture.org/n...-attempt-start-wwiii-beginning-end-syria.html
Tom LUONGO | 19.09.2018 | WORLD / Middle East | FEATURED STORY
Israel’s Failed Attempt to Start WWIII Is the Beginning of the End in Syria
There is one thing that Israel fears more than anything else in Syria. The loss of its ability to fly its F-16’s with impunity and hit whatever targets it wants claiming defensive measures to stop Iran, their existential enemy.

Israel finally admitted to carrying out over 200 such missions over the past 18 months, only a few of which ever made any kind of international media, recently.

And with the sneak attack on Latakia which involved using a Russian IL-20 ELINT war plane as radar cover Israel has now not only raised the stakes to an unacceptable level, it has also ensured that this may be the last such aerial assault it will ever be able to carry out.

The setup is pretty clear. Israel and France coordinated an attack on multiple targets within Syria without US involvement but with absolute US knowledge of the operation to provoke Russia into going off half-cocked by attacking the inconsequential French frigate which assisted Israel’s air attack.

Any denunciation of sinister intent by Israeli Defense Forces is hollow because if they had not intended to provoke a wider conflict they would have given Russia more than one minute to clear their planes from the area.

That would constitute an attack on a NATO member state and require a response from NATO, thereby getting the exact escalation needed to continue the war in Syria indefinitely and touch off WWIII.

This neatly bypasses any objections to a wider conflict by President Trump who would have to respond militarily to a Russian attack on a NATO ally. It also would reassert NATO’s necessity in the public dialogue, further marginalizing Trump’s attacks on it and any perceived drive of his for peace.

That this took place within the 60 days window of the mid-term elections should also not be discounted.

This attack took place just hours after Presidents Erdogan and Putin negotiated a ‘peaceful’ settlement for Idlib province by declaring a De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) 15-20 kilometers wide which everyone, including Erdogan’s pets Jabhat al-Nusra would have to abide by.

Peace was breaking out in Syria and Israel and the war-hawks in D.C. weren’t standing for that.

By conducting this attack like this Israel and the NATO crowd figured it would be a win/win for them.

If Russia strikes back at France, then NATO invokes Article 5 and they get their wider war.

If Russia doesn’t strike back Putin loses face within Russia, his popularity drops 5 points and John Bolton begins salivating at the prospect of regime change in Russia. Yes, they are that insane.

It was a neat piece of geopolitical maneuvering, almost judo-like. Russia and Syria looked to be on the verge of victory, extending themselves in a major conflict that would result in months of bad press. We were expecting a possible false-flag chemical weapons attack, cries of humanitarian crisis and all the rest of the tired virtue-signaling we can expect by US ‘diplomatic’ officials that has been all too common even under Trump.

What we got was the opposite, a carefully-crafted assault on Russian military forces wherein Russia’s vaunted air-defense systems would be blamed for its own people’s deaths and a mistaken counter-attack that justifies the “Putin is a Vile War-Monger” narrative to justify a US invasion of Syria which has been held in amber since 2013 and Putin’s skillful defusing that situation via diplomatic means.

For once, this almost looked like a well-thought out plan. Not the usual ham-fisted crudities we’ve been treated to over the last few years. But, here’s the rub.

It didn’t work.

By naming names and immediately not responding militarily during the ‘fog of war’ Russia and Putin again prove to be more skilled at this than their adversaries.

Because none of what I just outlined will come to pass. And France, Israel and the US will be the ones to lose face here. And with Israel betraying Putin’s forbearance after April’s air strikes on Damascus, he will have no choice but to upgrade Syria’s air defense systems from S-200’s to S-300’s and possibly S-400’s.

This is Israel’s worst nightmare. A situation where any aerial assault on targets within Syria would be suicide missions, puncturing the myth of the Israeli air force’s superiority and shifting the delicate balance of power in Syria decidedly against them.

This is why Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu worked Putin so hard over the last two years. But, this incident wipes that slate clean. This was a cynical betrayal of Putin’s trust and patience. And Israel will now pay the price for their miscalculation.

Giving Syria S-300’s does not avenge the fifteen dead Russian soldiers. Putin will have to respond to that in a more concrete way to appease the hardliners in his government and at home. His patience and seeming passivity are being pushed to their limit politically. This is, after all, a side benefit to all of this for the neoconservative and globalist hawks in D.C., Europe and Tel Aviv.

But, the real loss here for Israel will be Russia instituting a no-fly zone over western Syria. Any less response from Putin will be seized upon by and the situation will escalate from here. So, Putin has to deploy S-300’s here. And once that happens, the real solution to Syria begins in earnest.

Because at that point it will be the US’s move to flat-out invade without provocation, now that a solution is in place in Syria between Russia and a NATO member, Turkey.

The only good news in all of this is that US forces were not involved. This still tells me that Trump and Mattis are still in charge of their chain of command and that other forces are conspiring to drag them into a conflict no one in their right minds wants.
https://www.strategic-culture.org/n...nch-gamble-syria-backfires-spectacularly.html
Robert BRIDGE | 21.09.2018 | SECURITY / WAR AND CONFLICT | WORLD / Middle East
Putin Keeps Cool and Averts WWIII as Israeli-French Gamble in Syria Backfires Spectacularly
 
Last Monday, Iranians fired a number of missiles on the eastern side of Euphrates, reaching targets near Deir Ezzor. The strike was presented as a retaliation for the terrorist bombing in Ahvaz, in the Iranian province of Khuzistan. The targets were Daesh camps where some of the masterminds of the attack were said to reside. But the camp was in an area held by rebels supported by the USA and France, where some special forces of the two countries are also present. So, the strikes could too be seen as a warning to them. Indeed, some of the official Iranian news agencies make no mystery that it was one of the goals :
http://parstoday.com/fr/news/middle_east-i71284-abou_kamal_frappée_le_message_iranien (translated from French, as articles in the English channel curiously do not seem to have mentioned the issue) :
Oct 01, 2018 16:51 UTC
The six missiles and seven drones that fell on the terrorists' Daesh HQ in Abu Kamal during the night from 30 September to 1st October included a message : no State, how powerful it may be, is out of reach of the Iranian response.
......
At some distance from the now non-existing terrorist HQ, is located Hajine, a recalcitrant village that the Americans sometimes take the liberty to bomb, under the pretext of fighting the jihadists. Which means that the 'Iranian devices' targeted with a high precision and stroke the last Daesh camp on the western bank of the Euphrates, a camp where the terrorists leaders were operating under an US/NATO leadership. Which means too that the devices made a precise distinction between ennemy and friendly positions, and that had it wished so, Iran could easily ahve striken american and NATO sites.

On the trajectory that led them to Abu Kamal, the Iranian Zolfaghars and Qiams flew over US bases in Al-Anbar and Deir Ezzor as well as over the French bases before falling over the Daesh HQ, a few kilometers from the infamous US base in Al Tanf. Mainstream media who are not very talkative about this strike, unsurprisingly do not mention its strategic meaning. But miliatry sources toied to the resistance [Hezbullah] talk about a new break.

In the last year, the SDF and DAESH, who widely cooperate in the East of Syria, in the frame of a ditribution of roles chosen by Washington, are increasing attacks from the east of Euphrates towards the West, their goal being of infiltrating themselves in the areas to the west of the river, where the Resistance is positioned. The USA are trying, using the SDF or Daesh as their proxy, to cut the road from Abu Kamal to Mayadeen and to penetrate the desert areas between the Southwest of Deir Ezzor and the east of Homs.

The six missiles and seven drones that destroyed the Daesh HQ in Abu Kamal ruined any future attempt at infiltrating, depriving US agents of any possibility to restart their attacks against the West of Euphrates and its oil fields. Additionally, the closeness of the target with Al Tanf will give food for thought to the Americans, the Israelians and to the Riyad regime whose support to the terrorists involved in the Ahwaz attack is not doubtful anymore. In Tehran, authorities are not speaking of retaliations, but of the "beginning of retaliations" now that Daesh and Al Ahwaziya are working together under the israeli-american-saudi-emirati flag.

While the line followed by Iranian officials was usually to remain rather discrete publicly on the issue, the Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani publicly suggested that the goal was indeed to warn the US :
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201810031068549075-iran-missile-us-troops-syria-signal/
Tehran: Iran's Missile Strike Near US Troops in Syria Sent Washington a 'Signal'

13:37 03.10.2018(updated 15:12 03.10.2018) Get short URL

Earlier this week, Iran launched seven drones and six precision-strike ballistic missiles on several terrorist targets in Syria’s Abu Kamal region in retaliation for a September 22 attack in Ahvaz that left 25 people dead.

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani stated that Iranian rocket strikes on militants in Syria hit a target several kilometers away from the position of US troops, Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.

“Our aerospace forces sent you [the Americans] an important signal when they fired rockets at facilities three miles [about 5 km] from you,” said Shamkhani.

He also suggested that the United States answer as to why its “forces were stationed three miles away from the militants of Daesh.”
The situation is not improving, it is becoming more dangerous instead, now that Russia is delivering S-300 missiles to Syria, that Syrian forces are coming close to the Al Tanf base, and that the USA are intensifying their pressure on Iran, Syria by reinforcing their illicit bases (in violation again of recent promises) and Russia. It is really difficult to understand what the US are after.
 
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Russia will give S-300 to Syria, along side some advanced jammer systems. Which should hamper the plans of the warmongers, but doesn't necessarily mean that the situation will be appeased, as some hawks will probably not accept so easily that their efforts are ruined. They have already answered that they will deliver some F-35 to Israel. The recent words by US ambassador to NATO, who issued threat of a 'limited' nuclear strike, are notably very troubling. Putin's strategy has been of avoiding a global war, which was wise... But for this, he has too avoided as long as possible to identify the true source of terrorism, and with each move he has allowed his opponents to slowly reinforce their positions, until we are standing at the edge of the precipice.
https://www.globalresearch.ca/syrias-no-fly-zone/5656265

Syria’s No-fly Zone
By Askiah Adam
Global Research, October 06, 2018

The Russian Defence Minister has announced that the promised S-300 air defence system has been delivered to Syria with the Karushka 4 radar systems jammer and other related military equipment, to boost the safety of Russia’s military personnel and facilities. The system will be in place by 20th October. Syrian Army personnel will, meanwhile, be brought up to speed in three months to operate the system which has the combined effect of effectively closing the Syrian airspace to unfriendly air crafts.

There is then no room for doubt that Russia’s promise to bolster the security of her interests in Syria is about accomplishing a no-fly zone over most of Syria, if not all of it.

Israel, on her part, even while sending condolences to Moscow, is remorselessly threatening to carry on attacking what Tel Aviv claims are Iranian targets in Syria, regardless of the S-300s and the jammers; there only because her fighter jets’ cynical manoeuvres resulted in the recent downing of Russia’s EW aircraft IL-20 shot by friendly fire killing all 15 crewmen on board. The Israeli fighters were attacking Latakia province at the time and the detailed data of the incident as captured by the S-400 on Russia’s Hmeymim air base proved this in no uncertain terms: Israeli jets were using the IL-20 as cover.

Russia’s Defence Minister’s anger left no room for speculation but President Putin appeared to be initially looking for a non-confrontational way out. In the end, irrespective of how one reads meanings into his words the outcome is, indisputably, a no-fly zone over Syria.

For Israel, this will mean a substantial crippling of her formerly undisputed air superiority over the region. However, even as is, without Russia’s forbearance — the deconfliction measures agreed to between her and Russia, as is true of the agreement between Russia and the US — the skies over Syria already invited caution because in place is a combination of Syria’s S-200, and Russia’s S-400 and S-300, the latter two to guarantee the safety of her air base, Hmeymim, and her naval base, Tartus. In short, it is fair to assume that had the deconfliction measures been in place the 200 attacks carried out by Israel on Syrian territory over the past year, which Tel Aviv recently boasted of, could not have been so easily achieved.

Russia-USA-Iran and Syria – A Continuous Struggle to Avoid War
Thus far this triangular power configuration has been as if playing at war. The aim is to free Syria of terrorists. For as long as the deaths of civilians and damage to infrastructure caused by US allied bombings can be classified as necessary collateral damage there is very little Russia can do without escalating tensions between the major “players”. But the IL-20 tragedy is without doubt a pre-meditated move by Israel, which resulted in the loss of a valuable Russian military asset and 15 highly specialised airmen.

John Bolton, the White House National Security Advisor, has warned Moscow that this Russian move is considered an escalation. But of what? If at all there is a war it is with the terrorists. Is Washington admitting that these are not terrorists but rather mercenaries of an American proxy army?

Israel promises to keep attacking Syria. President Putin since intervening in Syria has, on many occasions, gone out of his way to prevent the outbreak of war with NATO that could bring the world to the brink. Unfortunately, this is perceived of as a weakness waiting to be exploited.

But much as Putin might want to avoid a war with another nuclear power whose total disregard for civilian lives is beyond dispute, what pretext can there now be which will not appear to the Russian people as a betrayal of the 15 airmen, crew of the IL-20? Russian lives have been lost in what to many is a foreign war.

Then, too, what about the prestige Russia has built over the recent years that helped restore her position as a superpower and, necessarily, the Cold War balance of terror that afforded the world a measure of security. And, what about the threatening and callous actions of the US and her allies, which makes discounting a nuclear war impossible. Subservience to Washington is, therefore, not an option.

That the US and her allies are pushing for war is difficult to ignore and Israel’s security is a good enough excuse for them. Placing Iran squarely in their cross-hairs to secure Israel’s safety facilitates this. But can they find a way of undermining the no-fly zone, militarily, now that Russia has lost all goodwill for compromises? Or, has Russia really lost all goodwill for her adversaries?

Apparently the deconfliction agreement is still operational. But are the gloves now irretrievably off such that one false step will witness “enemy” fighters dropping from the skies over Syria? Israel’s belligerence is unrelenting. Washington though, while no less so, is more circumspect.

Are the US and her allies, including the ever vacillating Turkey, virtually checkmated in Syria? Will a crushing defeat of the Jihadists in Idlib be possible without civilians being sacrificed? After all, without their backers the proxy army of assorted terrorists will be crippled as has been demonstrated time and time again.

Of course, this assumes that reason will prevail. But what if reason, already so elusive in certain quarters, cannot prevail? Can a surprise attack on Syria and her allies be on the cards and low yield nuclear weapons be used by the US in the belief that it is a feasible option in a first strike strategy?

That is the clear and present danger which the world is now facing. To the neoconservatives and the Deep State this is the best opportunity they have for obliterating the challenger once and for all and global hegemony be achieved. Will they chance it?

Bearing in mind America’s Nuclear Doctrine of pre-emptive nuclear war this is not as far fetched as it may seem. And, while Russia is way ahead in terms of military capability has she the means to counter this suicidal desperation successfully? For, according to the experts in a nuclear war, no matter how limited, the one who makes the first strike cannot but be victorious.

And then there is the theological doctrine that the goyims (non-Jews)are dispensable when they serve no purpose. What more when they are obstacles. To the apartheid Jewish state this has serious political consequences. Therefore, most logically, a nuclear armed Israel gone rogue would be the biggest threat to the world.

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Askiah Adam is Executive Director of International Movement for a JUST World.
 
Another internationalist dies fighting the Islamists

YPG French fighter Farid Medjahed (Şahin Qereçox) was commemorated in Marseille.

He lost his life on 6 October while participating in a SDF-led operation against the DAESH mercenaries in Deir ez-Zor.

Medjahed's family, friends and many Kurds joined the commemoration organized at the Center for Democratic Society Center in Marseille.

A photo of Medjahed, as well as a YPG flag and a photo of Abullah Öcalan, the Kurdish People's Leader, were hung into the hall where the memorial was held.

Salih Azad from the Kurdish Center's Foreign Relations Commission made a speech in commemoration of Medjahed, after a minute silence to pay tribute to all other fighters who lost their lives in Rojava.

Azad said that Medjahed had fought for a just world and fell as a martyr of Kurdistan.

https://anfenglishmobile.com/featur...arid-medjahed-commemorated-in-marseille-30194
 
Unfortunately, I believe that he and other pro-Kurdish fighters are only the butt of the joke played by Western rulers.
It is difficult to doubt that US forces and their proxies are only claiming to fight the remnants of Daesh in Syria :
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/10/syria-us-again-only-pretends-to-fight-isis.html#more
October 19, 2018
Syria - U.S. (Again) Only Pretends To Fight ISIS
The U.S. occupation force and its Kurdish proxy SDF in northeastern Syria are supposed to fight the Islamic State in its last hold out northeast of Euphrates. But the operations against the handful of towns ISIS (grey) still holds - launched only after long and unexplained delays - shows little progress. Last week it received a serious setback.

......

U.S. and French troops provide artillery support to the SDF and the U.S. and British air forces fly bombing attacks against ISIS positions. But SDF ground troops seem to be unable or unwilling to proceed against ISIS lines. The borders of the ISIS held area as provided by liveuamap have hardly moved.

easteuphratesmap20180501-s.jpg
easteuphratesmap20181019-s.jpg

May 1 bigger - October 19 - bigger
During five and half month ISIS only lost some five miles of territory at the northern and southern ends of the small area it holds. How come that the well supplied Kurdish forces under the direction of U.S. Special Forces and with strong artillery and air support are not able to achieve more against some 1-2,000 jihadis who lack heavy weapons and have no way to resupply?

Russian sources accuse the U.S. of not seriously fighting its opponent:

"The imitation of the fight against terrorists in this region of Syria has been going on for more than six months and has been used by Washington to justify its illegal presence in this country," the source stressed.
The Syrian Observatory also reports of a constant stream of targeted assassinations and small attacks against SDF forces including by ISIS sleeper cells within the SDF held area. Many IED's are buried in the wider area and hinder troop movements as well as reconstruction.

ISIS seems in general not confined to the neat frontlines shown on the map but has small units and sleeper cells moving far beyond that area. This points to a lack of willing troops to hold the line and to confine the ISIS forces.

The U.S. Weekly Strike Summary note lots of aerial attacks but the results are thin:

Between Oct. 7 and Oct. 13, CJTF-OIR coalition military forces conducted 137 strikes consisting of 225 engagements in Iraq and Syria.
After a drop on October 7, 8 and 9 due to the sandstorms U.S. flight numbers in the area are again up to some two dozen per day.

Nearly all these attacks are on the small ISIS held area northeast of the Euphrates. The report mentions hits on "staging areas" and "assembly area sites". But what does that actually mean? Isn't any empty space a potential staging or assembly area site? And what is the engagement of a "tactical unit" supposed to mean? A bomb drop near some lone dude on a motorcycle?

The last four weekly summaries list a total of 349 strikes and 546 "engagements" but none of these seem to have had any effect on ISIS numbers or capabilities. Despite the high strike number there is no progress on the ground.

The current bombing campaign reminds one of the fake U.S. air campaign against ISIS in 2014 and 2015 (see table at bottom). Back then "ISIS excavators" were the most serious targets the U.S. reports mentioned. Back then it was also Russia that exposed the fake fighting and demonstrated how to really clobber ISIS.

That the SDF now claims that eliminating ISIS from the area will take even longer increases the suspicion that there is no real intent to fight it:

"The military operations in Hajin will take much longer than expected," said Redur Khalil, a top SDF commander.
"Daesh is benefiting a lot from weather factors, including sandstorms. They've helped it take cover from reconnaissance aircraft and other monitoring mechanisms," he told AFP, using an Arabic acronym for IS.

For the record - the recent series of sandstorms in the area ended several days ago.

Like in 2014/2015 the U.S. seems again most interested in keeping ISIS alive as long as possible and to use its presence as a pretext for other purposes.

Posted by b on October 19, 2018 at 01:04 PM | Permalink
 
Good ol' Sputnik News.

Sputnik News
Russian state-owned media outlet
“The Friday airstrikes of the US-led Coalition have completely destroyed a hospital in the Syrian city of Hajin in the eastern Deir ez-Zor province, Ikhbariya broadcaster reported.”

https://www.polygraph.info/a/russia...oying-hospital-syria-fact-check/29656770.html

On December 7, the Russian state media outlet Sputnik published a story which claimed that U.S.-led coalition forces fighting the Islamic State (IS) “completely destroyed” a hospital in the small town of Hajin in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor province. This was originally reported by the Islamic State’s own media service before being picked up by Syrian state media, and later ending up in Russian state media.

Two days later, however, the U.S.-led coalition published a video showing the hospital intact and without any apparent significant damage.
 
It is shameful that Johan Cosar is being treated like a criminal.

Johan Cosar went to Syria not to fight for the Islamic State group, but against them. Now, the former Swiss army officer is facing a military tribunal back home.

He is charged with joining a foreign army and thus undermining Switzerland's neutrality and security. Mr Cosar makes no attempt to hide his actions and remains proud of them. "The law forbids fighting for a foreign force," an army spokeswoman said. "Who that force actually is, is irrelevant."

Mr Cosar was born in Switzerland, and is a Swiss citizen. But his grandparents have Syrian roots, and the Cosar family are members of the Syriac Christian community. Now 37, he says he originally travelled to Syria to work as a freelance journalist, but when he saw that Islamist groups were advancing on Christian communities he felt he had no choice but to defend them. He helped to found the Syriac Military Council, recruited for it, and readily shared the military skills he had learned in the Swiss army, among them weapons training and setting up checkpoints. At the height of the fighting, he was in charge of more than 500 men.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47319581
 
An update on Rojava.

Qamishli, Syria—As the de facto chief negotiator of the liberated region called the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, Ilham Ahmed, the Kurdish co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council, has much on her mind. In recent months, she has traveled in the US and Europe, negotiating the future of a domain that is home to an estimated 5 to 6 million people, including a substantial portion of Syria’s 6.2 millioninternally displaced persons, and, now in addition, thousands of families implicated in Islamic State terrorism who are today living in refugee camps. As Ahmed continues delicate talks with the world’s superpowers over the status of this territory, its future is, to a certain degree, in her hands.

With determination in her eyes and a furrowed brow, her face bears witness to this formidable responsibility. But riding in her black armored utility vehicle through plains lush with green spring grasses and grazing sheep, south toward Deir al-Zour province for the official announcement last month of the defeat of ISIS’ so-called caliphate, Ahmed allowed herself a moment to muse about a lesson from history. In the year 612 BCE, she told me, the Guti, ancient inhabitants of Mesopotamia whom Kurds sometimes identify as forebears, banded together with the Medes and other tribes to throw off their oppressor, the Assyrian King Zuhak.

“All agreed to light the torch of freedom on that day, March 21, the same day we declared the end of battle [against ISIS],” she said, recounting the legend of Nowroz, the Kurdish new year—a celebration of rebirth and renewal that has come to symbolize popular resistance. “At that time, there was a confederation of tribes, in the same way as today there is agreement between Kurds, Arabs, and Syrians over injustice, over oppression,” she went on. “The injustice of ISIS has been defeated by all the groups of this region. We have a confederal agreement. Same circumstances, different dates. Same geography, same results.” ...

https://www.nybooks.com/daily/2019/...source=Newsletter&utm_term=Report from Rojava
 
A former British Army officer honoured by the Queen for his work with the White Helmets civil defence group in Syria has been found dead in Turkey.

The body of James Le Mesurier, who received an OBE in 2016, was discovered on Monday near his home in Istanbul, White Helmet sources told the BBC.

Mr Le Mesurier set up the Mayday Rescue emergency response group, which helped train White Helmets volunteers.

The cause of death is not known. Turkey has launched an investigation.

He was found with fractures to his head and legs, Turkish media say, and is believed to have fallen from his balcony.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50375869
 
This is outrageous. How is this prosecution in the public interest? Are there really no islamists In the area that the police could be tracking instead?

West Midlands Police have charged a father with supporting terrorism for sending £150 to his son Daniel, who is a volunteer with the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northeast Syria (aka Rojava). The YPG and its local allies have been key in defeating Daesh (Isis/Isil) in Syria, losing over 11,000 fighters during the conflict.

Paul Newey is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 14 February, charged under Section 17 of the Terrorism Act 2000. This will be the first prosecution in the UK of a family member of a YPG fighter. If convicted, Paul faces up to 14 years in prison.

Dan told The Canary that he is calling for supporters to attend the hearing in solidarity with his family, and to bring YPG and YPJ flags.

Dan’s 19-year-old brother Sam has also been arrested this morning “on suspicion of assisting another person to commit terrorism”.

https://www.thecanary.co/feature/20...-to-his-son-whos-been-fighting-against-daesh/
 
This is outrageous. How is this prosecution in the public interest? Are there really no islamists In the area that the police could be tracking instead?


Paul Newey is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday 14 February, charged under Section 17 of the Terrorism Act 2000. This will be the first prosecution in the UK of a family member of a YPG fighter. If convicted, Paul faces up to 14 years in prison.

The YPG are not on the list of terrorist organisations proscribed by the British government, so how can the police charge him?


https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations--2
 
The YPG are not on the list of terrorist organisations proscribed by the British government, so how can the police charge him? https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations--2
They may be under the false impression that he is involved with the PKK, which Rohjava/YPG is definitely not affiliated with, but they are all Kurds who want their own homeland, and if you don't really know what is going on, because you don't really care, it's a mistake someone in law enforcement might make (at a guess).
 
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