Sirija, početak regionalnog rata

Pentagon Declares Strike Successful. Here’s A Look at What Went Into It

   By Patrick Tucker Technology Editor Read bio
1:17 PM ET


U.S., French, and British planes and ships used a wide variety of precision weapons to hit Syrian chemical weapons facilities. Some saw their first day of combat.

Saturday’s U.S.-French-British strike “overwhelmed” the Syrian air defenses and degraded the Assad regime’s chemical weapons capabilities, Pentagon leaders told reporters this morning. Three facilities were targeted in the 4 a.m. strike, in which allied warships and -planes fired 105 weapons, including the first combat use of the Joint Air to Surface Standoff, or JASSM, missile, Lt. Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, Jr. said.

McKenzie said the Syrians responded by firing 40 surface-to-air missiles, most of them after the allied munitions had already struck their targets. The head of the joint staff called the defensive fire “materially ineffective” against the coalition forces, but said it likely did pose a threat to civilians on the ground. “It is likely that the regime shot many of these missiles on a ballistic trajectory – without guidance,” he said. “When you shoot iron in to the sky without guidance, it will inevitably fall to earth.”

The most significant target was the Barzah Research and Development Center, located close to downtown Damascus, and heavily protected by Syrian air defenses. It was targeted by U.S. warships, which launched 57 Tomahawk cruise missiles and B-1 bombers 19 JASSM missiles. The bombers were escorted by attack aircraft and an EA-6B electronic warfare jet. McKenzie said initial assessments indicated the Barzah center was destroyed. “This Is going to set the Syrian chemical weapons [program] back years” he said.

The second site was the Hims-Shinshar Chemical Weapons storage facility near Homs, against which U.S. forces fired nine Tomahawks. The British fired eight Storm Shadow cruise missiles from Royal Air Force Tornado jets.

France also participated in the strike, sending Rafale and Mirage combat jets and the Languedoc FREMM multipurpose frigate. French forces fired three Naval Cruise Missiles and two SCALP land cruise missiles at the Hims-Shinshar Chemical Weapons facility and another seven SCALP missiles at the final target, the Hims-Shinsahar Chemical Weapons Bunker. Pentagon officials said both targets appear to have been destroyed.

The JASSM and the French-made Storm Shadow allow non-stealth jets to attack targets beyond the range of air defenses, 500 miles in the case of the JASSM. The cruise missiles themselves are “low observable,” making it difficult for air defenses to see and track.

Russian officials had earlier vowed to shoot any missiles out of the sky, a threat they did not follow through on. “We do not have any indication that any Russia air defense systems were employed,” said McKenzie.

Largely absent from the firefight was the dreaded Russian S-400 anti-aircraft radar and missiles, the later of which have a range of more than 250 km. The presence of the weapon had been a concern for the U.S. forces, and likely accounted for the use of the EA-6B electronic warfare jet.

“The Russians have used Syria to operationally test their systems and see how they operate. If you look back over time and look at the different strikes that they’ve done, they’ve gone and used Syria as an opportunity to see how well their systems are working. From a cyber and electronic attack perspective, we watch that stuff.” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigan said at an Air Force event in September.

When asked how the S-400 affected his choice to use certain planes over others, Harrigan said, “‘Those capabilities were part of the equation that I have to think through… We are consistently monitoring them to see if something changes their intent because we have to manage that and respond quickly… We look at it everyday. It’s an every day discussion to make sure our force can manage that risk.”

McKenzie did not say whether or not the S-400 radars were turned off on Saturday morning, only that its batteries did not fire on the attacking jets. Asked whether Russian or Syrian forces used electronic warfare or cyber measures against coalition forces, McKenzie answered only, “The Syrian response was remarkably ineffective in all domains. That’s the best answer I can give you.”


https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2018/04/pentagon-declares-strike-successful-heres-look-what-went-it/147449/

Atina -- Nekoliko hiljada okupilo se u centru Atine na protestu zbog vazdušnih napada SAD, Britanije i Francuske u Siriji.

Grčka policija je navela da se na protestu, koji je organizovala grčka Komunistička partija, okupilo između 6.000 i 7.000 ljudi.

Demonstranti su se okupili na atinskom centralnom Trgu Sintagma, a potom su se uputili ka američkoj ambasadi, noseći transparente i uzvikujući parole protiv SAD.

Kada su stigli do ambasade, na ulici su crvenom farbom ispisali: "Amerikanci, ubice ljudi".

Potom su bezuspešno pokušali da farbu ubace u dvorište američke ambasade, prenosi AP.

Policija je vozilima zaštitila ulaz u ambasadu. Demonstrancije, koje je obezbeđivao veliki broj pripadnika policijskih snaga, okončan je bez incidenata.

The US military is using more than 5,500 contractors in the campaign to defeat the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and Iraq, the Pentagon revealed in a quarterly report this week that acknowledges the use of contractors in the Syrian war zone for the first time.

The latest figures from US Central Command indicate that 5,508 US and foreign contractors are working alongside US troops in the two combat zones. That’s an increase of 581, or 12%, over January’s numbers, which did not include Syria. About half of the contractors are US citizens, while the rest are local or third-country hires.

The disclosure comes as President Donald Trump has signaled his desire to pull US troops out of Syria “very soon” after the end of the counter-IS mission. The role of contractors in Syria is also under increasing scrutiny after hundreds of Russian contractors died in a battle with US troops and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in the oil-rich Deir ez-Zor province, as CIA Director and Secretary of State-designate Mike Pompeo publicly confirmed in his Senate confirmation hearing April 12.

Unlike the Russians, however, the US contractors are mostly focused on supporting the 2,000 US troops in Syria by delivering hot meals, gasoline and other supplies. More than 30% of them support logistics and maintenance, according to the quarterly Pentagon report, and another 27% help with support and construction of US military outposts in the region.

“It’s not the Russian contractor role in Syria, which is … deploying tactical military units of squad company size,” said Peter Singer, a senior fellow and strategist at the New America think tank in Washington. “It’s the old stuff that Halliburton used to do.”

More than 400 “security” contractors are also involved in the fight in both countries, but “you’re not seeing the 163rd private US military group invading a city in Syria,” Singer said. Russian military contractors are also helping to protect oil fields across the country, protecting an industry that represented a quarter of Syria’s government revenue in 2010.

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https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2018/04/pentagon-acknowledge-us-contractor-presence-syria-iraq.html

Otpravnik poslova Ambasade Srbije u Siriji Milan Vijatović opisao je za Večernje novosti događaje iz Sirije kada se navodno dogodio napad hemijskim oružjem.

On istakao da je sirijska vlada početkom februara pokrenula operaciju oslobađanja Gute i da je postignut dogovor sa teroristima koji su jednim delom prihvatili program pomirenja koji podrazumeva potpunu aboliciju, dok je drugi deo prihvatio evakuaciju.

Međutim, 6. aprila ponovo su počeli da granatiraju centar Damaska i napadaju jedinice sirijske armije.

"Sirijska armija je izvela operaciju koja je trajala negde oko 36 sati i 7. aprila dešava se incident gde je navodno upotrebljeno hemijsko naoružanje. Sticajem okolnosti video sam taj napad iz Damaska. Vetar je duvao u pravcu centra grada. Da su korišćeni hemijski otrovi broj žrtava bi bio ogroman. Postoji još dokaza koji potvrđuju da se radi o scenariju koji je bio uvod da se opravda ovaj napad", rekao je Vijatović.

On tvrdi i da Sirija ne raspolaže hemijskim oružjem, te da je posle potpisivanja sporazuma 2013. uništila postrojenja za njihovu proizvodnju, a naoružanje i supstance su odavno predati.

Gargantua wrote: esprit de corps koji odiše neprofesionalšću i sepsoradikalštinom.

Vučić sa Skotom o Siriji: Srbija ostaje neutralna


Predsednik Srbije Aleksandar Vučić sastao se danas sa ambasadorom SAD Kajlom Skotom, kako bi razgovarali o situaciji u Siriji, posle koalicionih vazdušnih udara, kažu iz Službe za saradnju sa medijima predsednika.

„Ambasador Skot je naveo da su SAD u potpunosti uverene da su vazdušna sredstva sirijskih vlasti bila odgovorna za napad hemijskim oružjem na civilno stanovništvo u Dumi, u predgrađu Damaska, 7. aprila, kada su desetine ljudi poginule, a stotine ranjene“, navodi se u saopštenju.

„On je naglasio da je taj napad bio jasno kršenje obaveza Sirije prema Konvenciji o hemijskom oružju, kao i kršenje Rezolucije 2118 Saveta bezbednosti Ujedinjenih nacija. Američki ambasador je, takođe, istakao da Rusija nije uspela da održi obećanja koja je dala kao garant Ženevskog okvira iz 2003. godine, na osnovu kog se Sirija obavezala da se odrekne svog hemijskog oružja i nikad ga više ne upotrebi“.

Ambasador Skot je pozvao Srbiju da pruži punu podršku istrazi koju sprovodi Organizacija za zabranu hemijskog oružja, i naglasio da su koalicioni napadi 14. aprila bili neophodni, srazmerni i opravdani, kao i da su imali za cilj da spreče dalje užase koje izaziva hemijsko oružje, kažu još iz kancelarije Predsednika.

Predsednik Vučić je rekao da Srbija osuđuje upotrebu hemijskog oružja bilo gde u svetu, ali da, kao teritorijalno mala zemlja, ne želi da se meša u odnose između velikih sila.

„Srbija ljubomorno čuva i štiti svoju vojnu neutralnost. Naša zemlja želi da sa svima razgovara i ima partnerski i prijateljski odnos“, naveo je predsednik Vučić.

kao teritorijalno mala zemlja, ne želi da se meša u odnose između velikih sila.

The article unfolds elite discourses that embrace smallness as a signpost of exceptionality inextricable from the meanings of martyr-like frailty. Thus, in contrast to the mainstream Political Science literature on small states that operates around the small versus big binary, this study reveals meanings of smallness tied to the self-images of strength and greatness.

Furthermore, the article points to the discourses of smallness in Serbia as underwriting two broad (and ostensibly mutually exclusive) axes of identity construction and state positioning. One involves discourses on the counry’s Eastern, Byzantine-Orthodox, and Slavic identity. This, in turn, has stimulated anti-oriental, Western and European traditions constrained, nevertheless, in their identification with Euro-Atlantic institutions. This is largely due to the memory of the Bosnian and Kosovo wars, and the subsequent recognition of the independence of Kosovo by many Euro-Atlantic powers in 2008. The conjuncture of an outward-looking irredentist  orientation and an internal East-West ‘disorientation’ helps define Serbian geopolitical culture in the Western Balkans. Thereby, the irredentist orientation in Serbia’s geopolitical culture seeks to redraw the physically uncomfortable frontier of smallness, while the East-West ‘disorientation’ revolves around divergent understandings of the kind of smallness that makes Serbia and Serbdom exceptional.

...

The five spatial identities documented here coexist in Serbian public life, each embedded in the conentious narratives of smallness with economies and logics disparate or even mutually conflicted in meaning. Those emphasising the divinity and natural expansion of Serbdom are nowadays largely eclipsed by positionality relative to an East/West axis. As of the fall of 2013, all the major parties and elite groupings described in this article are clustered around the conception of Serbia as neither Eastern nor solely Western, but a bridge that connects the two. Its western end is firmly cemented into the EU and its smallness is a marker of its exceptional geography, i.e., of its natural exceptionalism. Nearly all these traditions share the urge to exceptionalise Serbia and project it as spatially unique in comparison to its immediate environment or an imagined wider European context. All have interwoven exceptionality with the identities and representations of smallness. Some geopolitical traditions have incorporated smallness as a reflection of spiritual grandeur, asceticism and martyrdom, a signifier of a Serbia in heaven or of the country’s holy task as a rampart of Christianity. Others reached a ‘balance of anxiety’ with respect to the self-notion of smallness by countering it with the imaginations of a wider Serbdom and a Greater Serbia. Currently, the dominant geopolitical traditions in the country seem to revolve around the ontology and meaning of smallness. Is smallness a manifestation of Serbia’s natural exceptionalism, or is it an objective condition of reality that, on the contrary, normalises Serbia and emancipates it from the pseudoimperial narratives of irredentist authoritarianism of the 1980s and 1990s?  Figure 2 summarises the narratives of smallness in Serbia’s five geopolitical traditions.