Posted on 11/18/2015 7:50:51 PM PST by Mariner
Long-range Russian supersonic bombers carried out more daylight strikes against the Islamic State in Syria early Wednesday according to a senior defense official briefed on the latest intelligence from the region.
Russia’s use of large bombers marks the first time this type of aircraft has flown against ISIS. Since Russian airstrikes began in Syria on Sept. 30, the Russians have preferred to strike during the daytime, while the U.S. military and French launch their strikes under the cover of darkness at night.
“This is one of the reasons, why de-confliction is not really needed at this time,†said a U.S. official monitoring the Russian strikes. “The Russians are bombing during the daytime, the [U.S.-led coalition] is bombing at night.â€
The large supersonic Russian bombers, which included Tu-22M Backfire and Tu-160 Blackjack bombers, flew from airbases bases in Mozdok and Engels, Russia. Older Tu-95 Bear bombers also flew out of Engels.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Now that would be a very cool move. Putin forms a coalition (excluding Pussy Obama’s forces) and destroys the remaining bad guys. Obama would hoot and holler; all the U.S. people would just laugh at him!
How about the thousands of healthy, military age men marching into Europe? Why don’t we stop them in Turkey train them and send the home to defend their country?
They are allies, not enemies.
the ones getting into Europe will fight on the European front.
The ones in Syria will face Russia, Syria and (the joke of an army) Iran.
Turkey is an enemy. didn’t contribute to 100 million dollar mosque in America for laughs. obama and ergoden get along great.
this monster president wont go out quietly.
Tu-22M Backfire
Tu-160 Blackjack
Tu-95 Bear
“Eventually boots from somewhere will have to follow up the bombing.
Are syrian troops up to it? will Russian troops be fighting?
What about the Kurds?”
The YPG Kurds (natives of the area just North of Raqqa) are gearing up for an attack on Raqqa. Reportedly they field about 25,000 fighters across their territory.
They needed Arabs to go in with them, because Raqqa is ethnically Arab, which was the point of a new rebel coalition of 15 groups, announced a few weeks ago, to gather a hodgepodge of small Christian and Sunni Arab groups, to provide a multi-cultural fig leaf for the assault force.
The YPG also need their forces who participated in the recent recapture of Sinjar and Al Hasakah to wrap up clearing those areas, redeploy and re-equip. The other Kurdish groups who participated in the Liberation of Sinjar, the Iraqi KDP, and the Turkish rebel PKK, are likely to contribute units for the assault on Raqqa.
The KDP has been hosting and training about 4,000 Syrian Kurds around Erbil (mostly deserters from the Syrian Army). Called the Rojava Bde, who are reported to be ready to go. Rojava is the Kurdish name for that part of Syria, which they view as rightfully a Canton of Greater Kurdistan (which is why the native Arabs of Raqqa would have mixed feelings about a Kurdish Army taking the town).
The Kurds just took al Hasakah in pretty short order, only a 2-3 hour drive from Raqqa. That was a about the same size as Raqqa (200,000 pop.), although with a much smaller ISIS garrison, and larger Kurdish population.
YPG will probably need good logistics support to feed and arm all these troops when they stage in the area (beyond the scale they are good at), but that seemed to work for the Sinjar operation in the KDP area of operations, so it is unlikely to be a showstopper, especially with all the Westerners who want a piece of that Raqqa ass.
I am guessing that they will wait at least until the Charles DeGaulle gets on station (in a few days, maybe Monday/Tuesday), and her pilots get some familiarization with the target. Then preparations will continue until everyone gives the thumbs up that they are ready.
No fear. We bombed North Vietnam in the daytime until they shot too many planes down, then went to night. Reduced lost planes. But Russia should have nothing to worry about. Only Syria has the capability to shot down a plane and Russia is allied with Syria. Only the US is not allied with Syria. I think everybody else is now after the Paris attacks except the US
Good Lord!
I love this site :)
How the heck do you know all that, or will you have to kill me if you tell me :)
Will Turkey sit by and let this happen? does it affect them?
Retired military, with a few deployments over there.
wow. That’s incredible.
You must have seen it all.
Although they might attack Raqqa in as little as a week, conditions could change, or deals could be make.
Last Summer, everything was being set up to liberate Mosul, but the Shia militias, Iranians and Iraqi Army under-performed in Tikrit; and the Iranians shifted their priorities to Yemen and Syria.
The Kurds are solid infantry, but it would not be their territory they are fighting for. So if the other players in the operation lose commitment, they are unlikely to bite of Raqqa on their own.
It seems that Iranian and Iraqi fighters are awful.
fought to a draw for 10 years with a million dead and we took Iraq in 6 weeks.
Interesting.
Good bye liver eaters.
They should use tactical nukes - level huge area in Syria and Iraq, preferably with a strong radiation hangover.
The TU-160 looks like the B-oneski.
What happened to Obama’s and Hillary’s no fly zone for the Russians?
LOL
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fd7_1447058458
You can see at the end of video that it MIGHT be a Russian Hind-D but who's in that convoy???
Having the Russians participate brings more diversity than just day vs. night operations - they have different rules of engagement, and a whole different military doctrine about targeting. They are naturally better suited to do “pitiless”.
Al Jezeera reported on the 17th:
“The Syrian activist in Raqqa said that in the past few days Russian air strikes had caused the most destruction.
“Last week, Russian air strikes destroyed one of the main bridges in the city in addition to the national hospital. Most hospitals in the city have been destroyed in Raqqa,” he said.
“Russian air strikes have resulted in so much destruction. If these countries wanted to bomb the heartland of ISIL, they could have done so. But they still have not targeted the group’s most important bases.
“This is what we do not understand. The targets bombed by French warplanes were mostly abandoned by ISIL fighters.”
The French have targeted mostly the ISIS defenses of the city, like checkpoint on the roads, and outlying strong points, carefully minimizing civilian collateral damage.
The Russians have tended to drop more in town, and do things like wait until the casualties have time to get to the hospital, and then blow up the hospital (one report rumored that the recent hospital strike targeted a particular high value target who had been wounded).
They explicitly value civilian damage that produces significant psychological effects. They induce an additional element of fear into both ISIS and the civilian population, making both more likely to run, and sooner.
ISIS will be unlikely to find “safe zones” in mosques, or hospitals, or schools with kids on the roof, when the Russians are dropping the bombs.
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