Assad replaces top Syrian brass after losing military base to US- and al-Qaeda-backed fighters

SCMP ^ | 01 January, 2018

[TigerLikesRooster]

Assad replaces top Syrian brass after losing military base to US- and al-Qaeda-backed fighters

PUBLISHED : Monday, 01 January, 2018, 11:01pm
UPDATED : Tuesday, 02 January, 2018, 4:20am

President Bashar al-Assad reshuffled his government on Monday by replacing the ministers of defence, information and industry, while heavy fighting erupted between the military and insurgents near the capital of Damascus.

State news agency SANA did not give a reason for the government reshuffle, which comes after two years of gaining ground with the help of Iran-backed fighters under the cover of Russian air strikes.

[vooch]

were these the McCain or CIA or Pentagon jihadii’s ?

[vooch]

were these the McCain or CIA or Pentagon jihadii’s ?

[marktwain]

What is SCMP?

[TigerLikesRooster]

South China Morning Post. This article is from AP, though.

[TigerLikesRooster]

I don't know which one. They are still around and create needless problems, I guess.

[silverleaf]

US and al Qaeda
Thank You Generals Mattis and McMaster
Hey President Trump how do you like our new moderate rebel allies?
Dedicated to building a new peaceful diverse tolerant democracy in Syria, eh?

[Parley Baer]

“US and al Qaeda
Thank You Generals Mattis and McMaster
Hey President Trump how do you like our new moderate rebel allies?
Dedicated to building a new peaceful diverse tolerant democracy in Syria, eh?”

I have no idea on what you are talking about. President Trump’s policy is to kill all the ISIS. The other is we are not into nation building. It is Putin who came to Assad’s aid. Maybe some of those Russian troops should retake the base for Assad?

[Zhang Fei]

The South China Morning Post is now Ali Baba-owned. And it’s beginning to subtly change AP articles to add Syrian government propaganda. The claim that these rebels are American-backed occurs only in the SCMP version of the AP article.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks TigerLikesRooster.

heavy fighting erupted between the military and insurgents near the capital of Damascus

It's just outside of the part that has been completely cleared of ISIS. /sarc

[raiderboy]

WTH?? Why are we in Syria anyway? That is a sovereign country and at last check we are not invited there.

[TigerLikesRooster]

I know SCMP has a subtle pro-China bias. It was decidedly on Beijing’s side during China's conflict with India at Doklam.

[gandalftb]

Ayoub was born in Latakia, the home of the Assads and the Alawite community. He has close ties to the Iranian guards.

He replaces Fahd Jassem al-Freij, a Sunni.

[TigerLikesRooster]

One of the groups involved here, Ahrar al-Sham, is said to be an Islamist group which received aid from U.S. and a bunch of Gulf oil-producing countries. This is from a different source.

[Seruzawa]

Well, ISIS is gone. Which one of our Allies is going to turn on us next.

The Russians are welcome to Syria. Let them pay in blood. It’ll turn out like it has for every other power that stuck its nose in there. Bring our troops home now.

[BeauBo]

“The South China Morning Post is now Ali Baba-owned.”

And Ali Baba is effectively owned by the Communist Party of China. Or else.

[BeauBo]

Ahrar al-Sham is another false flag for al Queda.

[montag813]

BULLCRAP. Tokyo Rose had nothing on the lying Chinese shitbags at SCMP.

[familyop]

Attempts to follow the link are timing out. Here is the article at the Associated Press website.

STATE MEDIA SAYS SYRIAN PRESIDENT RESHUFFLES GOVERNMENT
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_SYRIA?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[familyop]

The Chinese publication is not accessible at this time from my location in the U.S.A. Other sites are easily accessible.