Posted on 03/16/2018 8:12:39 AM PDT by Texas Fossil
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria — Standing on a windswept mound, Brig. Gen. Jonathan Braga pointed to the spot just a mile away from where Russian mercenaries and fighters loyal to the Syrian government fired at his soldiers.
"Those artillery rounds could have landed and killed Americans, and that's why we continue to prepare our defenses," said Braga, the director of operations for the U.S.-led anti-Islamic State coalition. U.S. troops who came under fire from Russian mercenaries prepare for more attacks
Only steps away sits a sprawling oil and gas refinery that American forces captured from ISIS last year and that is just beginning to hum with life again.
Braga's forces repelled the surprise assault from the pro-Bashar al-Assad fighters and the Russian private military contractors. The Feb. 7 clash was the first time in 50 years that Americans and Russians have engaged in direct combat.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
They’re not the only ones...
Apparently, you do not understand what a ‘proxy’ war is, yeah? There is no declaration of war required or needed in a ‘proxy’ war.
Only if they put the vodka bottle down for long enough and we all know how hard that is for them.
Pat Buchanan:
“.... NATO’s loss of Turkey would thus be a triumph for Vladimir Putin, who gave Ankara the green light to cleanse the Kurds from Afrin.”
http://buchanan.org/blog/many-wars-many-enemies-128637
What a joke, Putin has backstabbed the Kurds for Erdogan.
No one’s given a damn about Russia since 1991. No one’s trying to encircle them or contain them. Putin’s gotten hot under the collar about his country being insignificant and irrelevant. All this from Putin for the last few years is just a desperate need for attention.
Ever heard of ISIS? Putin Trolls must be pretty uninformed or Anti-American to spew such garbage, last I heard, Assad and the Russians were still fighting in the suburbs of Damascus. Maybe you just support ISIS.
Does that mean you are a big fan of ISIS granada? Putin Trolls must be pretty ignorant.
We weren’t. But Zerø put us there, and cards are in play. It’s a confusing conflict for us civilians. Walking away like Barry did in Iraq, didn’t do us any favors after all the blood and treasure we already spent.
I doubt this analysis
The Russians have provided or offered assistance to the Kurds (or been asked for it when obamas ISIS was killing them)
https://warontherocks.com/2017/12/why-is-turkey-silent-on-russias-cooperation-with-the-syrian-kurds/
The Kurds are an important factor in future Syrian stability - Russia has been wooing them.
in fact have the Syrian Army also fighting against Turkey in Afrin
If the Syrian army is not their firm allies they are at least “ the enemies of their enemies” when it comes to Turkish occupation
The Kurds will not be “ cleansed” by anyone and “ cleansing “ them would hardly deliver stability in northern Syria
That 7th of February attack talked about in the article was Russian mercenaries attacking a Kurdish base with embedded U.S troops.
you need to be careful where you get your news
The Western reporting services are almost totally managed to slant every report against Russia
The deep political history between Russia and the Kurds, the Russian interest in taking lead as regional diplomats in working out an end to the Syrian war and embedded terrorists , and Russia working in Assad’s interest of having Kurds functionally if not in name as part if an arab republic make it illogical and irrational that Russia wants to side with the Erdogan against the Kurds
That is a lose-lose scenario
Backgrounder
There are others
https://warontherocks.com/2017/12/why-is-turkey-silent-on-russias-cooperation-with-the-syrian-kurds/
“you need to be careful where you get your news”
Here is the transcript with unaltered words of Mattis.
I would argue that the fiasco with Libya created a worst refugee crisis. Qaddafi warned us.
The pentagon is no longer any better than CNN
Sorry dude
And I used to work there
Sad times
Thanks for the link Krosan.
We were attacked by Syrian forces that Mattis estimates to be about 300 fighters, including Russian built tanks. Both sides, us with the SDF fighters lined up against Syria with their fighters, Russian fighters, Russian mercenaries, and Iranian fighters, knew where each other were. They could see each other and monitor each other’s movements.
Mattis said he doesn’t know what provoked them to attack us and he doesn’t know who attacked us other than they were pro-Assad. He doesn’t know if any Russians were in the attack.
We attacked back and they retreated.
Mattis: “It was self-defense, we are not getting engaged in the Syrian civil war. We are there to fight Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, that’s what those troops were doing in that position:.
Coordinating strikes against ISIS.”
That last statement is reassuring that we are not fighting the Syrian regime, we are fighting ISIS.
We should stop wasting blood and treasure on the middle east. The more we fight, the more they learn about how we fight. The more they learn about how we fight, the better they get at beating us. Stop fighting. We need to re-charge for when we eventually have to fight China.
SEC. MATTIS: I’m not paid for my feelings, I save those for my girlfriend.
Secretary Of Defense James N. Mattis
Feb. 8, 2018
Concurring bump...worth bookmarking.
The Defense Dept. press briefing had a very collegial vibe to it also, with Sec. Mattis joking back and forth with reporters in between questions.
Yeah sure, what are we going to do about it except wear ourselves out, and drive ourselves deeper in debt? We need to come home and prepare for war that is real, and not nation building. Iran? Who sat silently while they armed themselves? We did, Bush-Clinton-Bush-Obama did anyway. Why did they allow it? It was part of a plan, first America has to build up an enemy to fight, then we get to knock them down, then we build them up again. Rinse and repeat, there is no money in peace, only in war, rebuilding and war again.
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