Russian Lieutenant General Killed in Deir ez Zor Syria by ISIS Mortar Shelling

As  all my readers are fully aware The US is happily entrenched with ISIS
Russia outed their snuggling together earlier today- But really we didn't need Russia to tell us that which was  already obvious.

• Russia Reveals Footage of US Forces Embedded with ISIS

 Onto the latest:

Now a Russian General has died because of ISIS shelling. The same ISIS that frolics with US troops.

The Russian Defense Ministry says one of its generals, who was serving as an adviser to Syrian government troops, has been killed in the country’s east, according to state news agency TASS.

The ministry was quoted as saying on September 24 that Lieutenant General Valery Asapov "was at a command post of Syrian troops, assisting the Syrian commanders in the operation for the liberation of the city of Deir al-Zor," when he was “mortally wounded" by mortar shelling by the extremist group Islamic State (IS).

The ministry added that Asapov would be posthumously decorated for his service.

Reuters

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Sunday that one its general lieutenants, Valeryi Asapov, was killed by mortar shelling in Syria, the TASS news agency reported.

The mortar shelling was carried by the Islamic State near Syria’s Deir al-Zor, the ministry said.

Sputnik

Lt. Gen. Valery Asapov died after sustaining a "fatal injury" in the "sudden Daesh mortar shelling," the ministry said.

"Lt. Gen. Valery Asapov died in the Syrian Arab Republic as a result of the Daesh shelling," the statement said.

Update: Being uncertain what the rank of Lieutenant General signified in the Russia military structure, I went off to inform myself.

Wikipedia

 Lieutenant general, lieutenant-general and similar (abbrev Lt. Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a captain general.

And a reminder to everyone...

 August 28/2017: One Day in September Could Wreak Havoc In the Middle East

That day is, of course, September 25 2017. (We may all want to keep that date firmly in our minds)  When the semi autonomous "Kurdish" region in Iraq votes for "independence" What will occur afterwards? Will the US and Israel really sit on the sidelines as this oped writer suggests? I find that contention absurd!

At the time that Haaretz oped was published, one month ago, the writer suggested Israel was opposed to this vote- That was just another lie. Because Israel wants a type of  Kurdish independence, that has been created for and will only serve Israel's interests.

Israel's Backing of Iraqi Kurds' Independence Vote Strains Ankara Ties 

Israel has a long tradition of seeing the region’s Kurds as a buffer from both Arab and Iranian threats; but with Turkey having its own restive Kurdish minority, Israel’s support of the vote has drawn strong condemnation in Turkey.

As if Israel cares about their ties with Ankara. They don't!!
 I've been writing about this for years now..

2015: Carving Turkey After a NATO Roasting- Claims vs Reality 
2014: Kurd/ ISIS Symbiosis- The impending destruction of Turkey.
 Pt.2- Kurd/ ISIS Symbiosis- The impending destruction of Turkey

Russia Reveals Footage of US Forces Embedded with ISIS

This report cannot possibly come as a surprise to anyone!
Sputnik:

The Russian Defense Ministry released aerial footage of the Daesh positions north of Syria's city of Deir ez-Zor that showed the US equipment deployed in the area.

The photos posted on Russia's Defense Ministry's Facebook page on Sunday show equipment that is being used by the US special forces.

"The aerial photographs, taken on September 8-12, 2017 in the areas of Daesh troops' deployment, detected a big number of US Hummer armored vehicles, used by the US Army's special forces," the ministry wrote on Facebook.

#USA #Syria

#US Special Operations Forces (#SOF) units enable US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (#SDF) units to smoothly advance through the ISIS formations.

Facing no resistance of the ISIS militants, the #SDF units are advancing along the left shore of the #Euphrates towards #Deir_ez_Zor.

"Despite the strongholds of the US armed forces being located where Daesh militants are currently deployed, there are not even signs of the organization of a battle outpost. This shows that all the US servicemen who are currently there, feel completely safe in the areas under the terrorists control," the ministry outlined.

The US backed SDF takes Large Portion of Syrian Oilfields from US backed ISIS

Unless you've been asleep & have been reading any where else but here you would be unaware that this is a repeating pattern. The Kurds, on too many occasions to recount, have seen ISIS completely melt away, or the Kurds simply give ISIS a free pass at just the most opportune time. The ISIS walk away always allows the Kurds to take territory and resources- Water as just one example- Tabqa dam: Kurds Allow ISIS to Leave Tabqa & "Live to Fight Another Day"  Oil, most recently. The taking of the oil fields of Deir ez Zor - sees the same pattern, the one that has played out for years now, repeat itself yet again.

Yesterday it was reported that the oil fields were aflame.

Yes, it’s SOHR- But I have no doubt that “ISIS” would take undertake this type of action.

Image accompanying SOHR article

The smoke would hide nearly all that was taking place on the ground, conveniently

“SOHR hasn’t received information so far whether this fire is caused by burning the oil fields by the organization or burning holes filled with oil to confuse the warplanes and surveillance aircraft.  The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights published on the 19th of September 2017 that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights learned that the flames have been raging for more than three hours in the largest gas field in Syria, the Koniko gas field, of which the regime forces are about 5 km away, the Syria Democratic Forces are about 13 km away”

 According to SOHR, SDF was 13 kms away and yet through all this smoke and fire they were able to “take the fields” from ISIS. From a distance more then double that of Syrian army? Through all the fire and smoke? Well, they are the best and fiercest and most blah, blah, blah fighters...

Reuters

U.S.-backed forces on Saturday seized a major natural gas field in Syria’s Deir al-Zor province from Islamic State militants

US-backed SDF says it took Syria's largest gas field from IS

U.S.-backed Syrian fighters captured Saturday the country's largest gas field from the Islamic State group in an eastern province that borders Iraq as they race with government forces to capture the energy-rich region, a senior official with the group said.

Another SDF spokesman, Brig. Gen. Talal Sillo, said the fighting in the area left 65 IS fighters dead while more than 100 gunmen surrendered.

Of course I don’t believe Gen Talal Sillo, what so ever. It’s most likely no ISIS fighters are dead. Though they may have some oil field workers/random poor sod bodies to drag around and claim they are ISIS- and no one surrendered from the US backed ISIS to the US backed Kurdish militias either.

Sillo said that SDF fighters marched toward the field from the nearby village of Khsham under the cover of airstrikes by the U.S.-led coalition.

Like I said they’ll have some bodies to drag around as props.

Sputnik:

At the moment, nearly 80 percent of oil resources in Deir ez-Zor are under IS [Daesh] control. As regards gas deposits, almost all of them are still under control of terrorists. All the plants and gas fields, which I refer to, are located on the other side of the Euphrates [the northern part of Deir ez-Zor] — this is Conoco, Omar, Jafra, Al-Isba and Tanak, and most gas processing plants are also located there."

The representative noted that the infrastructure of gas fields had been significantly damaged.

"According to our data, the terrorists have completely destroyed the infrastructure in the Omar and Tanak gas fields, a part of the facilities in Conoco have been destroyed as well…  Reconstruction of gas fields' infrastructure is possible, but the damages may be assessed only when we are able to visit this places and hold careful examination," Hamid said.

  Flashback to 2014- When I first wrote about the symbiosis between the Kurds and ISIS

• 2014:  Kurd/ ISIS Symbiosis - The Impending Destruction of Turkey.
• 2104: Pt.2- Kurd/ ISIS Symbiosis- The impending destruction of Turkey 
• 2014: Kurdistan. NATO’s new Southern Flank? 

• "the more obvious it becomes who is really fighting Daesh and who has been imitating the fight for three years"

Turkey To Deploy Troops to Idlib Per Astana Agreement

Part of the bigger picture..

Link

"NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday Turkey will deploy troops in Syria's northern Idlib region as part of a so-called de-escalation agreement brokered by Russia last month.

The "de-escalation" zones, agreed by Turkey, Russia and Iran, would be further discussed in talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his trip to Ankara next week, Erdogan said in an interview with Reuters while he was in New York for the annual United Nations General Assembly.

"The de-escalation zone agreement was a promising idea ... under which Russians are maintaining security outside Idlib and Turkey will maintain the security inside Idlib region," Erdogan said. "The task is not easy ... With Putin we will discuss additional steps needed to be taken in order to eradicate terrorists once and for all to restore peace."

Another Day, Another Israeli Strike on Syria

RELATED:

• US & Russian Militaries Hold Face to Face

• Russian Defense Ministry: No Tolerance for Shelling of Syrian Army from US & Kurdish Proxies.

• Idlib, Syria- US initiates attacks- Russia and Syria Eradicate US Proxies

It's amazing to me how under reported the expose on massive 2.2 Billion dollar, scratching the surface, US gun running in the vicinity of the ME is? Or how just dribs and drabs of it come through in varying reports? Without explaining the scale/scope of this operation... I thought it quite an exercise of creating a both a convoluted paper and real world trail to discourage anything concrete being put together and yet- somebodies managed to shed some light on what is surely a vastly larger gun running scale, by their own admission, then they could expose! Gotta give them credit for taking the time and doing the digging!

It's covered relatively extensively in this nearly ten day old post:

The Pentagon’s 2.2 Billion Arms Pipeline Flooding Syria- German & Czech concerns?

Another Day, Another Israeli Strike on Syria

RT

Israeli forces are reported to have carried out attacks from outside the Syrian border early on Friday, according to the Lebanese Al Mayadeen. It said the strike led to a fire, with no casualties or disruptions at Damascus International Airport reported.
Pictures allegedly showing the moment of the attack have emerged online on Arab and Hebrew-language social media.- see images at RT link

According to Israeli media reports, there were three separate strikes.

לפי שעה, שתיקה רועמת מצד משטר אסד ושות' ביחס לדיווחים לא מאומתים הלילה על עוד תקיפה ישראלית הפעם ליד נמל התעופה הבינ"ל של דמשק. #שנה_חדשהpic.twitter.com/QBK44cZqgC

— roi kais (@kaisos1987) September 22, 2017

Meanwhile, footage that reportedly captured Syria’s air defense forces responding to the strike was uploaded on Facebook. The air defense forces are said to have shot down one of the missiles.

Link 

An airstrike of probable Israeli origin launched two missiles at a civilian airport in Syria's capital, Damascus early on Friday morning, Lebanese TV station al-Mayadeen reported.

A source at the airport spoke to Prensa Latina, saying that nobody was hurt in the attacks, and little damage was caused.

The explosions resulted in fires in several areas which were quickly extinguished, and the sound of the explosion could be heard around Damascus.
Al-Masdar News reported that a Syrian military source said that the Syrian Air Force has shot down an Israeli drone near the Damascus province border shortly after the attack.

KUNA 

RELATED:

• US & Russian Militaries Hold Face to Face

• Russian Defense Ministry: No Tolerance for Shelling of Syrian Army from US & Kurdish Proxies.

• Idlib, Syria- US initiates attacks- Russia and Syria Eradicate US Proxies

US & Russian Militaries Hold Face to Face

According to US reports. Reports which were made after the fact.
Military Times

Senior American and Russian military leaders met for an unprecedented, face-to-face session somewhere in the Middle East this week to discuss the increasing tensions around one of the remaining Islamic State strongholds in Syria.

Syrian government forces, Russian special forces and U.S.-backed militants are all battling ISIS around the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province.

The meeting, however, also suggests an expanded U.S. and Russian effort to coordinate their efforts, raising questions about how the Pentagon ISIS adhering to an American prohibition against military-to-military cooperation with Moscow. Congress enacted that law in the wake of Russia’s annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine in 2014.

Army Col. Ryan Dillon told Pentagon reporters on Thursday that U.S. and Russian general officers shared maps, graphics and information about where their forces are battling around Deir el-Zour. He would not provide details on when or where the meeting occurred, beyond saying it took place in recent days somewhere in the region.

Russian Defense Ministry: No Tolerance for Shelling of Syrian Army from US & Kurdish Proxies..

Continuing with the very dynamic situation in Syria

 Recent Minimal background:

* Wednesday Sept. 20/2017 - Idlib, Syria- US initiates attacks- Russia and Syria Eradicate US Proxies

US/Trump & Israel: First “official” US Military Base Opens

*Tuesday Sept 19/2017- US Led Coalition & KurdIShIS Proxies Attacking Syrian Army, Impeding Terrorism Fight

*Sunday Sept 17/2017-Head of YPG/PKK /SDF “Damascus Declared War on Us”

 TODAY 

SANA

Russia has communicated to the US it will not tolerate this activity. Russia has it’s own special forces embedded alongside Syrian army they are not willing to take casualties.

“The Syrian governmental troops have been shelled twice from the areas on the western bank of the Euphrates controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces and the US military,” Konashenkov said.”

Konashenkov said that Servicemen of Russia’s special operations forces and Syrian Arab army units are currently working together to destroy ISIS terrorists , adding that Russia warned a representative of the US command in Qatar, that “any attempts of shelling from the areas where the militants of the Syrian Democratic Forces are based will be immediately curbed.”

In this Friday, Sept. 15, 2017 photo, a Russian soldier stands guard as a military helicopter takes off at an airport in Deir eI-Zor, Syria. (AP Photo)

Konashenkov also made another statement regarding that KurdIShIS symbiosis

“Defense Ministry Spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Thursday that Russian monitoring and reconnaissance means haven’t recorded over a week any clashes between ISIS and SDF groups depite the latter have entered many ISIS areas.”

Military Times

“Syrian forces have twice come under massive mortar and rocket artillery fire coming from the areas on the eastern bank of the Euphrates where SDF fighters and U.S. special forces are deployed,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.

See previous post regarding these US/Kurdish attacks

“Attempts to open fire from SDF-controlled areas would be immediately met with retaliation,” he said. “The firing positions in those areas will be immediately destroyed with all the arsenal at our disposal.”

Both sides are seeking to expand their control of the province bordering Iraq. Many oil fields, including al-Omar, Syria’s largest, are scattered on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.

 Just a reminder, before the US and their KurdIShIS proxies began the destablization- Deir ez Zor was, and to my mind, still is a province of Syria.. US/Kurdish plans for annexation aside.