T. Belman. Ralph Peters in his article below wrote “The generals who won World War II would start by leveling Raqqa, the ISIS caliphate’s capital.” Russia is obviously taking his advice. So should Israel.
Russia has launched a merciless blanket air campaign, backed by Kalibr cruise missiles fired from the Caspian and Mediterranean Seas, for the object of wiping the Islamic State’s Syrian center of Raqqa off the map, DEBKAfile’s military sources report.
Western and Middle East sources tracking the campaign since Friday, Nov. 20, report that at least 75 air sorties have been conducted and are systematically razing the town of 200,000 inhabitants 160km east of Aleppo, district by district, irrespective of civilian town dwellers.
Moscow wants the entire Middle East and Muslim world to see the price exacted for launching a terrorist attack on Russia after the downing of the Metrojet airliner that killed 224 people over Egyptian Sinai on Oct. 31. Russian bombers and cruise missiles rained death and destruction on the ISIS administration center after the jihadists claimed responsibility for that disaster and published photos of a soft drink can claimed to have been rigged as a bomb for blowing the plane up.
When the Russians are done, the town will be a pile of rubble, an intelligence source told DEBKAfile.
The Russian defense ministry ran photos Friday of Russian technicians loading bombs on the Tupolev 95 bombers (dubbed “Bears” in the West). Ground crews marked the bombs “For ours,” and “For Paris.”
Last Tuesday, our military sources first revealed that the Tupolev’s were taking off from Morozovsk air base in the Rostov district of southern Russia instead of from the Russian military enclave outside the Syrian town of Latakia.
Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported Friday that 15 Syrian oil facilities seized by ISIS had been destroyed this week and 525 of their trucks, costing the jihadists $1.5 million a day in revenue.
As for casualties, the published figure of 600 jihadists killed in one day is probably far below the real figure. Our sources report that the Islamist terrorists’ death toll most probably runs into thousands with many more injured.
To sustain the hectic tempo of its aerial war, Moscow has doubled the number of bombers assigned to Syria from 34 two weeks ago to 69 by Saturday, Nov. 21.
Our military sources add that this augmented air power allows the Russians to expand their targets to other parts of Syria. On Friday, they renewed sorties against Syrian rebel forces holding the southern town of Deraa near the Jordanian border.
Who says that there is no solution to eliminate ISIS and prevent a Caliphate?
Leave it to Putin.
And what to do with Obama?
Anyone;s guess!
No dead babies held up to cameras?
No UN outrage and threatening War Crimes against the Russians?
huh!
Just business as usual…now why can’t the whole world work this way.
Things are really getting hot over Raqqa. That’s the real climate change that upsets Obama and Kerry.
Bomb them/it back to the Stone Age, pave over and build a Wal-Mart super center.
G-d bless Putin, a real leader who stands up to evil.Israel should partner with Putin rather than Obama.
Assuming this is true. It’s Debka, after all.
Russian classic. I respect that immensely.
I bet they will not seek “cease fires” or perform lesson teaching under strict limitations of targets.
The people in Israel must raze the Oslo military command and select terrifying generals and colonels prepared to exterminate the Islamic beasts.
Terrorist attacks? Pulverize Gaza city or Ramallah. Or both.
The Russians are showing the Israelis how it’s done, just as the Allies did in WWII and the Israelis used to. Middle east rules: “Step on my toes and i’ll drop a house on you.” Perhaps if Israel returned to this policy they could be assured of Russia’s veto in the Security Council to protect them, since the current US Administration won’t. This could show up the constant blundering and betrayals from Obama’s foreign policy.