product:stinger

Dans des combats récents en Turquie entre armée turque et PKK un hélicoptère s’est crashé, selon les autorités turques pour cause de problème technique :
▻http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/05/13/world/europe/ap-eu-turkey-kurds.html

ANKARA, Turkey — Eight Turkish military personnel have died in combat with Kurdish rebels and in a subsequent helicopter crash near the country’s border with Iraq, the military said Friday. At least six rebels were also killed in the fighting.
Clashes broke out early Friday with rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, near the town of Cukurca, in Hakkari province, killing six soldiers, a military statement said. Eight other soldiers were wounded.
A military helicopter sent to the area to support the soldiers later crashed, killing its two pilots, the military said, adding that the crash was due to a technical fault .

Et puis est apparue cette vidéo (visionner à partir de 4’11) :
▻https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCM3d4nkUmk

Certains ont identifié le missile sol-air portatif comme étant de la gamme Igla, de fabrication russe, dénomination SA par les USA : ▻https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/9K38_Igla
Question à mille points, ce missile a-t-il été obtenu par le PKK via la Russie ou bien auprès des rebelles syriens (achat ou prise de guerre du PYD), comme MoA en souligne la possibilité, à partir d’un article du New York Times ?
▻http://www.moonofalabama.org/2016/05/manpad-used-by-pkk-against-turkish-helicopter-may-have-come-from-rebe

Toujours est-il que les opérations de contre-guerilla de l’armée turque vont singulièrement se compliquer si le PKK dispose effectivement de ces armes...

#option_Stinger

Un point assez complet sur les combats actuels en Syrie et la pause dans les pourparlers :
Syrian rebels launch new assaults as opposition seeks peace talks ’pause’
MEE / 18.04.16
▻http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/rebels-launch-new-offensives-syrian-opposition-seeks-pause-peace-talk
Relevé des points saillants :
A Lattaquieh :

Among the groups involved in the Latakia offensive are Kataib Ansar al-Sham, the al-Qaeda-linked Turkistan Islamic Party, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaish al-Islam and the First Coastal Division.

A Hama :

There were also reports of a new opposition offensive against government targets in Hama.
According to the pro-Assad al-Masdar news site, fighters from the al-Qaeda splinter group Jund al-Aqsa launched a major assault on the al-Ghaab Plains near the Hama-Latakia axis, in an attempt to capture the village of Khirbat al-Naqous.

A Alep :

On Sunday, government jets carried out air strikes in Aleppo province that killed at least 11 civilians, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights.

Formation d’une nouvelle chambre d’opération commune Ahrar al-Cham/ Jaysh al-Islam et groupes labellisés ASL - sans qu’al-Nousra qui participe aux combats, avec d’autres organisations classées terroristes (Parti Islamique du Turkestan), n’en fassent formellement partie :

A number of groups, including the powerful Ahrar al-Sham group, also announced on Monday the “formation of a joint operations room to begin the battle...in response to violations by the army of Assad”.

Toujours la question d’Assad sur laquelle les négociations achoppent :

Negotiations between the opposition and the government have stalled over the government’s refusal to discuss the opposition’s call for Assad to step aside as part of any peace deal and some have suggested that rebels on the ground have pushed for the opposition negotiators to withdraw from talks altogether.

Les tweets de Mohammed Allouche, négociateur du HCN (opposition de Ryadh) appellant à frapper le régime partout - et donc à mettre fin à la cessation des hostilités :

On Sunday, Mohammed Alloush, senior negotiator for the HNC, called in a tweet for the resumption of attacks on Syrian government targets.
“Don’t trust the regime and don’t wait for their pity,” Alloush wrote on Twitter.
“Strike them at their necks [kill them]. Strike them everywhere,” he said, reciting a passage from the Quran dealing with war.

En bonus de jolies photos/vidéos récentes de rebelles avec des missiles anti-tanks américains TOW et des missiles sol-air portatifs (chinois)...

#option_Stinger

Kurds, ISIS, test US moral legitimacy as leader and ally | Christina Lin
▻http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/kurds-isis-test-us-moral-legitimacy-as-leader-and-ally

On April 8 Jeremy Binnie from IHS Jane’s reported Washington continued to ship weapons to Al Qaeda affiliates in Syria during the ceasefire agreement, corroborated by the jiahdi groups themselves that the ceasefire purpose was to break the Russian and Syrian army momentum and buy time to rearm for the next offensive.

Adam Entous from the Wall Street Journal also revealed that Cold War warriors such as Defense Secretary Ash Carter, chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, and CIA director John Brennan were not focused on ISIS but rather fixated on “inflicting real pain on the Russians,” and proposed a Plan B to supply Al Qaeda groups with anti-aircraft missiles that also threaten civilian airliners.

Un Sukhoï 22 de l’aviation syrienne abattu par un missile sol-air portatif dans le sud d’Alep.
Info confirmée par l’agence syrienne SANA : ▻http://sana.sy/en/?p=73719
Le pilote aurait été capturé vivant selon des photos circulant sur les réseaux sociaux et amené au quartier d’al-Nousra :
Article d’al-arabiya :
▻http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2016/04/05/Syrian-rebels-shoot-down-war-plane-near-Aleppo-.html

Syria militants shot down a warplane on Tuesday in an area south of the city of Aleppo where insurgents are battling the Syrian army and allied militias, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The monitor said a plume of smoke was seen as the plane caught fire before it fell in the Talat al-Iss highland, where al Qaeda-affiliated militants have come under heavy bombardment by Syrian and Russian planes since they captured the area this week.
Syrian state TV confirmed that the jet was shot down by a surface-to-air missile in Aleppo province and the pilot ejected.
However according to the monitor and a militant source said that the pilot of downed plane has been taken by al-Qaeda affiliated al-Nusra front to one of its headquarters.

Par ailleurs Ahrar al-Cham revendique avoir abattu l’avion :
▻https://twitter.com/thomasjoscelyn/status/717346096205447169

A noter que si l’on en croit les déclarations du ministère de la défense russe du 13 mars 2016, un avion syrien avait déjà été abattu par un missile sol-air le 12 mars dernier :
▻http://www.janes.com/article/58762/russia-says-syrian-mig-21-downed-by-manpads

A Syrian MiG-21 fighter-bomber has been shot down by rebels using a man-portable air defence system (MANPADS), the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

When it released its daily summary of breaches of the current ceasefire agreement on 13 March, the Russian MoD said the aircraft was shot down by a MANPADS near the town of Kafr Nabudah at 14.41 on 12 March. Kafr Nabudah is on the border of Hamah and Idlib provinces.

The MoD added that the MiG-21 “was performing airspace control tasks” when it was hit.

#option_Stinger

الجزائر تضغط على تونس لمعرفة طبيعة السلاح القطري لليبيا بقلم :الجمعي قاسمي
▻http://www.alarab.co.uk/?id=76484

Suite des missiles Stinger au Sahara : Pressions décrites comme « sérieuses » des autorités algériennes sur la Tunisie pour que celle-li lui fournisse la nature des armes qataries passées en contrebande en Libye depuis le territoire tunisien en 2011 et 2012...

ضغوط جزائرية وصفها بـ”الجدية” على تونس من أجل مدها بكشوفات الأسلحة القطرية التي تم تسريبها إلى ليبيا عبر الأراضي التونسية خلال العامين 2011 و2012، وذلك في الوقت الذي عاد فيه خطر الصواريخ أرض/ جو المحمولة على الكتف، ليطفو على السطح من جديد في دول المنطقة المغاربية وبعض العواصم الأوروبية.

Perso, je n’aurais jamais pu croire que les « révolutionnaires libyens » auraient pu être aidés par ces riches islamistes du Golfe amoureux de la liberté.

#libye #algérie #tunisie #qatar #catastrophe_arabe

Un Mig-21 de l’armée syrienne a été abattu le 12 mars 2016 près de Kafr Nabudah (nord-ouest de Hama). Le pilote qui s’est éjecté a été abattu.
Accusations du régime syrien selon lesquelles des groupes rebelles syriens disposeraient désormais de « MANPAD » (missiles Sol-air portatifs = Option Stinger) :
▻http://www.pravdareport.com/news/hotspots/terror/14-03-2016/133805-syrian_aircraft-0
Rapport du ministre de la défense russe qui fait écho à cette accusation et dénégation des groupes rebelles (notamment ici de l’ASL)/ Dépêche Reuters 13.03.2016 :
▻http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-deny-missile-used-shoot-down-warplane-163802317.html

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian rebels on Sunday denied a Russian Defence Ministry report that an anti-aircraft missile had been used to shoot down a Syrian warplane in Hama province on Saturday.
Officials in three rebel groups contacted by Reuters reiterated previous statements that it had been shot down with anti-aircraft guns.
Fares al-Bayoush, head of a Free Syrian Army rebel group operating in the Hama area, said the Russian statement might be aimed at “accusing some states of supplying the opposition with anti-aircraft missiles”.

Voir ici les vidéos des uns et des autres censées étayer l’accusation et les dénégations :
▻https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566736-syria-jet-purportedly-downed-by-surface-to-air-missile

Devant les avancées du régime au nord la Turquie a fourni (avant les accords de cessation des hostilités à Munich) aux groupes qu’elle soutient des missiles Sol-sol d’une portée de 20 kms. Certes ce n’est pas encore la livraison de missiles sol-air portatifs (option afghane Stinger) mais c’est une nouvelle étape dans l’escalade militaire internationale en Syrie :
▻http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-missiles-confront-offensive-191050845.html

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s foreign enemies have sent rebels new supplies of ground-to-ground missiles to confront a Russian-backed offensive by the government near Aleppo, stepping up support in response to the attack, two rebel commanders said.

The commanders told Reuters the missiles with a range of 20 km (12 miles) had been provided in “excellent quantities” in response to the attack that has cut rebel supply lines from the Turkish border to opposition-held parts of the city of Aleppo.
Facing one of the biggest defeats of the five-year-long war, rebels have been complaining that foreign states such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey have let them down by not providing them with more powerful weapons, including anti-aircraft missiles.
“It is excellent additional fire power for us,” said one of the commanders, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter. The second rebel commander said the missiles were being used to hit army positions beyond the front line. “They give the factions longer reach,” he said.

Moussaoui Calls Saudi Princes Patrons of Al Qaeda - NYTimes.com
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/us/zacarias-moussaoui-calls-saudi-princes-patrons-of-al-qaeda.html?rref=world/middleeast

WASHINGTON — In highly unusual testimony inside the federal supermax prison, a former operative for Al Qaeda has described prominent members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family as major donors to the terrorist network in the late 1990s and claimed that he discussed a plan to shoot down Air Force One with a Stinger missile with a staff member at the Saudi Embassy in Washington.

The Qaeda member, Zacarias Moussaoui, wrote last year to Judge George B. Daniels of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, who is presiding over a lawsuit filed against Saudi Arabia by relatives of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He said he wanted to testify in the case, and after lengthy negotiations with Justice Department officials and the federal Bureau of Prisons, a team of lawyers was permitted to enter the prison and question him for two days last October.

Moussaoui Calls Saudi Princes Patrons of #Al_Qaeda
▻http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/04/us/zacarias-moussaoui-calls-saudi-princes-patrons-of-al-qaeda.html

WASHINGTON — In highly unusual testimony inside the federal supermax prison, a former operative for Al Qaeda has described prominent members of Saudi Arabia’s royal family as major donors to the terrorist network in the late 1990s and claimed that he discussed a plan to shoot down Air Force One with a Stinger missile with a staff member at the Saudi Embassy in Washington.

The Qaeda member, Zacarias Moussaoui, wrote last year to Judge George B. Daniels of United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, who is presiding over a lawsuit filed against Saudi Arabia by relatives of those killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He said he wanted to testify in the case, and after lengthy negotiations with Justice Department officials and the federal Bureau of Prisons, a team of lawyers was permitted to enter the prison and question him for two days last October.

#Saoud #Arabie_Saoudite

The Soviet decision to withdraw from Afghanistan was made in October 1985, several months before Stinger missiles entered Afghanistan in significant quantities in the autumn of 1986. None of the secret Politburo discussions that have since been declassified mentioned the Stingers or any other shift in mujahideen equipment as the reason for the policy change from indefinite occupation to preparations for retreat.

10 myths about Afghanistan |The Guardian
▻http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/27/10-myths-about-afghanistan

Eric’s Archived Thoughts: The Stinger
▻http://meyerweb.com/eric/thoughts/2013/03/04/the-stinger

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” said Margaret Mead. I see now that the way those small groups truly change the world is by convincing the rest of the world that they are right, thus co-opting the world to their cause. Done properly, the change makes the group obsolete. It’s a lesson worth remembering, as we look at the world today.

Ouep. En français on dit syndrome de Pygmalion, aussi.