Militants in the Syrian Idlib prepare a provocation using chemical weapons. This was reported on August 25 by the official representative of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, Major-General Igor Konashenkov. He stressed that the Russian military department has precise information about who is going to commit provocation and where exactly.
"To carry out the chemical attack in the city of Jisr al-Shugur in the province of Idlib, the terrorists of the" Jabhat al-Nusra "* RT group of terrorists of the Khayat Tahrir ash-Sham militia delivered eight chlorine tanks, which, after the transfer to the militants of the" Hizb at-Turkestan al-Islami "were taken to the village of Hulluus a few kilometers from Jisr al-Shugur," Konashenkov said.
Let us recall that today Idlib remained the only enclave in Syria controlled by militants. Turkey is responsible for maintaining order at the borders of the de-escalation zone in this region.
Interrupt convergence
August 24, Moscow hosted talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the one hand, and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and national defense minister Hulusi Akar, who arrived in the Russian capital, on the other. Speaking to reporters following the meeting, Lavrov said that Moscow and Ankara were discussing the division of the moderate opposition and militants of terrorist organizations in Idlib.
"There (in Idlib - RT ) there are tens of thousands of Jabhat al-Nusra fighters who are trying to control the entire territory and impede the efforts, in particular, of the Republic of Turkey, to delimit a healthy opposition from terrorist structures, - Lavrov responded to a question from RT correspondent.
According to experts, it is likely that the purpose of provocation with chlorine may be the failure of these efforts, as well as any operations directed against terrorists in this zone.
"For all the time of the Syrian conflict and attempts to establish cooperation between Russia and Turkey, there have always been forces that tried by any available means - by the hands of the militants and themselves - to frustrate these agreements," said Yuri Mavashev, head of the political direction of the Center for Contemporary Turkey Studies in an interview with RT. "And Idlib was originally a stumbling block."
However, right now, according to the expert, in the conditions of worsening relations with the US, Turkey was ready for more serious steps than before. According to Mavashev, the Turks are suspected of organizing provocations (in particular, with attacks of drones from Idlib on the Russian air base Khmeimim), not only the US, but Israel, which is also not interested in strengthening the Moscow-Ankara-Moscow-Ankara-Tehran connection in Syria.
According to Mavashev, the staging with the use of chemical weapons can be justified by the own interests of the Idlib fighters, who, despite the presence of the Armed Forces of Turkey in this zone, often act quite independently.
"There are a lot of players in Syria that can look like they represent someone's interests, but in fact they play their game," the political scientist stated.
In turn, the director of the Center for Strategic Studies, Ivan Konovalov, said in an interview with RT that the provocation against the government of Bashar Assad is aimed at excluding the latter from the political process of settlement in Syria, which is increasingly coming to the fore as militants' foci in the country are destroyed.
- Militants in Idlib
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- © Daniel Leal-Olivas
"The victory of Russia in alliance with the Syrian legitimate government is obvious. This causes rabies, because the West has not changed its position: Assad must leave, "the expert explained.
This was also stated by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
"They have completely different purposes: to continue to rock Syria, not abhorring any tactics, and continue to seek new and new pretexts to raise the question of regime change, the change of power in Damascus," he told RIA Novosti.
Preparing for a shock
As Igor Konashenkov noted on August 25, the United States and its allies are intensively preparing for provocation. According to the representative of the Ministry of Defense of Russia, the US "antiterrorist coalition" is concentrating forces for a missile strike against objects in Syria under the pretext of using chemical weapons.
"To this end, a USS destroyer Surovans (The Sullivans), a US Navy with 56 cruise missiles, arrived on the Persian Gulf a few days ago, and a US B-1B strategic bomber with 24 cruise missiles was redeployed to Qatar's Al-Udeid airbase "Air-to-surface" AGM-158 JASSM ", the representative of the Russian military department said.
Recall that it was the forces deployed in the Persian Gulf that were used to inflict most of the missile and bomb strikes on Syria on April 14, 2018. Then the country collapsed more than 100 cruise missiles. A significant part of them was shot down by Syrian air defense.
The pretext for the bombardment was accusations against the government of Bashar Assad that the SAR forces on April 7 allegedly used chemical weapons against the civilian population of the city Duma in East Gut. However, the day before the attack, the Ministry of Defense of Russia presented evidence of local residents that a chemical attack was being staged. About the impending provocation, which will be the pretext for an air strike on Syria, the Russian military department warned as early as March 13, 2018.
According to Igor Konashenkov, now it is likely that Britain and France are planning to join the United States in order to commit new attacks on Syria.
"Thus, the actions of Western countries, contrary to public statements, are aimed at another sharp aggravation of the situation in the Middle East region and the disruption of the peace process in the territory of Syria," concluded Konashenkov.
The Russian Defense Ministry states that the provocation in Idlib is being prepared with the active participation of the British special services and the British private military company Oliva. Intelligence of Great Britain was also accused of organizing a provocation in the Duma in April this year.
The experts interviewed by RT believe that the role of London in the Syrian crisis is underestimated. In particular, Ivan Konovalov stressed that Britain as the largest former colonial power has a unique historical experience of conducting special operations in the Middle East. The ruling regimes of many modern Middle Eastern countries were created with the active participation of London and are still guided by it in their foreign policy.
"Acting in the Middle East is vile and cunning, behind the backs of others - a distinctive feature of British policy," the expert said.
In turn, Yuri Mavashev drew attention to the fact that it was the British that possessed the most important strategic resource for carrying out special operations in Syria - the Akrotiri and Dhekelia bases in Cyprus, where the equipment for wiretapping communication systems in the entire Middle East up to Iran is located.
"The role of Great Britain in what is happening in Syria has not been studied at all, although they have a powerful outpost in the Eastern Mediterranean and forces that act in the interests of Britain," Mavashev said.
As the experts note, the White Helmets, an organization of activists who constantly accuses the Bashar Assad government of using chemical weapons and standing behind the mock-up of the Himaky in April 2018, was founded by former British Army officer James Le Mezurie. London from the very beginning was the main financial sponsor of this structure, which is not without reason accused of cooperation with terrorists.
And it is their uniform that the militants will use to create production rolls about the new chemokat, the Russian Defense Ministry informs.
- Employee of special services of Great Britain on the site of poisoning of Sergey and Julia Skripal
- Reuters
According to Ivan Konovalov, for the staging of the use of chemical weapons in Syria, the British have a motive and necessary experience.
"Britain now has a difficult situation with brexite, so they need to shift attention to the Middle East and Russia, and British intelligence agencies are not shy about the choice of means," the political scientist underscores. "There was the same Fiddler's business, from the beginning to the end invented in order to switch the attention of the British and Russian public from the insane and incompetent actions of the government of Therese May".
"Trump ups"
On the eve of the American edition of Bloomberg, referring to "anonymous sources," said that during the negotiations held on 23 August in Geneva between the Secretary of the Security Council of Russia Nikolai Patrushev and the adviser to the US President for National Security John Bolton, the situation in Idlib was discussed.
Bolton allegedly warned the Russian side that the United States could strike at Syria if chemical weapons were used during the operation against militants.
According to Yury Mavashev, the factor pushing President Donald Trump to a possible blow to Syria is the deterioration of the political situation within the US itself. Already in November 2018, midterm elections will take place, which will mark the balance of power in the Congress. Trump intends to win them. However, his ex-lawyer Michael Cohen recently concluded a deal with the investigation, accusing his former boss of forcing him to violate the law. This news coincided with the issuance of a verdict to the former head of the electoral headquarters of Semi Manafort, who was found guilty of tax evasion. Opponents of the US president again started talking about the possibility of impeachment.
"Trump is stimulated by internal factors," said Mavashev. "In order to fight back, he must resort to harsh steps of a populist nature, and this is really scary."
The expert did not rule out that the result would be an air strike on Syria "for show-off," with minimal real damage for the country, but the prospect of an escalation of the conflict is not excluded.
"Caliber" of profit
August 25, along with information about the forthcoming staging of the use of chemical weapons in Idlib, the Defense Ministry reported on the approach of frigates of the Black Sea Fleet Admiral Grigorovich and Admiral Essen armed with Caliber missiles to the shores of Syria.
- Russian Navy strikes at terrorists in Syria
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- © Russian Defense Ministry
The press service of the Southern Military District reports that Russian ships conducted exercises on the eve of the Black Sea. In particular, the search and pursuit of enemy submarines was fulfilled. According to Russian media, while on the coast of Syria last April, the Admiral Essen tracked an American submarine.
"Strengthening of the Russian naval grouping is associated with the intensification of the fight against terrorists in Syria," Yury Mavashev said.
"The tasks of our fleet include permanent measures to improve combat readiness. The ships will be engaged in the support of our group, which operates in Syria, "Ivan Konovalov said.
Yuri Mavashev emphasizes that while the Russian Defense Ministry is trying to prevent the escalation of the Syrian conflict.
"Russia, having announced the information about the imitation of the Khimataka with all the details, is taking a certain risk for its intelligence networks to prevent an international provocation of a serious scale," the expert concluded.
* "Jabhat Fatah ash-Sham" ("Front al-Nusra", "Jabhat al-Nusra") - the organization is recognized as terrorist by decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation of 29.12.2014.