The new report from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll of the 10 years of war in Syria at 387,000. This is the first report from the group since January, when it was around 380,000.
Among the 387,000 slain were 117,000 civilians, 22,000 of them children. Deaths also included 57,000 “non-extremist” rebels and 67,500 who were from al-Qaeda or ISIS. 130,000 were pro-government fighters, which included both soldiers and militias.
The silver lining here is that the increase from 380,000 to 387,000 in 12 months means that the death toll is rising at its lowest rate of the entire conflict. This is an extremely positive sign, reflective of how much the Syrian War is winding down.
This should be unsurprising as a trend, because there is not so much territory to fight over anymore. With ISIS defeated in all but a few patches of desert, the main conflict now is between Syria and rebels in Idlib Province, which includes al-Qaeda and Turkish-backed groups.
There is a consistent problem with the definition of Turkish backed groups.
Turkey does not support any groups that are fighting Syrian Army.
If and when a group accepts Turkish protection, the group essentially surrenders. This means: a/ the leaders are removed and assigned elsewhere, b/ soldiers take on uniforms designed for Syrian militia under Turkish command, c/ they are reassigned out of the area. Because of this reassignment— Turkey was able to remove checkpoints, and Damascus took over the area, with population getting back under Government control,
There are rebel groups still loyal to HTS. Turkey DOES not support those. There are those that SPLIT from their own group — in order to surrender to Turkey. Turkey protects those, and Syrian army does not attack those. It takes time to reassign militias.
Several times it was HTS that attacked groups for leaving them. Even US hit a splinter group leaders who tried to leave HTS. Turkey may not be able to avoid fighting HTS — if HTS will not surrender.
The news that White Helmets are being evacuated may indicate that support for HTS may be coming to an end. That would end Idllib conflict.
Turkey is in a position to offer employment to ex-Syrian rebels. It is in need of Arabic speakers in Turkish bases in Iraq, Libya and Qatar, Also, as some segment of Somali population speaks Arabic — Syrian militants will be needed in new Turkish base in Somalia.
Uhhh, so the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights is presently aligned with whom?
Syrian casualties down; that’s good, if perhaps overly optimistic news.
Trump more or less ignored the war after the false flag poison gas attack was ‘avenged’ with a volley of cruise missiles. When he wasn’t trying to pull out of Syria, Trump allowed the Pentagon some free reign but no free ticket to escalate against a pullout.
Harris-Biden could turn that around in a hurry.
Again…350 US spec ops in Syria when trump came in. The bulk, likely there since the first gulf War in 1990. Trump deployed the 4000 marines in 2017…yes, a new war. Why do I have to keep telling you this ? Why do you keep denying reality ? The troops you applaud him “pulling out”, tho, not home, are troops he invaded Syria with.
You keep telling me this because you are a Democratic partisan never-Trumper.
To claim that Syria has U.S. spec ops in Syria since 1990 and therefore not an Obama war is nonsensical. U.S. special operations have operated in many different countries under different Presidents in likely often unrelated campaigns.
The troops Trump sent in are clearly in follow-up to Obama’s invasion.
How many troops were in Syria from at least the start of the Trump Administration cannot be determined since the admission by State Department special representative to Syria James Jeffrey made clear,
“We were always playing shell games to not make clear to our leadership how many troops we had there,” – James Jeffrey.
https://www.defenseone.com/threats/2020/11/outgoing-syria-envoy-admits-hiding-us-troop-numbers-praises-trumps-mideast-record/170012/
‘Substantially more’ troops than 350 could have been there from the very beginning of the Trump Presidency.