It is indeed instructive that in his congressional testimony on September 29th, the Senior Editor of the Long War Journal and Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Thomas Jocelyn, did not mention the Western-touted Syrian 'opposition' FSA even once in discussing the U.S. Syria strategy or lack thereof. It is mentioned in a caption below the photograph accompanying LWJ's posting of Jocelyn's testimony and posted above here. The caption reads: "Fighters from Ahrar al Sham, the Free Syrian Army, and Al Nusrah Front display their banners after a victory in Idlib province, Syria". As I have noted numerous times on this site and as Jocelyn does in his testimony, Al Qaida-tied groups like Jabhat al-Nusra (Al Nusrah Front) and Ahrar al-Sham differ from IS only in their tactics and strategy, not their goal - the creation of a global caliphate. The photograph is a good representation of the difficulty, even the impossibility of discriminating between jihadi forces, on the one hand, and Islamist 'moderates' of the MB ilk, on the other.

In a second day of a coordinated air and ground assaults in Syria, Russian warplanes, Syrian troops and their militia allies attacked insurgents on Thursday (October 8)...the groups are led by an Islamist coalition called Army of Conquest. That group includes Al Qaeda's Syrian affiliate...



Insurgents in the Ghab Plain also include relatively secular groups who consider themselves part of the loose-knit Free Syrian Army, including some elements covertly equipped by the C.I.A. with advanced antitank missiles that have aided the recent Army of Conquest advances.



The United States has objected to Russia's targeting such groups...

Free Syrian Army leaders say they thought they had an agreement on a buffer zone weeks ago and are mystified U.S. officials are now saying publicly that an American-enforced no-fly zone is a no-go. ...



Tu'mah expressed frustration — as well as confusion — over the Obama administration's position on establishing a buffer zone in northern Syria — one that would be secure from Syrian airstrikes. He claims U.S. officials told them during the summer that a buffer zone would be established — part of a deal with the Turks for the use of the NATO airbase at Incirlik in southern Turkey by U.S.-led coalition warplanes to strike Islamic State extremists.



"It is very strange indeed ...suddenly the Americans said there was no agreement at all," he told VOA.

He said those groups being supplied did not include either Islamic State (IS) or al-Nusra Front, both of which are proscribed terrorist organisations. Instead, he said the weapons would go to three rebel alliances - Jaish al-Fatah (Army of Conquest), the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and the Southern Front.

[Since the public whipping], the group has been shifting tactics, seeking to portray itself as a moderate force fighting both President Bashar Assad's troops and the extremists of the Islamic State group. Backed by U.S.-ally Turkey, Ahrar al-Sham has sought to recast itself as a player acceptable to Washington and the West, while distancing itself from al-Qaida's affiliate in Syria and its jihadi ideology.



To that end, Labib Al Nahhas, the group's self-styled foreign affairs director, has written opinion pieces in the Washington Post and Britain's Daily Telegraph that present Ahrar al-Sham as a moderate alternative and potential partner for Western governments.



The group has also vowed to defeat what it calls the Russian "occupation" of Syria after Moscow began launching airstrikes on insurgents last week. In a post on Twitter, its leader, Muhannad al-Masri, warned: "The Soviet Union entered Afghanistan, where it faced its end, and its boys will face the same end in the land of the Levant, God willing."



Unlike the Islamic State group and al-Qaida's branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, Ahrar al-Sham is not on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. ...



"Turkey has been really working very hard for more than a year trying to convince the Americans and the U.S.-led coalition that Ahrar al-Sham is not al-Qaida, that Ahrar al-Sham could be weaned off Nusra Front," said Fawaz A. Gerges, director of the Middle East Center at the London School of Economics. "The Americans are very suspicious."



Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has said that Ankara has no plans to send ground troops into Syria, but instead wants to see Syria's moderate opposition forces take over areas currently controlled by IS near the Turkish border.



Considered the best-armed and organized militant group in Syria after IS and the Nusra Front, with tanks, armored vehicles and multiple rocket launchers, Ahrar al-Sham's push to rebrand itself comes at a time when the West and the U.S. desperately need allies inside Syria.



A U.S. counterterrorism official told The Associated Press that Ahrar al-Sham clearly wants "a seat at the table" in post-conflict Syria.

An offer the U.S. shouldn't refuse: Save face, let FSA help Russia

Imaginary Russian missiles in Iran

Monitoring by U.S. military and intelligence assets has concluded that at least four missiles crashed as they flew over Iran.



The U.S. believes, based on intelligence reports of damage assessments, that some buildings were damaged and civilians may have been hurt.



It's unclear where in Iran the missiles landed. The Russian ships have been positioned in the south Caspian Sea, meaning the likely flight path for missiles into Syria would cross over both Iran and Iraq. ...



The Russian Defense Ministry, however, took strong issue with the CNN report in a posting on Facebook Thursday.



"Unlike CNN, we don't report quoting anonymous sources, but we show launches of our missiles and the targets they hit in real-time mode," the statement reads, noting that Russian drones are operating in Syria around the clock, presumably monitoring operations.

"We have no reports of any Russian missiles crashing in Iran," Gen. Musa Kamali told Russian news agency Sputnik. "All those media reports alleging that Russian missiles aiming at Syria hit Iran are blatant lies."



"If the people making those claims had any proof, they would have certainly presented it," he said. "The US made similar allegations in the past as part of their psychological warfare against whoever opposes their policies in the region."

"No matter how unpleasant and unexpected it is for our colleagues in the Pentagon and Langley, our strikes yesterday with precision-guided weapons at ISIL infrastructure in Syria hit their targets."



"Otherwise one would have to acknowledge that IS facilities - located at a considerable distance from each other - exploded all by themselves." ...



Konashenkov also lashed out at a fresh statement from Pentagon head Ashton Carter, who predicted Russian losses in its Syrian operation.



"In their assessments of the US military's actions in various operations conducted by them all over the world, the Russian Defense Ministry has never stooped to publicly speaking of expectations of the deaths of American soldiers," Konashenkov stressed.



According to the spokesman, Carters' words demonstrate the degree of cynicism among "some of the representatives" of the current US government.

Exclusive: Congress probing U.S. spy agencies' possible lapses on Russia



Spy agencies had carefully tracked Russian President Vladimir Putin's build-up of military assets and personnel in Syria in recent weeks, prompting White House criticism and demands for Moscow to explain itself.



But intelligence officers - and the U.S. administration they serve - were caught mostly off-guard by the speed and aggressiveness of Putin's use of air power as well as a Russian target list that included U.S.-backed rebels, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.



"They saw some of this going on but didn't appreciate the magnitude," one of the sources told Reuters.



Russia's sudden move to ramp up its military involvement in the Syria crisis has thrown Obama's Middle East strategy into doubt and laid bare an erosion of U.S. influence in the region.

A US admiral has warned that NATO is having difficulty adapting and responding to evolving Russian military threats.



Speaking at the Atlantic Council on Tuesday, ... Ferguson ... said that Russia is developing military capabilities and hybrid method of war are designed to "cripple" the functional abilities of the NATO alliance, according to a transcript from US Naval Institute news.



Russia's focus on hybrid and asymmetrical warfare, including its development of cyber and information warfare capabilities, is "designed to cripple the decision-making cycle of the alliance," Ferguson. "Their capabilities have focused on the creation of ambiguity."

"Russia exploits ethnic and religious divisions, makes use of an aggressive information campaign, and extensively uses misinformation and deception to delegitimize the forces under attack while confusing the attribution of their actions."

According to Reuters , U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had a 30-minute telephone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on October 8. U.S. mouthpiece John Kirby reportedly said: "The Secretary repeated our concerns about the preponderance of targets that are being struck by Russian military forces that are."What could that possibly mean? Presumably any groups who are not ISIL are "not related to Islamic State". So, who exactly are the "non-ISIL" groups fighting in Syria? In broad terms there is Jabhat al-Nusra (Al-Qaeda-affiliated), Ahrar al-Sham (Al-Nusra-affiliated), the Islamic Front (includes Ahrar al-Sham), the Free Syrian Army (Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated), and more.As Gordon Hahn writes, practically all other "opposition" groups (for all intents and purposes, ISIS is just as much an opposition group as any of the other militants fighting Assad's citizens and military) are jihadis. And the non-ISIL jihadis often fight together with the so-called FSA. What Hahn doesn't mention is that the FSA even fights with ISIL Hahn writes In other words, Kerry scolded Lavrov for bombing Al-Qaeda (and others with like minds, like goals, and like methods).The New York Times even came out and admitted today that the CIA armed Al-Qaeda terrorists:U.S. propaganda outfit Voice of America reported from Turkey that the FSA is crying for more U.S. assistance:Not so strange, really. Russia got there first. And now all the U.S.'s little armies of jihadis and mercenaries are probably feeling a bit vulnerable.A Saudi official allegedly told the BBC that the Saudis will respond to Russia's airstrikes by sending high-powered weapons to their own 'moderate rebels' in Syria:Even Wikipedia admits that Army of Conquest fights with al-Nusra Front in Idlib. The situation is utterly ridiculous. The U.S., Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, etc., just have to say they will supply the 'moderates' with weapons. They're not supporting terrorists, of course. But all these groups work together, and the weapons inevitably end up with the jihadis.Now get this. Ahrar al-Sham (mentioned above), who are not officially Al-Qaeda but who fight with them, and who are kind of infamous for publicly whipping two men for not attending Friday prayers back in 2013, are attempting to re-brand themselves Turkey isn't pleased with Russian airstrikes, to say the least. Erdogan just told reporters, "We can't accept the current situation" (adding that Russia is attacking Turkey-backed anti-Assad 'rebels' and that may threaten Turkey and Russia's energy ties). And they are clearly playing fast and loose with the whole 'moderate opposition' doublespeak. Does anyone really believe the West isn't doing the same thing?! The FSA are just psychopathic as ISIL or any of the other jihadi groups killing civilians and soldiers in Syria.Of course, the U.S. cannot and will not admit this, otherwise the mask would come off completely andBut perhaps Russia will let the Americans off the hook, with conditions. TASS reports that Russia's Defense Ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said yesterday: "We focused our attention on the fact that certain forces operating in Syria at present, including the Free Syrian Army, express their." Konashenkov underscored that the Russian defence ministry was open to contacts and was set to debate any constructive proposals.Basically, the U.S. has the option of either going along with the plan, getting some of their most treasured mercenaries on board with killing other mercenaries, defeating ISIL, and everyone goes home happy; or, refusing, thus losing all their mercenaries to Russia/Syria/Iran/Hezbollah, and perhaps ultimately being exposed as having been either completely inept or unwilling to fight ISIL (begging the question why they were unwilling). It's the perfect opportunity to save face. The whole ISIL problem can be wrapped up, the Middle East restructured more to Russia's and the Middle East's own liking, and the U.S. can continue to put up the pretense of not being a completely raving monster that supports head-chopping, human liver-eating psychopaths. They can even keep a handful of their paid butchers, to be put to use somewhere else, if they so please, and if they can get away with it.What's it gonna be, people?Meanwhile, anonymous U.S. officials are hallucinating again . Or, alternatively, CNN journalists are hallucinating anonymous U.S. officials:MOD spokesman General Igor Konashenkov, who made the above statement, also said : "Any professional knows that during these operations we always fix the target before and after impact. All our cruise missiles hit their target." Iran has denied the story:"Since Russia began its operations in Syria, Western media and officials have launched an all-out assault against Moscow," the Fars News Agency, thought to have close affiliations with Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said Even John Kirby, the dolt quoted above on the Kerry-Lavrov call, said he "couldn't confirm" it.What the Western newswires didn't report were Konashenkov's other statements Not like CNN cares. The universal MSM response to Russia's surprise attacks in Syria seems to have been simply "Make stuff up!" Consider the above story, with all its caveats, in the light of this:Well, at least that seems close enough to the truth. After more than a decade of staggering hubris and bombing the Middle East unchallenged, the U.S. didn't see this one coming.This report from Business Insider , which quotes U.S. Admiral Mark Ferguson, who is in charge of the Allied Joint Force Command in Naples, Italy, may also get somewhat close to the truth:Well if that's the case, I say good on Russia! If there's any military alliance more deserving of being crippled, it's NATO.But then Ferguson goes into pathological projection mode:Wow. It's actually a pretty good description... of U.S./NATO policy!