They are not in combat fatigues , and likely to be members of the airforce , poor example to judge a front line member of the russian army .
The other possible explanation (the first one that came to my mind ) is that they are PMC’s hence the lack of insignia and the weapons .
Or they are special forces which in this cases would be dressed down , so that from a distance they look like locals , this is standard practice
No insignia is the new rule in Russian army. Deniability at all cost. Not a single Russian soldier was killed in Ukraine and not a single member of Russian Army will die in Syria.
No military honors, no mentions, just a number in “death undetermined” column and a couple of rubles for the wifey.
This is a declared op , they would have insignia in this case . Although , the lack of insgina again is not that uncommon even for NATO troops as much as it’s not admitted , special forces quite often remove it or make it very discrete .
It was more the scale in which russia did it that caused the shock , and of course it helps push that sneaky Putin message to exploit the lack of identification .
One russian solider has already died out there , they won’t declare special forces deaths . Again this is normal . Sometimes the us make a SF soldiers death public of its part of a major operation which will result in good PR but that’s rare . I know the UK don’t declare SF deaths .
Russia is still denying involvement in frontline operations. So no, they only declared aerial bombing and securing of their air force base, they are still denying that their tanks and rocket launchers are in direct contact with the enemy… which in most cases isn’t the ISIS.
Because they are not . This is confirmed by the U.S. as well .
Iran is doing the ground ops , Russia is doing special forces and air
So what ? The FSA is mostly wiped out in Syria the vast majority of the groups have pledged allligence to Al-queda or ISIS .
Russia is doing what we should be doing . Supporting the legitimate government then suppoting elections . As russia has now set out in an 18 month plan .
What’s that meant to show ?
Ok , let’s go with your view , let’s kill Assad , then what ?
If you for one moment think after Assad is gone they will be queuing for democracy , you’re very naive indeed .
It will be another Libya , we need to support Assad . Secure the country then move forward peacefully
Calling a government that indiscriminately targets its own civilian population and has killed several hundred thousand civilians legitimate must be some kind of British humor, right?
It is already much worse than Libya. After Assad secures power, he will start large scale ethnic cleansing of everyone he considers a threat. That won’t help anyone much, will it?
Push on Assad, force him to negotiate solution with opposition and step down and move to Russia, support the new government that comes out of negotiations.
Several hundred thousand ? You consider members of armed islamic terror organisations , innocent civilians ? Is that some kind of cezch humour ?
Deaths of civilians is a product of war . This is not helped when the terrorists hide inside civilian areas .
[quote=“snejdarek, post:8735, topic:21032”]
It is already much worse than Libya. After Assad secures power, he will start large scale ethnic cleansing of everyone he considers a threat. That won’t help anyone much, will it?
[/quote] no he won’t because the UN. Would be involved to insure peace , so what’s the alternative then we let the terroists win ? who will butcher thousands of women and children and turn syria into the new Somalia .
We tried your tactics in Libya , that went well didn’t it ?
A few back ally murders are better than mass genocide .
[quote=“snejdarek, post:8735, topic:21032”]
Push on Assad, force him to negotiate solution with opposition and step down and move to Russia, support the new government that comes out of negotiations.
[/quote] this is what he has agreed with the Russians . To allow elections . To elect a body agreed by both sides to draw up a new constitution and organise elections .
The war in syria is far more complicated than
Good guys V bad guys
Apart from the fact that there were already several thousand civilians murdered by the regime before the civil war started. UN my ass, especially with Russia sitting in the security council and having veto power.
No, we you bombed Libya from air and then we left anyone to fill in the vacuum.
I am aware that now it is choosing between the lesser of evils, but Assad is not it.
Which is basically what YOU are suggesting , who replaces Assad ? What faction takes control ? What happens when the other groups don’t like the new government ?
So who is ? …
You clearly haven’t read what I’ve written.
I didn’t say kill Assad. I said force him to negotiate and then go away.
Grand coalition that will lead to large independence alongside religional/ethnical lines and help clean up the mess you created when you drew borders in the sand notwithstanding the native population.
What about all the articles i see linked about Germany troops having to train with broom sticks?
And Europe has cut their armies too far to the point where their tech wouldn’t make a difference in a major with with Russian.
The U.K has the largest tank force in Europe (correct me if im wrong) and they only have 407, compared to the 15,000 Russia has. Not to mention Russia would have a massive man power advantage and air power over Europe.
They look similar to U.S special forces.
Here are Vietnam era troops
Pretty huge difference.
Could you perhaps show me these examples of “islamophobia” i don’t have a Facebook so i can’t see the.
And besides there’s nothing wrong or irrational about being afraid of Islam, especially if you live in Europe right now.
You have a valid point there. But take your words and replace Assad with Saddam. Saddam was responsible for the death of a million of his own people, yet i see you criticising the U.S and U.K for ousting Saddam from power. By the very logic you’re using right now, Saddam needed to be removed . (not my opinion).
The middle east needs dictators in power, its the only way the place is ever stable. This is their way and they seem to prefer it that way, that is why i think we should just stay the fuck out of this. We’ve caused enough damage already.
The only choices we have right now are ISIS and Assad. I’m just calling the rebels what they are there is no use pretending that they are moderates.
Based on what we’ve seen on ISIS i would take Assad over them any day.
I had this in mind.
I have no problem with that as long as the debate is to the point, rational and carried in good faith.
In 1991? I’d say go for it, kill that bitch.
In 2003? You missed your window of opportunity, it was a very different situation then.
I might not argue aking down Assad in 2025 if the country will be in peace for a decade by that time either.
That’s 14.800 obsolete machines that blow after being impacted by anything more than a baseball bat.
We have 290 T 72s that were not modernized and we don’t consider them battle worthy. But yeah, by Russian measure, we do have them.
