Operation Featherweight: Month 30, Week 4, Day 7.

This should be read as a continuation of; http://watchitdie.blogspot.co.uk/2017/01/operation-featherweight-month-30-week-4_16.html

In that post I wrote about the agreement between the Syrians and the Army of Conquest/Jaish al-Fatah (JAF) coalition.

This sees the Army of Conquest leave the areas of Wadi Barada and Ayn al-Fijeh - roughly 10km (6 miles) north-west of Damascus - and head to the areas around Idlib City some 360km (216 miles) to the north. The plan is modelled on the agreement which followed the December 12th 2016 (12/12/16) liberation of Aleppo City. That too would see members of the Army of Conquest flee to the Idlib area.

Prior to the liberation of Aleppo City there were 11 camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP's) in the Idlib area. These are run by a variety of Non-Governmental Organisations (NGO's), armed groups, local landowners and the IDP's themselves.

However following the liberation of Aleppo City Turkish President/Prime Minister/Emperor Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his intention to build a new camp. This camp would be run by Turkey and protected by the Turkish military.

As Turkey has done in Jarablus on the western bank of the Euphrates River as it flows from Turkey the purpose of this camp would be to establish the area as part of Turkey. Not only would you have the Turkish military providing security you would have Turkish hospitals providing healthcare and Turkish schools teaching in the Turkish language.

Erdogan's plan for a new Ottoman Empire is very much modelled on Adolf Hitler's invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1938. Here Nazi Germany supported local allies in conducting terror attacks within Czechoslovakia's border region. They then used these attacks as an excuse to invade and annex the Sudetenland as part of Nazi Germany under the pretence of protecting civilians. As such this area around Idlib City has been designated; "The Sudetenland."

Initially no specific camp was established. However the idea of these Turkish camp or possibly camps have been designated; "Long Kesh." In keeping with the theme of the Northern Irish Troubles this is a reference to the infamous Long Kesh internment camp established in Lisburn, Northern Ireland in 1971.

Turkey has now established the first of its Long Kesh camps in the Kammaunah area of Idlib province. I am though still trying to find an exact location.

However due to the December 29th 2016 (29/12/16) ceasefire Turkey has not been able to establish the camp to the extent that it would like. For example it has not been able to bring in military forces to provide security nor has it been able to bring in medical or educational facilities. It has though been able to bring in some 4,000 heated winter tents and some 700 truck loads of other supplies.

Turkey has also been able to establish a second Long Kesh camp. This time in the roughly 100km (60 mile) stretch of Syria's border with Turkey known as; "Garvaghy Road." Specifically at Igde village close to Azaz on the western boundary of Garvaghy Road.

As this area has been under Turkish military occupation since August 2016 this Igde camp is being provided with security by the Turkish military. The camp itself is run by Diyanet - the department of the Turkish government dedicated to promoting the Turkish version of Islam both at home and abroad. It has heated winter tents for 6,000 people although Turkey does not yet seem to have been able to establish medical an educational facilities as it has done in Jarablus or the other side of Garvaghy Road.

Initially Erdogan's plans for Long Kesh camps was met with vocal support from the US.

On December 29th 2016 (29/12/16) the New York Police Department (NYPD) announced that it would allow Sikh officers to wear long beards and hair under turbans as their religion requires. The religious obligation on Sikh men not to cut their hair or beards is known as; "Kesh." As such this was the NYPD who were very much the spotlight ahead of the New Year's Eve (31/12/16) celebrations giving permission for Long Kesh.

At the time I commented that seemed more like something Chicago's Police Department (CPD) would do. After all in August 2015 it was revealed that CPD had operated an off-the-books internment facility known as "Homan Square"where allegations of torture abounded.

The US' initial support for Long Kesh was met by a stony silence from the US' traditional allies. This seems to have prompted the US to withdraw its support.

On Tuesday January 3rd 2017 (3/1/17) a particularly unpleasant video was broadcast live on Facebook. It showed four black Chicago teens taunting, beating and torturing a white Chicago teen who is reported to suffer from some sort of learning disability or other sort of mental vulnerability.

Obviously everybody was outraged at how one of the most vulnerable of society could be mistreated. That should reflect the outrage that everybody feels at Erdogan's attempts to forcibly transfer civilians from Aleppo City to the Long Kesh camps for them to be used a human shields to protect the Army of Conquest in their attempts to establish a new Ottoman Empire in the Sudetenland. From the way the torturers cut the victim's hair from his scalp it's clear that they are no fans of Long Kesh.

The fact that the torturers were black while their victim was white along with the fact they shouted both anti-white and anti-Trump slogans throughout the attack would suggest that they are supporters of outgoing US President Obama's Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. Obama's inability to recognise the terrorism of Black Lives Matter could help explain his inability to recognise the terrorism of Erdogan, the Army of Conquest and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

The fact that the torturers engaged in the stereotypically Native American practice of; "Scalping" - cutting the hair and scalp from the head - seemed to be a reference to the way BLM tried to recruit Native Americans as their allies against the oppression of white Caucasians. The fact that Native Americans are white Caucasians is just further evidence that Obama and BLM don't enjoy the best relationship with reality.

Finally it highlighted that with 762 murders in 2016 alone Obama's adopted city which is now run by his former Chief-of-Staff Rahm Emmanuel is a complete mess. The fact that one of the Obama's administration's last acts was to further fire up the BLM cause by releasing a report on January 13th 2017 (13/1/17) accusing the CPD of racism further underlined the relief many a feeling that the childlike Obama regime is finally coming to an end.

Also on Friday January 13th 2017 (13/1/17) there was a shooting at an airport in Fort Lauderdale in the US state of Florida.

At the time the shooting took place incoming President Donald Trump was being presented with the Directorate of National Intelligence's (DNI's) rather comedy report into Russia hacking. Therefore as I said at the time this was primarily a way for the US intelligence community to get the measure of their new Commander-in-Chief.

For example the DNI report was complied using the Estimative Language technique which is also used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Trump's claim that climate change doesn't exist won't wash in the US state of Alaska where the gunman arrived from. They can see it happening.

Also the specific airport was Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood. You only needed to take a little glimpse at the January 15th 2017 (15/1/17) Golden Globe Awards to see how popular Donald Trump is in the much more famous Hollywood, California. With the inauguration coming up on January 20th 2017 (20/1/17) you would think that the lack of celebrity endorsements might be playing on Donald Trump's mind.

However the Fort Lauderdale airport shooting also encompassed elements of the fight against ISIL and the Army of Conquest.

For example much was made of the fact that the gunman - Esteban Santiago - had carried his gun in luggage aboard a flight from Alaska. On December 29th 2016 (29/12/16) I returned from the very British military city of Salisbury carrying a mysterious black bag that I had picked up on my travels. Given all the death threats a lot of people just assume I should be armed at this point.

The specific weapon used by Santiago was a Walther 9mm handgun. This is almost exactly the same type of weapon used by Turkish police officer Mevlut Altintas to assassinated Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov in Ankara on December 19th 2016 (19/12/16). With Russia entitled to consider this an act of war against it by Turkey people are obviously interested to see how Russia will react.

Despite it being a different city the US state of Florida was of course the scene of the June 12th 2016 (12/6/16) terror attack at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. The majority of the 49 victims of that attack were Hispanic. A native of Peurto Rico Esteban Santiago is also Hispanic. 

On January 1st 2017 (1/1/17) Erdogan staged a terror attack against the Reina nightclub in Istanbul. This was intended to reference the Pulse nightclub attack. Not least in a call for Obama to end US support for the anti-ISIL Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

So I think it's fair to assume that the voice in Obama's head telling him to support ISIL has a name.

Esteban Santiago made his first scheduled Court appearance on Tuesday (17/1/17). The night before Turkish authorities suddenly managed to arrest the suspect in the Reina attack -Abdulkadir Masharipov - in Istanbul following what doesn't seem to have been a particularly effective 16 day manhunt.

It is claimed that under questioning Masharipov confessed to the attack and said that he was trained by ISIL in Afghanistan. With Masharipov being an Uzbek national this further connects the Reina attack with the Pulse attack which was carried out by Omar Mateen - a Pashtu national of Afghanistan. It seems then to be a further threat to the US; Either give Erdogan exactly what he wants or he will start using ISIL to cause trouble for the US in Afghanistan too.

During the manhunt Turkish have not so much been implying but openly saying that Masharipov was directed by an unnamed foreign intelligence agency. The Turkish people have long been conditioned to assume that means America's CIA. However it has since been claimed that Masharipov travelled from Afghanistan to Turkey via Iran. Although it's yet to play out that seems to be Erdogan laying the groundwork for blaming Iran for the attack ahead of the January 23rd (23/1/17) Astana talks.

It has also been claimed that the Reina nightclub was not Masharipov's intended target. Apparently he'd intended to attack New Year's Eve celebrations in Istanbul's Taksim square had been deterred by the might of Erdogan's heroic, intelligent and handsome police force and their security plans. Therefore it is claimed that the Reina nightclub was a target of opportunity chosen at the last minute.

It  is probably worth noting that along with Qatar Turkey is currently in negotiations with Saudi Arabia to provide funding for the Long Kesh camp at Kammaunah. That would certainly give Erdogan incentive to distance himself from an attack that killed 7 Saudi nationals.

Back within Iraq the operation to liberate the city of Mosul from ISIL continues at some pace.

In my post on Saturday (14/1/17) I said that the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) had secured the sprawling Mosul University campus. Sitting adjacent to the Nineveh Ruins this widely considered to mark the centre of the eastern side of the city - the left bank. 

To the south-east of the Nineveh Ruins the ISF had succeeded in entering but not fully liberating Jonah's Tomb.

Along the bank of the Tigris River the ISF had liberated the al-Faisaliah neighbourhood. This gave them control of three of the five bridges crossing the Tigris.

Since then the ISF have advanced westwards from the Mosul University campus liberating the al-Andalus and Shurta neighbourhoods that sit between it and the M80 Road.

The ISF have also succeeded in liberating Jonah's Tomb and the surrounding area. They have since pressed eastwards liberating the al-Jazar and  Nineveh al-Sharqiyah neighbourhoods that sit directly south of the Nineveh Ruins.

Along the bank of the Tigris the ISF have also succeeded in liberating the Az Zari'a and parts of the Althaqafa neighbourhoods. This includes Mosul's Grand Mosque located in the Az Zari'a neighbourhood which is where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared ISIL to be a Caliphate and him its Caliph on June 30th 2014 (30/6/14). However they have not yet succeeded in securing the last two of Mosul's bridges.

Based on these gains as of midnight last night (17/1/17) ISIL are now restricted to just a small presence in the Nineveh Ruins and the al-Arabi and Rashidiyah neighbourhoods to the very north of Mosul's left bank along with a small presence around the two remaining bridges.

Today the commander of the ISF's elite Counter Terrorism Service (CTS/Golden Division) Lt. Gen Talib al-Shaqati declared that the east of Mosul had been fully liberated. This was quickly corrected by Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Rashid Yarallah, the overall commander of the operation.

Although the Golden Division have completed their objectives I to think it is too early to declare eastern Mosul fully liberated. However if you ask me the same question tomorrow I may well have a different answer for you.

Once the east of Mosul has been fully liberated and secured it raises the question of how to tackle western Mosul. I think it would be sensible to pause and carefully consider a plan before rushing into action.

In much of the English speaking world we have a saying; "More haste, less speed." Essentially it means that it is better to wait a week to plan things out than to rush in and waste two weeks because you haven't planned things properly. As I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone there is more at stake than time in this operation.

At around 18:20 on 18/1/17 (UK date) I will proof read this after dinner.

20:35 on 18/1/17 (UK date).