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THE RUSSIAN MILITARY has confirmed air strikes were carried out on Syria’s last major rebel stronghold Idlib with four planes targeting the “terrorist” Al-Nusra Front on Tuesday.
“Four planes of the Russian group at the Khmeimim airbase inflicted strikes by high-precision weapons on objects of Al-Nusra Front terrorist group in the Idlib province,” the Russian military’s spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in a statement.
Dominated by jihadist of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) alliance, this northwestern Syrian province has over the past few years taken in tens of thousands of rebels and civilians evacuated from other areas recaptured by the regime.
In December 2016, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura warned that Idlib risks becoming ”the next Aleppo”, speaking after second city Aleppo was retaken in a devastating government offensive.
President Bashar al-Assad had declared he would use victory in Aleppo as a springboard to capture other rebel strongholds.
Offensive in southeast Idlib
A year later, in December 2017, government forces backed by Russian airpower launched a push for the southeast of Idlib province.
The objective was to secure a key highway linking Aleppo to the capital Damascus, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
After weeks of intense fighting, they drew closer to the main route and seized control of the Abu Duhur military airport and around 400 villages and towns.
‘Worse’ than Ghouta
In May 2018, de Mistura said a regime assault on Idlib would be “six times” more destructive than the battle to recapture Eastern Ghouta, a rebel stronghold near Damascus.
Ghouta was retaken earlier that year following a devastating offensive which killed more than 1,700 civilians, according to the Britain-based Observatory.
Russia negotiated the mass evacuation of rebel fighters and tens of thousands of civilians from Ghouta to Idlib.
The population of Idlib and adjacent rebel areas swelled to around 3 million, of whom half are displaced from other parts of the country.
‘Now Idlib is our goal’-
After securing Damascus and the strategic southern zone abutting Jordan and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Assad said in July 2018: “Now Idlib is our goal, but not just Idlib.”
On 9 August, government forces shell rebel areas of Idlib and drop leaflets urging people to surrender.
The Observatory said the bombardments are the prelude to a full assault, but that regime troops are not yet well advanced enough on the ground.
On August 22, HTS leader Abu Mohamed al-Jolaniwarns rival rebel factions in Idlib against taking part in any talks on an agreed surrender, like those concluded in other rebel bastions.
‘Abscess’
On 24 August, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned that seeking a military solution in Idlib “will cause catastrophe”.
Cavusoglu said that Turkey nevertheless considers “it is very important that those radical groups, terrorists are rendered ineffective”.
On August 29, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged the West not to obstruct an “anti-terror operation” in Idlib.
“This abscess needs to be liquidated,” Lavrov says.
’Bloodbath’
On 30 August this year, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem, in Moscow, reiterated his government’s “determination to liberate the entire Syrian territory”.
A flurry of meetings between top Syrian, Iranian and Russian officials indicated an offensive was drawing close, prompting US Donald Trump to warn the three countries against an attack.
Britain, France and the United States, threatened that any use of chemical weapons by government forces in Idlib will not go unpunished.
Yesterday, de Mistura called on the Russian and Turkish presidents to use diplomacy to avert a “bloodbath” in Idlib.
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It’s all well and good until Stevie starts humping the microwave during the night
@DarkHorse: That’s a silly comment . This is very serious but the article doesn’t tell us how to access , so its a useless article.
@rory conway: I mean not really, as they haven’t been on sale yet. They’re flying to the States later this month, where a care home will be trialing the beta version.
Can he make a good cup of tae though? Or boil an egg? Or put a few sods of turf on the fire?
As long as it’s used to complement human interaction and not replace it, it’s a good idea. Having spent summers at college working as a home help, i am aware that i was the only person many elderly people spoke to during the day. My being there for a chat was at times more important than my ability to light the fire
@Anne Marie Devlin:
Very good point.
May I be the first to welcome our new robot overlords.
Seriously though, cool bit of tech.
Japan, the US and other places are vastly more developed in the technologies required to implement practical autonomous robotic supports.
It’s a good idea but only if Trinity College collaborates with the best abroad.
As matters now stand, one small country does not have the embedded knowledge base, the centre of expertise, the resources and the funding required to make a massive project of this nature anything more than a prototype.
@Fiona deFreyne: Do you just put everything down? Ireland has produced leading technologies in the past beating those with more resources and been at it longer. They could easily develop key components for the future of all robot via software or hardware.
@Kal Ipers: it is a matter of scale, accumulated expertise, level of previous investment in R &D, historically, accumulated IPR, the legacy knowledge and expertise not to have to reinvent any wheels and the large numbers of highly quality researchers required to develop cutting edge technologies in areas off deep machine learning. The scale of investment required for success is truly huge.
We have talent here but it is fair to say that we have had a brain flow to the US and to Cambridge in the UK in relevant disciplines. There are many reasons for this.
Trinity can’t play a valuable role as an adjunct to leading research elsewhere.
Honda has already achieved much techological success in Japan with robots dedicated to health care for the elderly. I don’t know if there can be technology sharing and cooperation arrangements.
Knowing the scale of the problem is a first step. I would not select Ireland a a base for developing new generation rockets for outer space exploration or other areas of resource intensive projects. Robotics and autonomous intelligence devices is one of the mist resource intensive areas that could be selected.
@Fiona deFreyne: None of that has anything to do with your constant putting down everything. Again I reject your view and that is mostly because it is always negative.
@Fiona deFreyne: so you don’t know how to do it huh?
They should really get in touch with the Japanese on this subject. They have been pouring money on this subject for decades and a trip to them could shave years off the project.
Also, the arms are way too short and lack any function. Infact, the whole robot cannot do more than a smartphone. I feel like someone is laughing right now.
Ye it would be if the likes of rich politicians didn’t want to force the elderly out of their home
@WilhelminaMCallaghan: When was that ever suggested or done?
Sounds like a great idea. I thought they’d need to be a lot stronger though. And have a hoist, or arms, to help them in and out in the bathroom? But they’d never get bored listening to people, I suppose, there’s that.
All the wiley aul fellas will be figuring out how to bypass him so they can slip off to the pub and bookies
Can it make a good cup of tae though? Boil an egg or throw a few sods of turf on the fire?
I assume he meant Kryten from Red Dwarf not Croydon from Deep Space Nine lol
Fck that, sophia the robot destroys stevie
If you want to watch a creepy interview with a robot check this out.. http://uk.businessinsider.com/interview-with-sophia-ai-robot-hanson-said-it-would-destroy-humans-2017-11
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: True, it doesn’t have much to say for itself. It wouldn’t pass the Turing test; you can tell it’s a bot. But there’s always the ELIZA effect. Sure the robot carers are meant primarily for people with no one to listen to them all day. I think there’s a huge market for them considering that retired people are living so much longer.
@Patrick J. O’Rourke: scary stuff! I’d say cults will purchase loads of these and put them out there in homes and such like to brainwash everyone!!
Daughter got a Furbie one year for Christmas thing turned seriously nasty and using bad language and had to be re-set… A Furbie!!! Yup dangerous road ahead…
@Lydia McLoughlin: Maybe they’ll persuade a few people that bus fares aren’t tuppence any more. Mind you, the bad language can’t have been that bad if you understood it.
Petril?
have your say