The incursion (Mt, Open)

by **Ostterreich** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 12:28 pm

Die Vaterländische Front

"Though we would like to be neutral as much as possible we are prepared to support Anti-Terrorist missions and we wish to support any faction willing to fight Communism as long as they do not endorse Radical Islamic terrorism. We would also like to stand with the United States being they are our biggest ally and we hope that we can protect Christian and other minority communities in Syria and preserve its stability and integrity as a nation.

-
Sincerly the Fatherland Front

by **Khataiy** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 12:49 pm

The Arab State of Khataiy

In response to Die Vaterländische Front we give our assurance we share a mutual enemy, Communists and we support a stance against terrorism and we welcome your nation into a bilateral relations for a positive solution to the Syrian crisis that protects the people first and foremost.
Signed,
President Omar Khairallah
The Arab State of Khataiy - Foreign Ministry

by **Reorganisieren Reichregierung** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 1:06 pm

HQ
Mediterreanean and Middle Eastern Theater of Operations

The command structure in Syria was reorganized, with ground forces under an army-level formation called Armeeoberkommando Syrien (AOK Syrien) and the air forces under a Fliegerführer Syrien. Headquarters for these entities will be in Latakia, as recent events proved that Damascus is not as safe as it used to be.

Not insignificant reinforcements arrived in Syria before the Inyurstans cut off Syria from maritime resupply and the Luftwaffe suspended aerial resupply, citing the vulnerability of the Il-76, C-17 and An-124 aircraft used in airlifts, and the supporting tankers. However, Luftflotte 4 plans to challenge Inyurstan and Israeli aerial forces and create an air bridge. The Kriegsmarine plans to break the naval blockade as well.

As soon as the fighting began, it was determined by the Fliegerführer Syrien that Luftwaffe air defenses would not reveal themselves (turning on their radars and attacking aircraft) unless absolutely needed, out of fear that these high value assets will be destroyed and not replaced in time for some critical battle. Significant air defences under Luftwaffe control in Syria at the moment include an S-300PM2 battery each in Tartus, Homs, Latakia, Damascus and Hama, an S-300VM battery in Latakia and Damascus and an S-400 battery in Damascus and Hama. Like the air defenses, All air forces are under strict orders not to engage at the moment, but as soon as KG.88 and TakG.88 reorganize, the Luftwaffe will take to the skies and fly sorties against the enemy in conjunction with the SyAAF.

Tartus
Tartus Governorate
Syrian Arab Republic

It was expected that the Syrian Arab Army would attempt to block the advance of the Inyurstan attack, however, it appears that the Syrian Arab Army would be in a state of shock for some time. The Freiwilligen-Detachment Bogendörfer, now reinforced to brigade strength was rushed from Latakia to Tartus, and ordered to take positions around Tartus, along with an independent battalion of 240mm self-propelled mortars and another independent artillery battalion of M270 MLRS rocket launchers that lists ATACMS missiles in their inventory. A Heer MEADS battery was sent to defend Tartus from air attack along with the brigade air defense battery, and cleared to attack the enemy if the situation calls for it.

Damascus
Damascus Governorate
Syrian Arab Republic

The shelling of the Damascus airfields prompted both JG.88 and TakG.88 to relocate to Hama. JG.88 had its aircraft stored in fortified hangars. In addition, the base was defended by a Heer C-RAM battery and a Pantsir S2 battery, which helped to mitigate losses and damage. However, an Tornado was destroyed, the runway was cratered, not insignificant quantities of munitions were damaged and a number of personnel were killed. TakG.88 fared worse. An E-10 and 2 Sentinels were destroyed, and like KG.88, their runway was cratered, supplies lost and personnel killed. The Pantsir S2 battery defending TakG.88 helped to mitigate losses like the defenses of JG.88 - bringing down the sizeable shells with bursts of gunfire and small missiles. However, after firing, the air defenses had to move, since SEAD efforts would begin against them now that they have revealed their position. To allow for evacuation, improvised repairs were made as soon as the 210mm guns of the enemy stopped firing. As of now, the evacuation has been completed.

An al-Fao battery, which arrived in Damascus just before naval and aerial resupply was made impossible, provided counterbattery fire. UAVs and counterbattery radars were used to support the effort to suppress their Inyurstan descendants, passing on the information they gather to the battery. Obviously, the guns moved always after firing their enormous projectiles at their children in enemy hands, and so did their supporting counterbattery radars.

Tadmur
Homs Governorate
Syrian Arab Republic

Another Heer MEADS battery and a Pantsir-S2 battery were sent to Tadmur, to defend it from air attack. The other detachment orginally sent to Syria, the Freiwilligen-Detachment Pfeffer, also reinforced to brigade strength, was sent to participate in the defence of Tadmur, along with another independent M270 MLRS battery.

Auswärtiges Amt

Realizing that Germany could not defend a crippled Syria alone, an appeal for help was sent out to friendly states such as Magyarija, Iran, the Volga German Republic and Russia, asking for assistance.

Im Auftrag auf Seine Kaiserliche und Königliche Majestät, Der Großdeustches Kaiser

OFFICIAL REQUEST FOR SUPPORT FOR THE SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC

The world is once again filled with the noise of war, of bloody uprisings, strikes, and mutinies, of terror and cowardly murder. Irreconcilable brotherly hatred divides the peoples and saps the strength of their lives. Mankind and peoples seem to stand helplessly against a confusing and senseless game played by mysterious, unknown forces. Yet behind all the senseless rage of destruction stands a single power whose aim is to destroy the culture of the peoples of this earth and build its bloody world domination on the ruins, the world domination of Zionism. That this is in fact its goal is clear in the writings of the neoconservatives, which proclaim to all the world their desire to impose a dull and primitive state on humanity and submerge it in eternal darkness. Regime changes and uprisings of subhumans throughout the world, and failed attempts elsewhere, serve this goal, as does the horror of globalism in Syria and Yemen that we are witnessing. A thick network of "moderate rebels" and conspiratorial centers spans the globe, assiduously ready to follow Tel Aviv’s bloody orders absolutely and without question. Thus, organized subhumanity plays with the fate of peoples and states, with the fate of many hundreds of millions of people who wish only to live and work in peace.

Alongside mankind dwells the subhuman. This subhuman hates all that is created by man. This subhuman has always hated man, and always secretly sought to bring about his downfall, first like a thief, and then like a brazen killer. For millennia this law of nature, the conflict between man and this anti-man, the subhuman has occurred. Over and over a new Attila, a new Genghis Khan, a new Leon Trotsky, appears at the gates of civilization attempting to wreak havoc and destruction on mankind and his creations. Today globalism and Zionism are the new Attilas, the personifications of the subhuman horde and its destructive power! But globalism and Zionism are not phenomena of just our time, not a product of our modern era. Neither has globalism or Zionism evolved within the framework of human history. Globalism and Zionism are the newest incarnations of their envy of the clean and noble character of true man! Netanyahu and Kissinger are only two who have prepared the way for this new horde!

The subhuman is united with his peers. Like beasts among beasts, never knowing peace or calm. The subhuman thrives in chaos and darkness, he is frightened by the light. These subhuman creatures dwell in the cesspools, and swamps, preferring a hell on earth, to the light of the sun. But in these swamps and cesspools the subhuman has found its leader – James Redshield! Redshield understands the desires and needs of his fellow creature. He endeavors to corrupt and manipulate this horror of inhumanity until they are rallied towards a common goal in the destruction of true man. Hence, the subhumans have united, in their usual manner of forming a coalition, to conquer Syria and eventually the world, and these wild barbarians with sharpened spears, cursing and foaming at the mouth, under the leadership of Tel Aviv, have brought, are bringing and will continue to bring destruction to the civilized world. These subhuman hordes would stop at nothing in their bid to overthrow the world of light and knowledge, to bring an apocalypse to all human progress and achievement. Their only goal is to make a desert wasteland of any nation and even any man that aspires to shines with creativity, goodness and beauty as compared to their darkness and degeneracy - look no further than the fate of Colonel Gaddafi's Libya and Herr Jörg Haider to see what happens to those who stand in the way of their goals. Even as we speak, the subhumans are attempting to destroy the very standards by which humanity would know what is light and what is darkness - the eternal and aristocratic principles of nature.

The fall of Syria would be a massive blow against civilization, and the beginning of the end for humanity. Syria would then be the stepping stone where the subhuman ideology and doctrine will burst forth against the world of light. If we do not unite to protect ourselves, we will fall prey to the eternal hatred of the subhuman for mankind, for if the Zionists triumph over the people of Syria, they would crown Redshield with what would amount to the funeral wreath of mankind, and this planet will once again follow its orbit through space, without any human life on its surface, as it did millions of years ago. And so we of the German Reich believe today that strong action on behalf of Syria is in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator. In standing with Syria against the rootless cosmopolitans we will be defending the handiwork of the Lord.

GROSSGERMANISCHES REICH DER DEUTSCHEN NATION

by **Ostterreich** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 11:27 pm

The Federal State of Austria

TO GERMANY

Our nations are brothers but we cannot support your nation's calls to draw Germany into a direction that only endangers it and makes it vulnerable once again to foreign aggression. We are also concerned by the calls to support the terrorist supporting country Iran and one of the largest threats to European security Russia. We would like open dialogue to find a common ground between our countries.

by **Reorganisieren Reichregierung** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 10:35 am

Im Auftrag auf Seine Kaiserliche und Königliche Majestät, Der Großdeustches Kaiser

TO OUR GERMAN BROTHERS

As fellow Germans, we are more than willing to participate in an open dialogue, and we accept your invitation with open arms, for us to clarify our positions, discuss our concerns and find common ground.

GROSSGERMANISCHES REICH DER DEUTSCHEN NATION

by **Khataiy** » Wed Dec 12, 2018 12:48 pm

The Arab State of Khataiy

Germany has no right to support the Safavids and our country expresses the highest of outrage and disgust with their calls to support the Safavid Iranian regime but history will repeat itself seeing the failure of the Ottoman Empire and their war on Arabs with German support. Our nation is filled with sons ready to attain martyrdom is fighting a great war against the Imperialist Neo-Crusaders and intruding Neo-Safavid Magians our nation is armed and our leaders will not bow to in the face of enemy threats, we call on Germany to denounce Iran and Assad and to come to the negotiation tables before poor decisions are made.
Signed,
President Omar Khairallah
The Arab State of Khataiy - Foreign Ministry

by **Khataiy** » Thu Dec 13, 2018 11:54 am

Ankara, Turkey

President Erdogan discussing a plan of action for Eastern Syria

“We will begin our operation to free the east of the Euphrates from the separatist organization within a few days. Our target is not the American soldiers or Arab coalition it is the terror organizations that are active in the region. We are also well aware of the SACTO intervention in the country taking points from President Assad we have no part in this and we only target terrorists though we disagree with his government on many things and we continue to call for his resignation. As for soldiers of the Arab coalition which includes Saudi Arabia and Khataiy, we warn the Saudis to not take sides but choose wisely in the coming days as for Khataiy, I am sure President Khairallah will understand our issues with the PKK but I caution him as well to choose wisely as our forces are ready to strikes the separatists.”

Across Rojava held-Syria

Pro-YPG protests

The announcements for a Turkish invasion into Eastern Syria outraged many Kurds causing mass protests in support of YPG, this was something that further complicated Khataiyi goals in Syria in Arab dominated cities where most of the Khataiyi and Arab coalition soldiers were stationed protests were minimal but in Manbij where there was a large concentration of Arab, Turkish and American forces embedded with the Syrian Democratic Forces and a city diverse with different ethnic groups, issues were rising the Americans don't want a Turkish invasion while Turkish troops in the area are already preparing for war and Khataiyi forces are still working on causing a Pro-Khataiy/Saudi coup in the Free Syrian Army that the Turks support and uniting Arab factions in SDF with the rest of the FSA.

Khataiy views the PKK and YPG as Turkey does but also views Turkey as a threat and seeing them fight each other only benefits Khataiy, but time was dwindling for Khataiy to achieve its goals if the Turks beat Khataiy in the race for time while elsewhere in the country SACTO was battling with Assad and Iraqi rebels invaded from the East. The threat of Iran and Hezbollah remained at large and back in Khataiy serious discussions were being held with President Khairallah on what position to take publicly and what to do secretly.

Antakya, Khataiy

Revolutionary Command Council building Khataiy

It was almost midnight, President Khairallah arrived in an armored Land rover SUV with his guards while he wore a suit and dark colored dress shirt without a tie and quickly made his way to the conference room of the building where other RCC officials were present such as military officers wearing their olive uniforms and black berets, other RCC officials wore traditional Arab clothing or suits they all stood up to salute him before he sat down and said "As-Salamu Alaykum please take a seat." Khairallah continued "Erdogan knows what we're doing and he knows his men are thirsty for war with those Marxist animals that call themselves Kurds and he is beating us to it, we all know the men fighting for him love us and are displaced from this region of Syria this where my forefathers come from these are my people they even come from tribes that were linked to my grandfather that migrated here but of course among them are the scum Ikhwanis (Muslim brotherhood) and Turkish sellout that forgot that they are Arabs but he controls this situation more than we do. How can we accept this we want the PKK and Kurds out but not by Erdogan's hands and of course we want the revolutionaries from Deir Ez Zor and Eastern Syria to retake their land from the Communists but yet again not by Turkish hands, who had the idea of convincing them to defect to Qasd (SDF) then separate after a few days?" The intelligence director whom is also Khairallah's brother replied, "Me Omar, that's what Talha said he wanted to do." Omar replied, "Does Talha know the world doesn't revolve around him or his group of friends?" Omar's brother replied, "Omar you supported this, this is a surprise to all of us but we have serious plans that I know you support he even has a name for his formation Tajamu Abna al-Sham wa Jazeera (Gathering of the sons of the Levant and Jazeera) and we have many experienced fighters many tribes and former Daesh fighters that are experianced we have a lot of men and resources ready for this formation and Talha even says those Deir Ez Zor groups in Turkey's coalition are willing to join but... this... is a new development and is going to leave everyone torn. Of course as everyone knows SACTO is on a total assault around Syria this is obviously a good time for Erdogan to attack the Kurds if it was we would be doing it right now and you know it."

Omar sat for a moment quietly "Call a servant I need a cigar." As he waited for his Cuban cigar he spoke "We are going to make this easy for him we are even going to support it I want all of our forces in Manbij and fall back to Raqqa. It's clear we chose the wrong Kurdish Communists here." Omar brother was confused, "You're going to make this easy and what do you mean the wrong Communists?" Omar's cigar arrived and he lit it and took a puff, "Of course not you are going to arm the Communists in Turkey and take the beast down from the inside when Turkey becomes unstable and can no longer support operations in our Syria we will step in." Omar's brother asked "So are we done with our plans are we just going to drop it and wait for Turkey to burn?" Omar replied "No obviously not we supported his adventure in Afrin and we will make it easy for him after they're done doing what they want that's when we will incite them against the Turks they'll be bound to defect. I want Talha to keep purging the Kurds as well this will make the transition easier and when we are ready for the new entity to be formed." Omar asked the defense minister what to do with forces in Turkish targeted areas, "We need to withdraw them to Raqqa like you said let the Americans deal with this." Omar asked "I don't know about the rest of our coalition if they will be willing to just get up and go." The foreign minister replied, "Alert them but if they don't go and come under fire that's their problem." Omar asked "The Kurds want Assad's help I think we should block off highways and isolate the Kurds from within." The defense minister replied "That's an excellent idea." Omar told his brother "Tell Talha to get out of Raqqa and start blocking the highways our army will help him this is a peace keeping operation." His brother spoke "Omar they are going to withdraw men from the front line with Daesh should we let them do that or should we have Daesh slaughter them?" Omar replied "No they've have had enough time in the sandbox in fact I want our army to help them transfer troops... actually let's be selective with this only allow YPG through more dead the Kurds the better as for Arabs I want our men to man their checkpoints near Hajin and let them come and go as they please for now. The Kurds are going to the butcher house when Turkey comes in, which gives me an idea, tell Talha to have his men plant explosives along the roads that lead out of Hajin towards Manbij and other locations I want the Kurds to get a taste of hell before they actually get sent there." The RCC laughed and replied "Yes sir."

President Khairallah responding to the situation the next day on television

"Many are asking if our troops are under threat from Turkish fire, the Americans are even worried about the Turkish attacking them, but no our men are safe and are there for peace keeping terrorist organizations like the PKK are not under our protection, the PKK is calling on President Assad to support them and the Arab league is likely going to condemn this but I respectfully disagree with my colleagues on this regard, the Kurds are not Arabs now Turkey isn't an Arab nation either but it should be understood however the men fighting the PKK are mostly Syrian Arabs that are displaced by the Kurds retaking their land, as for President Bashar he is a sellout to Iran I don't know why he even bothers calling Syria an Arab Republic or calls his party the Arab Socialist Baath Party there is nothing Baathist about him or Arab for that matter. He collaborates with Hezbollah, the PKK, and Iran he is a Persophile he obviously prefers the Safavid Magians to the Arabs, our status with Iran will never be friendly they are worse than Israel or the Zionists and their descendants the Kurds who form the Atheist-Communist PKK need to be squashed I expect the Arab league to act accordingly even though Turkey may be attempting to invade Arab areas we are still present as its guardians. As for SACTO they are also a threat to Syria but nothing that cannot be handled and the situation in Syria under our control no matter what and this needs to be realized."

by **Stojam** » Sat Dec 22, 2018 2:41 am

Mosul, Iraq
The Stojamians who landed in Mosul asked for a SITREP. Of course they were given a barrage of different answers from different people. Most of the answers would be asking to support the offensive in Palmyra and Al-Mayadin and or going south and preparing for the siege of Baghdad.
But a few atypical answers were still present, like the answer of one former Ba'athist Iraqi commander who asked the Stojamians to invade Iran, obviously an impossible and crazy thing to do but a way more convenient request by the Assyrian Self Defense Forces commander was asked, to help wipe out ISIS in the region, and obviously that region was the region near Abu Kamal.
Before doing any plans, the Stojamians gathered intelligence and they found out that at least 7000 ISIS fighters are stationed east of the Euphrates and scattered around.
There is ISIS presence North-West of Abu Kamal.
The Stojamian Colonel (Boyko Pavlov) of the Airborne Division formed a plan, to form a decoy FOB South west of Abu Kamal and west of the Euphrates and bombard ISIS positions with artillery, forcing them to send troops with small rafts and boats over the Euphrates, while making it seem that in this said FOB, there are way more troops than expected but in reality there will be a Company sized force with concentrated artillery and strong defenses that are expecting to be attacked. Near it another FOB would be built, a clandestine FOB with a way larger and heavier force.

It seemed like an acceptable plan, a standard baiting operation and it was going to be executed with transport planes transporting amounts of troops.
Not before alerting the IAF and SAF to keep it's air defenses stand down because there would be an operation of troop transport to Abu Kamal. 80% of the city was taken from the SAA anyways so being attacked by the SAA would be unlikely.

Illyushin Il-76s and C-17s would carry troops, IFVs and tank destroyers and various amounts of equipment.

Skies of Dier-Ez-Zor, Syria
The planes took off at night, it would take a flight of a few hours to reach Abu-Kamal. They prepared everything and alerted the SAF and IAF of their presence at the skies.
The soldiers were anxious yet confident to defeat ISIS.
it wouldn't be easy, but it would be possible to finally bring down ISIS.

South West of Abu-Kamal, Deir-Ez-Zor Governorate, Syria
The Stojamians were airdropped into the requested area. Loads of parachutes would open and equipment will be airdropped.
They would set up positions pretty isolated but in range from Abu Kamal, so they would not get ISIS to attack the SAF and cause more trouble.
Once landed they would split up and build their FOBs.
The decoy FOB would build it a little close to the Euphrates and the clandestine FOB would build it hidden in the desert part.
They have a pretty good distance from each other but still in range..

The decoy FOB would set the rounds of the artillery to normal rounds but once ISIS starts attacking they would switch rounds to air burst to mass slaughter them.
The Stojamian forces would release a Russian made UAV to gain intelligence of ISIS movements.

They would first start bombarding ISIS positions all over the area and force them to attack the FOB and identify the location of which the artillery is coming from.
ISIS is in for a ride and they don't know what's expected for them.

by **Khataiy** » Tue Dec 25, 2018 1:11 am

White House, Washington DC, United States

Donald Trump announcing the end of American operations in Syria

In a series of social media posts and one quick video the President of the United States would announce an end to America's war in Syria after rising fears of a new confrontation that could drag America into a new conflict and further dissolve Turkish-American relations, while Arab and Turkish relations have also been drifting now was the time for America to fold its cards as the Arabs, Turks, and SACTO all closed in on Syria with their conflicting interests for the future of the country as America got slowly squeezed out.

"We have defeated ISIS in Syria and it is time to bring our young women and young men home, our great young people have fought too hard for too long. A lot of our young people paid a very, very heavy price for our freedom and now we can say we won. Our friends in the Arab coalition and SACTO as well as my good friend President Erdogan have all assured me they have the situation covered and they're prepared to hit a home run. Our time as the world police force is coming to an end and our nation is going to be put first before any other nation, and together we are making America great again. We are not going to be fighting our enemies wars and we are not going to be building other nations while our own country has enough problems as it is and our great military servicemen are a lot more deserving than dying in wars that do not benefit our country. No more wars will be fought that help our enemies and no more will our nation's young people be sent to die for other countries, thank you."

Antakya, Khataiy

President Khairallah discussing recent events on television

The decision for America to withdraw and let the war take care of itself was a surprise to most except of course for Khairallah and Erdogan and other leaders who were "in the know" with America and coordinated their efforts with them, Khairallah proceeded to comment on the situation and how this would effect Khataiyi policy and actions in Syria and around the region,

"I am glad my personal friend President Trump is ready to pass the torch to Arab and Islamic nations to decide the future of our brothers in Syria, I am also thankful he trusts us to slice the Safavid imperialist project in Syria and I am very thankful he realized the problems in supporting the Marxist Separatists, we should not allow our countries to become divided or allow foreign rulers to rule over our sons and daughters it would be a second Israel and another tragedy. President Trump is only doing what is logical we take care of our own and we hope to forge our own destiny rather than an external power and he understands this, I am hoping to discuss a new policy with Prince Muhammad Bin Salman and other Arab leaders regarding our defense of Syria and I think this also opens an avenue for a new prospect to a new path of diplomacy with President Erdogan of Turkey given our mutual concerns and I hope Khataiy can lead the Arab world in our actions for Syria and I also hope my colleagues in Turkey can understand our interests in Syria as well as his own as we can all be winners here.

The Arab coalition will not stop the Turkish intervention and speaking on behalf of my country the Arab State of Khataiy we commend the steps taken to reclaim stolen land by certain parties involved, ideally we would like to see total unity in Syria between all the factions and steps taken to form a workable mechanism for governance and peace, and our mission is not to protect terrorists like the PKK but rather to fight terrorists like the PKK, Hezbollah and IRGC we may have men in the so-called "Rojava" territory but our military works exclusively with American soldiers and local Arab tribes to protect the area from attacks from any hostile forces and terrorists and this will continue and we will also contribute our efforts to rebuild all liberated areas of Syria, an area free of Hezbollah and Safavids is a liberated area in our eyes and I also hope that we can act as mediators in the future between the Syrian Arab people, the Turkish government and Kurdish peoples of Syria."

Qamishli, Hasakah Governorate, Syria

YPG spokesman sharing outrage over Trump's decision and Khairallah's comments

"The fight against Daesh isn't over and as we speak right now thousands of Kurdish civilians are at risk of terrorism, rape and genocide pulling out now is a mistake and an early deceleration of victory Deash is going to make a major comeback, and this shows the lack of trust anyone can put into the United States the world will come to know that the United States is not to be trusted and we have been betrayed. I would also like to clarify the Khataiyi presence in Rojava is not welcome and they are here without our consent as illegal occupiers protected by Russia, Donald Trump and terrorists like Daesh and Al-Qaeda and they are here to protect them from our battle for liberation. We want a decentralized and federal Syria Khairallah only wants a centralized Syria under Arab rule he wants to give power to his family's tribe so he can rule over Syria for himself, Khairallah has supported every terrorist elements in Syria to achieve this and he is now trying to turn the Arabs against the Kurds and he is now going to use the Turks as a tool in his selfish quest for dominance. We are prepared to release 3000 Daesh suspects in our custody and we are also prepared to possibly cease combat since they are no longer a major threat to Rojava and we will begin to put Rojava first it. We will also begin talks with Russia and President Assad for a path to peace in Syria."

Al-Raqqa, Raqqa Governorate, Syria

Talha's men announcing their independence from SDF

Talha had successfully recruited an army Arab fighters fed up with the YPG's occupation of Arab areas in Eastern Syria and he had successfully advanced Khataiy's mission in the country to create a new force free from Turkish and Kurdish influence and opposed to the Assad regime and his Shiite allies, most of the recruits were tribesmen who had allied with YPG after the FSA got kicked out by ISIS, others were former FSA fighters that also found refuge with YPG as well, some were even former members of groups Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham when they controlled the city, Talha had also accumulated few former ISIS fighters his new army would also include the entire group known as Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa an FSA group formed in the city back in 2012 that has had a lot of friction with YPG and now that it finally has support has a chance to go off on its own, many of the leaders in the new army were former bureaucrats for Assad and later ISIS as the YPG refused to give them any power preferring their own Kurdish PKK bureaucrats causing tension with local Arabs, a video was published announcing the new formation in Raqqa,

"In the name of Allah the most Gracious the most Merciful, we are the soldiers of the Gathering of the Sons of the Levant and Jazeera we are men who represent a nation that Allah blessed with Islam, and we are the sons of this glorious land, our blessed gathering rejects the oppression of the criminal PKK occupation of our country and we fight for independence as our forefathers had fought their wars for freedom, we reject criminal Alawite regime backed by the Iranian Safavids and we reject foreign occupation of this country and we seek to maintain our nation's sovereignty and we fight in solidarity with all of our brothers around the Islamic world, we are free from external entities and we do not receive orders from abroad our fight is our own and we will side with all upright and just parties, nations, tribes and so on until our demands are met and we declare al-Raqqa to be free today from the PKK and Assad and we declare it to be henceforth the capital of our liberation movement. We ask Allah to help us make our country great again and we ask Allah for the sons of the Levant to join our gathering while there is still a chance, and we name Abu Owais al-Bahrumi our Emir and we testify that God is the Greatest! Takbir!" the rest of the men chanted "Allahu Akbar!" and began firing their arms in the air.

Near Albu Kamal, Deir Ez-Zor Governorate, Syria

ISIS fighters near the frontline

The battle in the Hajin pocket adjacent to Albu Kamal was harsh but ISIS was successful at counter-attacking against the YPG and retaining its territory but advancing beyond the small sliver they controlled was almost impossible and likewise for YPG to penetrate the pocket it was seemingly impossible leaving both sides in a stalemate and America now withdrawing and huge portion of SDF's Arab fighters joining a group more oriented towards their goals the fight for YPG wasn't going to get any easier, ISIS itself began having internal issues on the ground with extremists targeting other members of the group accusing them of being too soft on locals who were unaware of things they did that constituted sins and others were simply tired of perpetual condition of never advancing beyond what could be taken by the group and local tribes allied with ISIS were also beginning to loose a lot of their tribesmen.

Tires and barrels of oil had been burning for months almost continuously to block the skies when sandstorms or fog weren't able to and this is when the YPG was dealt the most damage but now SACTO began to enter the picture more and more along with their allied Syrian Awakening Front some members were considering defecting to SAF, others wanted in on the new group that Khairallah's nephew established in Raqqa and others were prepared to die for ISIS and likewise tribal allies were picking new sides some going with Assad others with SACTO and others with Talha.

Khataiyi officials saw this as an opportunity to build up the new group in Raqqa with recruits from Hajin by opening up a corridor while Stojamian forces began their operation against ISIS in the Hajin pocket, artillery fire wasn't much of a deterrent for ISIS' fighters it was something they learned to live with and adapted to by building networks of tunnels and bunkers, ISIS knew when artillery or airstrikes hit it was time to hunker down and wait it out it, some commanders recommended sending a small Inghimasi team to deal with it but the idea was largely rejected given that every man was needed to defend the area and that no one would get in, attacks from SDF had slowed down because of new threats such as the new formation in Raqqa, Turkish threats of invasion from the north and now the lack of American support.

The Khataiyi government was very worried of SACTO becoming the new hegemony in the country replacing America and Russia, YPG was also becoming disillusioned with the stalemate. Khataiyi intelligence officers had approached YPG with a mutually beneficial offer, that being Khataiyi forces be allowed to evacuate ISIS defectors to Raqqa through Kurdish territory while YPG releases the 3200 POWs to Hajin, while in exchange Khataiyi forces withdraw from Deir Ez Zor all together and hand over their checkpoints and outposts to forces from other anti-ISIS coalition countries in the province. The goal of course was to build up Khataiy's new proxy and to exhaust SACTO's resources to the point they pullout of Syria like America, YPG agreed on the grounds that they too were tired of foreign presence and that they were tired of fighting ISIS and wanted to let someone else deal with it while they sort out their other issues such as their future with Assad, the threat of Turkey, their governance and security in captured areas and so on, the only reluctance in the offer was allowing defecting ISIS fighters to go back to Raqqa as it was obvious the new movement was opposed to them but Khataiyi intelligence officials while denying that the group is Khataiyi linked assured that local peace keepers would never allow for a new conflict to arise, the officials even offered to arm YPG and SDF with ATGMs and guns if they could keep SACTO, Hezbollah and possibly even Turkey out the Euphrates region, while the first two were the main targets and Khataiy didn't expect they'd survive against Turkey it certainly did Khataiy no harm seeing the Turkish bleed and having their enemies destroy each other.

The Arab State of Khataiy
-
Directorate of National Intelligence
Encryption: HIGHEST

To ensure that SACTO looses interest in Syria we must enable all hostiles on the ground, the YPG is known to be unreliable and a general waste of time however they are willing to do certain actions that could very well harm and otherwise undermine SACTO and Iran in Syria. It is also believed the organization known as the Syrian Awakening Front is an off-shoot of the SACTO backed Iraqi Awakening Front, and is not affiliated with the Free Syrian Army in any way and is thus a risk to our interests and must be dealt with swiftly. No official is to negotiate or contact officials from the Syrian Arab Republic unless specifically given permission or direction to do so even if it undermines SACTO. The organization known as the Islamic State is currently one of the main targets of SACTO and possibly most likely to deter SACTO along with the Kurdish PKK affiliated front groups known as the YPG given their new found mistrust of the United States and willingness to enable ISIS themselves for revenge.

The threat of Assad regime also remains at large as does the threat of Turkey to now a greatly reduced extant, operations against Assad's forces and allies are to be limited however sedition and provocation are encouraged as is the rallying of dissidents. Currently strategies are being discussed, but currently SACTO is the greatest threat to our country and should dealt with accordingly.

Directorate of General Intelligence
-
Department of Internal Directives and Organizational Management
-
25.12.2018

Khataiyi embassy, Moscow, Russia

The embassy of Khataiy

It was snowing outside as sunset approached on the winter day, a black luxury sedan with dark windows drove into the front of the embassy as the gate closed behind it, as the car stopped and the back door opened an official from the Russian foreign ministry came out followed by an official from FSB they walked into the embassy and took off their coats and were escorted to the ambassador's office where the ambassador was along with an official from the Mukhabarat (intelligence service).

The ambassador said, "Please take a seat would you like some rum or vodka? Maybe some coffee? Or a cigar?" The foreign ministry official declined while the FSB official asked for some coffee mixed with rum, the ambassador spoke "We have some business to discuss gentlemen as you know. You know we don't like Assad and you know we do not like Kurds and you know very well our feelings on Iran. I must personally thank you however for respecting our fears and working with us. We have a new problem, and this problem is SACTO the Americans don't want to help us but we believe you would be willing to protect Syria from a new invasion and illegal occupation."

The Russian foreign ministry official named Sergei Sokolov leaned back in his seat and replied, "Russia has many enemies and we have won Syria, I agree SACTO would set us both back but why can you not help yourself here? You seem to be doing fine yourselves it doesn't help us to waste our resources on others unless we have a lot to gain, its simple business my friend."

The ambassador replied, "We have been partners for years we do not wish to see SACTO occupy Syria or anyone for that matter, but we respect Russia as a force for stability and peace keeping, and your nation while we disagree on somethings we respect your country for your overall fairness and willingness to work with others."

Sokolov replied, "I think something can be worked out but time will tell, I don't know if you celebrate Christmas but we do, and part of this holiday includes surprises and miracles it's been nice talking to you but I believe its time for us to return to our families." He got up and shook the ambassador's hand and left.

by **Inyourfaceistan** » Thu Dec 27, 2018 7:31 pm

Coastal Syria*

Contrary to all expectations, Inyurstan commanders were learning that the Syrian/[Lonogradi]'s were a mixed bag of surprises. Much against expectation, Tartus was putting up one hell of a defense and its defenders appeared to be dug in and alerted of the Inyurstan attack in virtually no time at all. With fighting breaking out in the outskirts of the city around noon during the first day of the invasion, the armored brigade assaulting the coast "called an audible" and instead moved to bypass the city. Less-armored units such as APC's and guntrucks would form a temporary encirclement while infantry and engineers worked to set up roadblocks against the southern and eastern flank of the city. The light tank battalion would lead the push north parallel to Tartus, seeking to bypass its defenders and keep them pinned in the coastal city while exploiting the reinforcement gap between Homs and the coast. YT-1A Caiman light tanks and IAV-95 IFV's continued to act as the main front-line units; leaving the M1A2 Alligator MBT's in reserve for more serious fighting.

155mm howitzer and 120mm mortars continued to shell suspected HQ's and high-concentration areas such as barracks, motor pools, etc; while smaller 80mm and 62mm squad-deployed mortars targeted enemy frontline units just hundreds to a few thousand meters away from the Inyurstan lines. The SSM-18 "La Graza" GL-ARM's and a quadret of more Ku-21Y kamikaze UAV's continued to hammer away at any SAM's or active enemy radar detected by aircraft or ground-based passive radar systems. These systems had been racking up the kills against enemy air defense components - which were doing very little to counter and avoid them, and whose regular armed forces had done little in the way of suppression or counter-battery fire. One suicidal Ku-21Y had actually captured and transmitted live feed of its final descent and self-destruction crashing into an S-300 TEL and bringing the launcher system down with itself.

Calling in strategic assets from Lebanon, the Inyurstans launched a serious missile strike against the airport at Latakia, aiming to cripple remaining enemy air capabilities on the coast. A dozen MGM-168 ATACMS would hit targets including unfortified hangars, munitions depots, etc., while an equal number of the Duvalier-II tactical ballistic missiles would hit fortified aircraft shelters, using a tandem-explosive penetrating warhead to bust through any level of protection a hangar could hope to offer. A final topping on the cake, and perhaps the most important part of the strike, was the SSM-6 ground-launched cruise missiles which would hit the runway itself with anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines to shut down air traffic until all the mines could be cleared.

The Lebanese ground forces also began shelling Al-Qusayr Military Airbase across the border in Homs, using M198 155mm guns targeting all aspects of the airbase, including the runway, fuel depots, munitions, control towers & other personnel & command support structures.

In the skies above coastal Syria/[Lonograd], the Inyurstan aircraft continued to battle the opposing air forces and air-defense systems. Most Inyurstan aircraft were able to dodge the S-300's as they were hiding under the cloak of defensive DRFM jamming, giving the SAM's too many false targets under too much counter-offensive pressure to properly respond in kind. However, the fragmenting blast radii by the warheads launched from the enemy S-300 were destined to score hits, even with false targets and evasive maneuvers. A single EF-20 was destroyed outright, killing both pilots, while two others were damaged and the pilots forced to eject. One MQ-1B "Predator" UCAV was also destroyed by the enemy SAM barrage.
All Inyurstan aircraft began falling back to Lebanon - fuel reserves and pilot fatigue being bigger issues than enemy counter-fire in this case. Last to leave were the four EF-20 which had been kitted out for air-to-air operations. Each fired a single AIM-9X at the remaining pair of MiG-25's, converging on the bulky interceptors from multiple angles to complicate evasive maneuvers and pretty much ensure missile kills within visual range. Once the runways were clear of incoming aircraft, the Inyurstans would launch a second wave of air OP's to cover the ongoing fighting.

Damascus-Golan Front

While Tartus was cracking out to be more than the Inyurstan's had anticipated, Damascus and the Golan were the exact opposite. So far, instead of surprisingly well-prepared and surprisingly fast-acting, it seemed the defenders in the southern corner of the country were surprisingly incompetent (although, to be fair to troops in the Golan, getting caught in a rear-flank pincer by a superior ground force isn't exactly something you can really work your way out of). It seemed the enemies were not only shutting off the power to Damascus but also going the extra distance to conceal their vision with smoke.

The power stations to Damascus were something that could be targeted later if the enemy turned them on and tried to hide their ELINT signatures in the electricity clutter; but the enemy's smoke couldn't be trusted to fully obscure their vision. Organic artillery assets (155mm and 120mm) were ordered to deploy IR-smoke rounds, firing canisters of red-colored smoke into the enemy lines which would obscure even night-vision and most modern infra-red systems.
Forward units of the 5th Brigade D'Armor would hunker down on the outskirts of Qatana and Dummar. Engineer units bringing forward Hesco bastions and Bremer walls, while troops worked to dig quick fox holes and trenches.

Cutting through the enemy's rear flank harder than a machete slashing through a ripe banana, the 9th Brigade de Composité was finding that not only was the SAA/[LPA] caught with their balls in their hands, but also that domestic elements in southern Syria were rising in support of their efforts. As the Inyurstan army swept southeastward, leaving a trail of smoldering vehicle carcasses and the wreckage of the soft, less-defended units associated with a rearward support echelon they were delighted to see defectors and friendly militia cheering them on as the SAA/[LPA] were routed from the area.

A number of German UAV's attempted to penetrate the border region, both of southwestern Syria/[Lonograd] that had just been seized by Inyurstan & Lebanese forces, as well as Lebanon itself. Naturally, these unmanned vehicles were set into by a torrent of SAM and SPAAG fire, at its strongest points directly over the Inyurstan lines and when they tried to cross the border. This barrage of AA/AD fire would naturally make their mission of hunting the Inyurstan 210mm Basilísque guns a hard one - which would in turn complicate the attempt at counter-battery fire by the German 210's. Additionally, the Inyurstan Armadiera SPEARAM gun/missile systems were online and able to knock down a number of arty shells with their 35mm gatling guns and anti-PGM missiles.
Still, somebody somewhere had been either really lucky or really good, and amidst the movement, fog of war and anti-surveillance fire one of the enemy's unguided rounds had gotten a clean hit approximately 15m away from one gun unit, and within 65-70m of two others. A second shell landed nearby, killing the fourth gun unit as well as the mobile comms vehicle and a munitions truck, triggering a massive explosion that could be seen across most of the eastern Bequaa Valley/border region. Elsewhere, the rounds managed to strike vital components of the Inyurstan & Lebanese supply line, caught within the massive 100m+ blast radii and in the wrong place at the wrong time due to the fog of war. Other casualties included a trio of Iguana-M2 scouts and several fuel trucks moving from Lebanon into Syria/[Lonograd].

What the Germans had seemingly failed to take into account was the information gathered by Inyurstan aircraft - ELINT, IR footage, but most importantly SAR scans from the ER-370 "Falcon Eye" patrolling safely over Lebanese airspace; all meaning they had real-time detection and tracking of enemy movements.
For the deutsch Al-Fao guns, this largely nullified their shoot-&-scoot; and when their improved and more capable Inyurstan cousins opened with 210mm SIPÉ (Subordínançe d'Intelligente de Penétrateura Éxplosíva) rounds they would be right on target. The SIPÉ was a form of guided smart shell which would disperse 3 intelligent sumunitions which would each attempt to seek out a target and destroy it with an anti-tank EFP. Not only did this add an element of intelligent seek-&-destroy capability to the Inyurstan barrage, it also meant they could in theory annihilate a hostile artillery formation 1.5 - 3x their size with a single-shot volley. Colonel Herrera, the ranking commander in the Damascus-Golan front for the independent strategic artillery regiment, ordered his Type-59 Basilísque guns to just fire twice per salvo (a step down from 3-shots, then leave), limited their exposure time will still giving the eastern mobile battery the chance to put over 84 guided submunitions right down on top of the German heads.
(Furthermore, contrary to the Hun's belief that the Type-59 Basilísque was the "child" of the Al-Fao, it was rather its bigger, badder twin brother. The system merely utilized the same 210mm gun as the Al-Fao, designed by the rogue scientist Dr. Gerald Bull, but was mounted to a much more stable 8x8 chassis, had better targeting & comms upgrades, and was using modernized and improved Inyurstan ammunition - as proven by the barrage of SIPÉ rounds.)
For Tkg.88 and Kg.88, thus meant the Inyurstans were watching their evacuation and relocation and made damn sure to hit them while they were vulnerable and in-transit. The weapon of choice to make good where the arty guns had failed would be the 350mm "Bandito" strategic MLRS system. Each of the 8 TEL's were capable of firing 6 rockets, and the warheads selected would be a rough 2:1 mix of SAW-Fragmentation rounds to unitary thermobaric rounds. 32 SAW-Fragmentation would be fired at the units relocating aircraft, the rockets using a millimeter wave radar in their terminal arc to asses target distance & motion in order to detonate at the opportune moment and send dozens of long-rod fragments into enemy aircraft and the vehicles & crews carrying them. 16 warheads would fly to sites guided by GPS/SACTOSAT, primarily secondary airports runways around Damascus, but also roadways in the path of the relocating German air units - each rocket was capable of dispersing over fifty of the light, air-deployed anti-personnel and anti-vehicle mines.
To force a shutdown, if not outright destroy, the counter-battery radars supporting the German artillery unit; a quartet of Ku-21Y "Tempêta" (storm) suicide drones were launched in their suspected positions (given that the drones will naturally seek and destroy their intended targets), while a number of SSM-18 GL-ARM's were also fired at signals identified to be those associated with the enemy counter-battery.
A final lick of icing on the killer cake would be the GPM-FOGM "Killshot" systems, a leightweight missile system capable of being mounted on a humvee analogue yet striking targets with extreme precision and user interface up to 40km away. These missiles were directed at the Hun's Pantsir systems, forcing their point-defense to make the choice between saving themselves or intercepting the munitions striking Tkg.88 & Kg.88 and the Al-Fao battery.

Lebanon

Following up on the Inyurstan drone strikes against Nasrallah and Aknan, and having rallied into position mostly disguised as civilians and/or taking low-density routes and "roads less traveled" the Maronite Lebanese Forces and Sunni militias set into Hezbollah across Lebanon.
Buses loaded with Hezbollah fighters traveling to Zahle would make fat, juicy targets for the RPG-7's and Riysan SMD-12B missiles. Hezbollah's infantry would find themselves under small arms fire from Sunni forces in buildings, behind walls & rockpiles/terrain features and in roadside & agricultural ditches.

Riysan-backed Sunni militia ambushing Hezbollah

In the East, Christian forces would march defiantly into southeast Beirut, aiming to draw Hez into the open and provoke a fight. Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army actually began setting up roadblocks between the two communities of Beirut. However, there was virtually no indication that the uniformed armed forces of Khoury's Lebanese regime were neutral. It was a well-known fact that much of the Shiite """party of god""" funding came through prostitution and hashish trade - two sectors which elements of the army and police were quick to set upon. Brothels and hashish dens would be raided, stormed by uniformed Lebanese soldiers and policemen, and all who resisted fired upon.

Meanwhile, a contingent of about 42 Maronite Christian militia would lay siege to the German embassy in Beirut. Snipers set up shop on neighboring rooftops while grenadiers loaded their rockets and took cover wherever it could be found. Twelve men armed with M16A2's and Uzis would attack from the front, while eight would attempt to come in the back.

As the (tiny) Syrian/[Lonogradi] navy prepared to either break out of their own air-sea blockade or take vengeance on Lebanon, they were met with a simplistic yet lethal anti-ship attack from the Lebanese coast. The Lebanese operated a small number of BGM-84C Harpoon ("Siren") missile batteries from the late 80's & 90's donated from Inyursta. Given that the Harpoon, even in it's older and more primitive form was more than a match for most ships in the enemy navy, concealing their true strength was still as much a goal as wiping out the Syrian/[Lonogradi] surface fleet. A total of 8 harpoon anti-ship missiles were lobbed towards the largest of the enemy ships, while a small number of Inyurstan GPM-FOGM missiles were fired at smaller patrol craft and torpedo boats.

Jordan

Président Jean-Baptiste Calderone's private jet landed in Amman without incident not even heavy press coverage for that matter. He briefly met with the Heshmite King of Jordan, and despite the natural Inyurstan distaste for monarchies, ensured the kingdom that Inyursta would remain stable allies, working to install a secular government in northern & western Iraq which respects the Sunni minority as well as working to get Israel into a deal over Palestine (the latter would likely be ignored, but the unspoken fact Inyursta's path of destruction was making oil-producing nations around the world see increased profits was enough to cover it...)

Jordan was an ally to both Inyursta and Khataiy, making it an ideal place for the two leaders to meet. A sudden but not entirely unexpected Yanquí pull out from Syria had diminished the Inyurstan position, and temporarily erased the short-term threat of an Inyurstan-Yanquí-Southern Front offensive cutting Damascus and Dor-ez-Zeir from one another (for now) - as did the unexpected level of fortification and defensive preparation in Tartus. However, Calderone went in knowing he still held most of the cards in regards the closure of the far western Mediterranean and a powerful hand in regards to the Turkey situation.

He awaited his Khataiyan peer to arrive, and stood up to shake his hand.
"Mr. Khiriallah, a pleasure." Before sitting back down.

"Getting down to business, as we both know the Syrians/[Lonogradi] are responding to our invasion worse than the Huns in the aftermath of D-Day. It seems as if they don't actually realize they are being invaded. This, presents you as much as an opportunity a it does us - it doesn't take a fool to realize Khataiy wants a buffer between themselves and the Alawite socialists in Damascus. If your armed forces were to move south and take Latakia, I can ensure you that Inyurstan forces will not fire upon Khataiyans, and our two armies can link up in Jablah and discuss further endgame situations from there - all the while reinforcements and material support to the Alawite regime would be cut off completely from land, sea and air.

Of course, if that doesn't suit your interests I can at least promise you that Inyurstan forces will respect the territorial boundaries of Khatiay when we take Latakia for ourselves..." Calderone stated, awaiting his peer's response.

Communiqué par le Departémente D'Éstat de La Républiqua D'Inyursta
Communique by the Inyurstan State Department

To the honorable Sergei Lavrov of the Russian Federation;

Greetings and Merry Christmas.

In the context of the Syrian/[Lonogradi] situation there is much room for toe-stepping and much room for disagreement; however, I believe there is room for mutual benefit and discussion to be had.
If you are available, I would like to meet with you personally to discuss these matters directly.

Thank you, and God Bless!

Signed:
- Secrétaire D'Éstat Françisco Ardonez

King's Island, Inyursta

A blonde American man, his hair almost silver these days, stepped off the small boat alongside NIS Director Daniel Acosta and Chief of Staff Antonio "Ironsides" DeLoroza. With the official uniformed state-backed armed forces of the United States leaving Syria (and unfortunately their build-up in the Golan) a new breed of soldier would have to step in to take its place.
"Well Gentlemen, I would consider this business venture to be very fruitful - in fact, it would seem your tropical paradise is a lot more supportive of this industry than is my own. Of course, as for your offer in Syria*, I will consult with my fellow executives and see what we can muster. Now, if you don't mind, I would like some time to enjoy your beautiful country."
"Of course, a pleasure doing business with you, Monsénor Prince..."

by **Khataiy** » Sun Dec 30, 2018 12:04 am

Tartus Governorate, Syria

SAA gun emplacement firing at enemy forces

As the Syrian defense of Tartus was holding up shelling continued near the border with Lebanon to inflict as much damage as possible onto the enemy, guns were positioned strategically on hilltops and higher elevations while infantrymen and militia irregulars pushed back spearheading a counter attack with support from the artillery the Syrian military had an abundance of combat hardened men with experience from Aleppo and East Ghouta several militiamen were also present some being former FSA fighters who had fought in the rugged terrain of Hama and Latakia prior to defecting to the government and were also prepared to use their experience in guerilla warfare to make the enemy's invasion more difficult.

Battalions of Shiite militias from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan were also present and being sent towards Qusayr and Homs city many units who had been expelled from eastern Syria were now regrouping in western Homs near the Lebanese border and preparing to defend the city from an invasion, many of the Iraqi militias were armed with American made equipment including M1 Abrams tanks, Humvees and BGM-71 TOWs that had been supplied by the United States and Iran as well as pieces captured from rebel forces in Syria that had also been armed with them by the United States.

Military installations such as barracks and SAM sites were largely destroyed by the UAVs and enemy shelling resulting in dozens of casualties and hundreds of injuries, while the Inyurstan-Lebanese missile attacks rocked the city of Latakia which had been largely unaffected by the war the explosion at the airport was devastating killing mostly civilians and very little military personal mostly affiliated with the Syrian air force at the base several Syrian planes had been destroyed in the blast as well as fuel and ammo dumps therein. The cloud from the explosion could be seen from around the city and as nightfall came flames continued to burn producing a red glow in the atmosphere as civil defense battle the flames and civilians began fleeing the city towards Hama and Aleppo some even began fleeing towards rebel held areas in Idlib.

And as much of Syria's more sophisticated air defenses came under heavy attack being rendered useless due to their destruction more simple air defenses began providing anti-aircraft fire such as ZU-23s put on the back of technicals which was a tactic used by most of Syria's rebels in spite the fact it is largely ineffective against modern aircraft it was better than nothing, tracer rounds filled the skies and MANPADs were also being deployed to compensate for the lack of better defenses.

Amman, Jordan

President Khairallah walking in with another Khataiyi official to meet President Calderone

After President Khairallah walked in with other Khataiyi officials and after all the formalities were out of the way and the talks began Khairallah replied to Calderone's greeting extending his hand to shake "A pleasure indeed" he began listening to what Calderone had to say and replied, "This is an excellent idea and I am glad that we understand where we stand regarding one another, and indeed it would be in the best interests of my country to establish a security zone in addition to our forces in Idlib and Aleppo that are currently stationed along our border and embedded with local forces from the various armed factions. I personally would like for the border situation to likewise be handled by local forces alongside our own. We recently made peace with President Assad you see with Russian mediation and do not wish to act as antagonists, I also do not want the work done by the revolutionaries of the country to go in vein either as they have our upmost solidarity not only as our Arab brothers but our brothers in religion and faith. If it is supported by your country we have no issues supporting local forces in establishing a security zone along our border administered by our own men and Syrian natives opposed to the government."

South of Al-Raqqa, Raqqa Governorate, Syria

TASWJ fighters preparing to attack Pro-Government forces

Talha's new group "Tajamu Abna al Sham wa Jazeera" (Gathering of the sons of the Levant and Jazeera) had successfully expelled YPG from al Raqqa effectively marking the return of the armed Sunni Arab opposition to Bashar al-Assad and Kurdish separatists to al-Raqqa his new group formed out of Arab tribesmen, defecting Arab factions from SDF, former al-Nusra, FSA and Ahrar al-Sham fighters, and ISIS POWs captured by SDF now came together as an army ready to be used at Talha's disposal and was now Khataiy's proxy as an alternative to the Turkish backed rebels, Iranian backed Syrian government, and Kurdish led YPG. In a series of dialogue and threats of an all out war against YPG, TASWJ gave YPG two options either they evacuate and accept a temporary non-aggression pact or face total war which would force them to fight a 3-fronted fight against ISIS in the East, Turkey in the north and TASWJ in the South, and thus YPG accepted the terms of withdrawing from portions of the Raqqa governorate leaving behind their equipment and releasing hundreds of POWs.

Celebrations were held in the city with celebratory gunfire being heard and the flag of Rojava was lowered and replaced with the new flag of TASWJ was raised over the city a large parade was held as well through the destroyed city and Talha himself gave a speech promising to rebuild the city and expel Iranian forces from Syria, to unite Syrian Arabs, protect the Sunnis, crush the Kurdish separatist movement, he also promised to personally execute Bashar al-Assad. Talha was following in his grandfather's footsteps in Syria who himself had come from Eastern Syria and traveled to Khataiy to rally together Sunni Arabs against Turkish backed forces during Khataiy's civil war. "We will fight alongside all righteous and just factions and we will rally the Sunnis and the Arabs and the people of the Levant and we will fight to the last man to the last bullet to the last drop of blood for our people, nation and religion. I say death to the PKK, death the Safavids and Death to the traitors!" He yelled into a megaphone from the center of Raqqa as he spoke to a large crowed of civilians and fighters loyal to him.

Plans were made by Liwa Thuwar al-Raqqa a major component in TASWJ with SAF prior to its formation to help attack nearby Syrian positions and help SAF in their fight and now that the new army was formed and ready to fight mobilization began immediately and forces began to concentrate on the highway south of the city that led into Iraq and we being utilized by Iraqi militias and Iranian forces to reinforce positions in Western Syria and was thus a crucial position as it led directly to Aleppo, technicals spearheaded the assault while mortars and artillery shelled villages and farms under Syrian governmental control.

Damascus city, Damascus Governorate, Syria

Republican Guard tanks and APCs protecting highway leading towards Damascus

Much of Damascus had been unaffected by the war with only surrounding suburbs like Ghouta, Darayya, Douma and the Yarmouk Camp being the only places were actual fighting took place the rest of the city had been spared the was working to ensure Damascus would be held at all costs forces from other areas were even being recalled specifically to defend Damascus and to save themselves the wasted time, blood, energy and ammunition in defending areas that would falter quickly to oncoming forces.

Most of the government had fled Damascus for Deir Ez Zor and Aleppo but would likely flee those areas soon as well for sympathetic countries such as Iran, Iraq, or Russia. President Bashar al-Assad and his family were placed under special protection by Russian special forces and the IRGC in Eastern Syria to avoid being captured and plans were being drawn up to avoid a Saddam Hussein style situation and continuity of government for Syria.

Hezbollah territory in Lebanon

Hezbollah fighters along the front

Hezbollah's stronghold in Eastern Lebanon was well defended for a day like this with high anticipation of an Israeli invasion, betrayal by the Lebanese government or attacks from Syria. The area had come under fire from 2012 to 2017 from Syrian rebels and several battles were fought in Eastern Lebanon against the FSA, al-Nusra and ISIS that had entered the country in response to Hezbollah's support for Assad and Iranian warehouses in the area sending arms to Assad over the border while Hezbollah militiamen flooded the country and provided artillery support from inside Lebanon. And again the area would come under attack from Inyurstan forces indeed a force to be dealt with compared to the Syrian rebels.

Hezbollah had won many of Assad's battles over the years and had successfully pushed the Israeli army of Lebanon in 2006 and it would be perceived this would be no different a hard fought defense of an area they knew and had been preparing to defend for years the area was filled with bunkers, tunnels and other tactical positions that could be used in the event of a total invasion and they were used to their fullest extent to defend the area. IRGC advisors in the area were also coordinating closely with Hezbollah's commanders.

The fighting the area would also prove useful to drain Inyurstan resources and morale and hopefully divert men from the Damascus and Southwestern region to be drawn into Lebanon so Assad's forces in Damascus could retake territory. In Baalbek the hills were being used to cover Hezbollah's positions while MLRS fired towards the direction of oncoming forces the area's terrain would also be used to slow down the offensive and give Hezbollah the advantage of using the mountains defensively technicals and snipers were also strategically placed on higher elevations to rain fire down on oncoming enemies.

The situation for Hezbollah fighters heading into Syria was a very different story as the convoy came under attack from Maronite and Christian militiamen one bus was totally destroyed with nearly every passenger dying as a result of a direct hit to the engine from an RPG, the convoy came to a complete halt and Hezbollah was forced to fend off the attack with what they had it was a bloody day for Hezbollah in Zahle.

Baghdad, Iraq
In response to the new crisis in Syria of the SACTO-led invasion, the American withdrawal, threats from Turkey and potentially a new powerful rebel group an emergency meeting was held in Baghdad between several regional countries and actors including Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Sudan, Rojava, Syria's Government, and Algeria about potentially a new military alliance to counter SACTO and The GCC, officials from the Arab League were also present because of concerns of the influence that Iran would hold here, Turkish officials were invited but declined to go over the inclusion of Rojava and because of strong tries to Russia and America over the situation in Syria, after talks a joint communique was released by the foreign ministries of Qatar, Sudan, Iraq, Iran and Rojava's equivalent

JOINT COMMUNIQUE ON THE EMERGENCY SITUATION IN SYRIA

In response to the unprovoked aggression initiated by the government of Inyursta on behalf of the Santiago Anti-Communist Treaty Organization it has become the responsibility of our collective nations to respond by supporting the legitimate government of the Syrian Arab Republic and counter all destabilizing actors, to repel belligerent foreign aggression, and to counter terrorism and terror supporting states and groups.

The volatile situation is delicate and could create unintended consequences that if not handled properly will further polarize the region and create further conflict, we collectively come together and call for a total end of all fighting in Syria between governmental and opposition forces and total reconciliation for the defense of the Syrian homeland.

We also call on the government of Inyursta to come to dialogue with the Syrian Arab Republic, and we also announce our nations bonds and unity regarding our shared interests in defending Syria and the Syrian people from violence and terrorism, and our nations vow to stand by one another and support one another.

It has also been decided a peace keeping force shall be deployed to Syria and the territory of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria (also known as Rojava) to protect the country from further escalations and instances of violence as well as from foreign and domestic actors and aggressors, and terrorist organizations, the enforcement of a no fly-zone shall also be enforced over Syria to protect the country and its people from airstrikes causing collateral damage. Local defense forces will also take part in stabilization activities for the Syrian Arab Republic.

-Ministry of Foreign Affairs, State of Qatar
-Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of the Sudan
-Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Iraq
-Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Islamic Republic of Iran
-Syrian Democratic Council

The deployment of Iranian and Iraqi forces to Syria was nothing new neither was Iraqi support for Rojava but at the scale it was being done it was bound to alert other Arab states including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, The UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait. The Saudi army was already in Rojava as well as the armed forces of the UAE, Kuwait and Khataiy. It was seriously alarming the support that Sudan and Qatar threw behind the seemingly new Iran-led alliance to support Assad and Rojava and it was clear that neither the Saudis, Emiratis or Khataiyis would ever allow the IRGC to enter Rojava and it was also clear the Khataiyi government would have no part in allowing the Iraqi army to step foot in Syria if in a position to prevent and thus the choice was made for the Qatari and Sundanese to enter Rojava while Iraqi and Iranian forces would continue to enter into Assad held territory.

In Rojava and awkward situation was developing as Saudi and Qatari forces haven't been together since 2017 in Yemen fighting against Iran's proxy and now they were yet again paired together in the same territory for two very different reasons, as for the Sundanese it was bitter sweet given Sudan had supported Saudi efforts in Yemen but seeing their choice to become close to Iran, oppose Saudi Arabia's proxy forces in Libya, and had a Muslim Brotherhood ruling party and now taking military action on behalf of Iran relations would enter into very new territory and not for the best.

Министерство иностранных дел Российской Федерации

Greetings and Merry Christmas to you to,

The Russian Federation finds the situation very shocking and the recent events in Syria all to have come at very high level of surprise and we are inclined to condemn your nation's military action and the very fact that the lives our servicemen are endangered by the situation and the fact this gives way to terrorist organizations to regroup. We hope we can act mediators to this conflict and resolve your issues with the Syrian Arab Republic we also call on your nation to respect the no fly zone in place and recall forces near Damascus.

We hope for mutual benefit as well and await your reply,

Sincerely, Sergei Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation

by **McNernia** » Sun Dec 30, 2018 7:47 pm

OOC:Stojam will be taking over as Israel and well this is a handoff storyline

Old City of Jerusalem
Some Time After kidnap of Israeli Police Patrol In West Bank
SACTO Compound

“Morning sir.” The major general in charge of the 1st Airborne Division arrived from the SACTO Barracks on the outskirts of Jerusalem. A small convoy through the streets. Settlements were going up all over the city and the Major General did not really care. Save when the Israelis asked to assist with the temple mount. The UN/(WA) had handed much of the security to the Santiago Alliance, more over it had been the Mcnernian diplomatic Corps that had seen this through. Now the crack First patrolled much of the City area. Whilst the Israelis acted at the behest of City Administration the Temple mount was handed over to the Santiago Alliance. Of course inevitably due to the nature of the West Bank being interconnected with the City the Mcnernians spread out to patrol the surrounding areas.

“I was woken up that day at 0450 Hours to find that the city of Jerusalem had to be placed on lockdown.”

He walked with his aide who had greeted him at the front door into the command building wearing a beret and a flak jacket. There were still demosntrations around the city and the Police were handling them for the most part and going out on raids. He removed the plate carrier, even with the airconditioning in the place it was quite warm. That was the Levant, a place of ancient belief, Christ, the temple mount. The Dome of the Rock. Walking to his office he sat down and saw that there was a file on his desk with the seal of the Military Police.

“Evidently you did some door kicking over the past few weeks Colonel.”

“Aye that we did….” The Mcnernians had experience in counter insurgency and the tactics to contain the violence of the natives sometimes. Required an old colonial hand. There had been increased PFLP presence and the reports of Palestinian exiles visiting Iran. Of course it had been forwarded to the Mossad for action. Connected to the disappearance of four Policemen who had been aptrolling near the settlements. That had to be determined. The file contained that MD-6 report and the evidence gathered by the MPs. A Forensics unit had been flown in descretely and taken to the secene where the Israelis had obligingly insisted on cordoning off the area and doing nothing. The Israeli Police were busy with the plethora of cases, the violence between the settlers and the Arabs. The Major general looked at the reports.

“We have analysis of the wreckage, ambush positions, this was planned, evidently the PFLP/DFLP if they were the ones behind this, which due to the banners that are out are.”

“Also that report about the Iranians hosting Palestinian Exiles….we will have to talk to them no doubt.” His aide thought the general was gunning for An Embassy position rather than being a paratrooper. The forensics data and intelligence was sent to the Israelis. There was some to go on. And Mcnernia had undertaken some survaillence with drones and had analysed patterns but the Israeli data bases would have more. They would be able to coroberate.

Beirut-Tripoli Area

The Mcnernians knew that they would not be wanted entirely on the front lines of the conflict, the fact was, Damoclea, Hutanjia hung over the whole army and half baked insurgents that had gotten a hold of tanks and aircraft the Hezbollah were not. Though they did have the Lebanese Army to contend with and the Lebanese even with some Inyurstan backing would surely be suffering from problems. So the 177th from their base made ready for operations. On deployment the Mcnernians lived relatively well enough. Lebanon had been designated a garrison and the Mcnernians had their supplies.

APCs deployed as the Lebanse were mobilizing for the campaign ahead. Battalions had to be readjusted and the Mcnernians were happy to fill the gap in the the patrols as several brigades were committed to the fighting against the Syrians/(Lonogradi) the Mcnernians reinforced checkpoints around Beirut and waited for the order to do something.

by **Khataiy** » Mon Dec 31, 2018 3:30 pm

Hasakah, Hasakah Governorate, Syria

The newly formed Assyrian Patriotic Resistance

The loosley held Syrian Democratic Forces alliance was collapsing by the day the Arabs of Raqqa were testament of this, and now tensions were beginning to rise between the Kurdish YPG and Assyrian Christians as the YPG slowly began to enforce their will over other minorities including the Christian population of Northeastern Syria which always favored Assad but joined YPG for pragmatic reasons in hopes of autonomy and a joint defeat of Islamic Arab forces but it was becoming clear the Christian Assyrians could not co-exist with the Far Left Kurdish nationalists.

The YPG began closing Christian schools and forcing their Socialist ideology which was largely unpopular with many Christians in the region and now Assyrians were beginning to shift their loyalty to Bashar al-Assad in hopes of autonomy and protection of their Christian identity and heritage in spite of Arabization and minor Islamization campaigns under Baathist rule to create a unified "Syrian Arab" identity, and Assad would be more than willing to accept them and their loyalty and even respect to a degree their identity in return for military manpower to claw into YPG, the rebels, ISIS, and SACTO.

The former YPG-aligned Syriac Military Council gathered together with Pro-Assad Christian militias and announced the creation of the Assyrian Patriotic Resistance, "We reject the division of Syria on ethnic and sectarian lines, we wish to preserve the unity of the Syrian Arab Republic for its all people. We seek to protect the Christian Syriac communities of Syria from all forms of oppression and discrimination, we declare war on all terrorist and Jihadist organizations and we call on our Muslim brothers to join this fight against the extremists of your faith and to protect your homeland. We also give the YPG three days to withdraw from Hasakah and to hand the city over to our forces and the forces of the Syrian Arab Army we also pledge our allegiance to the National Defense Forces. God is the Greatest, Allah, Souriya, Bashar oo Bas! (God, Syria, Bashar is all we want)"

East of Raqqa, Raqqa Governorate, Syria

Anarchist foreign fighters declaring their continued support for Rojava and the new alliance

As a result of the takeover of Raqqa by TASWJ led by Talha Khairallah all forces loyal to the YPG were expelled from the city and the ones that faced among the harshest of treatment in the expulsion was the IFB a brigade of Anarchist foreign fighters that was detested by many locals and had been targeted for arrests and assassinations by Talha prior to leaving SDF, they were seen as a group of uncivilized young white kids seeking to enforce their far-left ideology on conservative Sunni Arabs, their activities including cross-dressing, promotion of homosexuality, harassing local business owners, and disrupting religious ceremonies upon TASWJ's takeover of Raqqa multiple IFB members were arrested and some executed the ones who managed to flee with normal YPG fighters are now preparing for revenge and are now seeking new allies and see the Iran-led coalition as such, the invasion led of Syria led by the anti-Communist SACTO alliance was also a source for outrage, near the city of Raqqa in an area still held by YPG their fighters gathered and made a statement announcing their loyalty to Rojava and their willingness to fight alongside SAA, and forces from the Iranian coalition,

"We are the International Freedom Battalion, we are east of the city of Raqqa we are revolutionary proletariat from around the world who have gathered in the land of Rojava to fight against the terrorist Fascist Jihadists that have declared war on freedom and strive to overthrow our revolutionary struggle for egalitarian values, social justice, democracy and socialism. We call on all the working people from around the world of all backgrounds, genders, religions, races, sexualities and so on to join the struggle in Rojava for freedom. We will fight alongside President Bashar al-Assad to protect Syria from Jihadist Fascists, the Turkish Fascist State, Daesh and their offshoot in Raqqa which has slaughtered our men and women, and we will protect Syria from the Fascist imperialist SACTO invaders. We also thank the Islamic Republic of Iran and Iraq for their coarse of action and struggle to support Freedom from the Fascists and Nazis of our era."

Near Ash-Sha'fah, Deir Ez Zor Governorate, Syria

YPG withdrawing from fronts with ISIS

The fight with ISIS was harsh with ISIS repelling almost very SDF assault and counter-attacking soon after, the mass defection of Arab fighters to TASWJ and ISIS greatly reducing SDF's manpower and now the Syriac Military Council renouncing YPG for their progressive and strict take Laïcité style secularism, and the American disengagement from Syria the fight against ISIS was largely becoming a waste of time, lives and resources for YPG.

YPG's fight with ISIS and other Arab and Islamic groups goes back to late 2012 and started out as a defensive fight, but the situation had been reversed with nearly all land held by ISIS which had previously been held by the FSA and their allies such as al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham the YPG was now in a comfortable place enjoying wide spread international support until recently, but Iran's new alliance could quickly change that.

Convoys began quickly pulling back from front lines with ISIS, large lines of vehicles with YPG and SDF flags waving from them out of the conflict zone and orders were being given to regroup and prepare to shift operations to Iraq and other areas in Syria such as Homs, Idlib, and Latakia. Sinjar would be YPG's main priority for the coming new year given its significance culturally its proximity along the Iraqi-Syrian border and a good staging point for further attacks into northern Iraq similar to how ISIS pushed into northern Iraq through this very area in 2014.

YPG's leadership officially calling themselves the PYD while in reality it was just the Syrian branch of the PKK began making plans with PKK operatives in Turkey and Northern Iraq, and contacts in the PUK the biggest rival to ENK and Peshmerga were also being talked to about the possibility of party loyalists from Kurdish tribes being willing to assassinate ENK and Peshmerga commanders and officials to lay the ground work for a YPG-PKK occupation of Sinjar. The YPG had entered Sinjar in 2014 and 2015 to fight ISIS and later assist local Yazidi clans aligned with the PKK fight Peshmerga and lasting footprint was left by the PKK and YPG was left in Sinjar leaving many locals longing for their return as they were seen as heroic liberators by many in the area with the ENK's rule being unpopular but tolerated over the Neo-Baathist IAF or ISIS.

Khanaqin, Diyala Governorate, Iraq

Iranian troops after crossing the border

The Iranian military had advisors and several soldiers from the IRGC and Basij in Iraq and Syria but now Iran's military was actually mobilized aside from just the IRGC and Basij hardliners akin to the Waffen SS for Germany. Iran's army had begun crossing into Iraq with APCs and trucks carrying troops to nearby Iraqi bases with more men and vehicles to come in the coming days. The Iranian soldiers came from Kermanshah many were also reservists never seeing combat and only receiving minor combat training with this being Iran's first major and official military operation since the Iran-Iraq war.

The plan was for Iran to send men to Baghdad and Kirkuk, the soldiers in Baghdad would best tasked with helping the Iraqi army and PMU clear Anbar while the men in Kirkuk would be supporting PUK and hunting down Baathist, ISIS, ENK and other dissident cells in the area to help secure PUK then later turn attention to ENK to secure northern Iraq for Pro-Baghdad forces while YPG attacks from the west.

The Diyala governorate was in many ways Iraq's Kandahar and a stronghold for Sunni resistance many of Saddam's officers fled to this area forming ties to ISIS and the area served as Al-Qaeda in Iraq's capital in 2007 leading to a bloody battle in the province's capital of Baqubah between the US military, Iraq's army and ISI, the area continues to serve as a stronghold for its barren landscape, sparse population and Sunni majority consisting of both Kurds and Arabs largely opposed to Baghdad's government.

The crossing of Iranian forces could be an opportunity for guerillas from either the Baath Party, Kurdish nationalists or ISIS to attack Iran's military and seize equipment or take hostages, and thus as a precaution several Hashd (PMU) units were deployed in the area to protection the Iranian soldiers crossing.

Doha, Qatar

Omar al-Bashri and King Thani meeting in Doha

Sudan was widely considered a Saudi ally despite the ruling party being led by the Muslim Brotherhood and the country had supported the Saudi war in Yemen while Qatar was also a Saudi ally until 2017 and helped Saudi efforts in Yemen, the leadership's support for the Muslim Brotherhood and good relations with Iran were always viewed with suspicion and the Saudi-led cutting off of Qatar pushed the country towards Iran's sphere of influence slowly.

This was an opportunity for Sudan and Qatar to align with one another without Saudi Arabia and forge their own path and assert their power, they no longer relied on Saudi permission or approval and this was a statement of such with both government forming closer relations with Sudan taking steps to normalize relations with Assad and funding of anti-Saudi proxies in Libya, and Qatar reaching out to Iraq and Iran for influence and protection.

After a series of talks on shared interests and ideals, Omar al-Bashir spoke on al-Jazeera about Sudan's intention to support Assad, "Sudan must act responsibly here, Arab states need to support one another against the foreign imperialists and as Muslims we have an obligation to act as one in solidarity against the Kufar invaders like Salahhudin al-Ayubi. Whether we are Sunni or Shia it does not matter because God orders us to unite. I have no issues with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and this is not a matter of politics its a matter of doing what is right and just in the eyes of Allah and defending an Islamic Arab nation with other Islamic nations against an invader."

It was no secret Sudan and Saudi Arabia differed on many things and that Sudan had been treading towards Iran slowly, such cases were different sides on the Libyan conflict, Iranian arms shipments to the Sudanese military, and Sudan's Muslim Brotherhood ideology but Sudan was not quite prepared to cut off Saudi Arabia yet and likewise Saudi Arabia was not prepared to cut off an important ally on the Red sea and potentially push them into Iran's influence, but Qatar was a different story and those bridges have all been burnt, Qatar's emir spoke about his nation's role in Iran's alliance,

"To not join this coalition would be illogical, Syria is under attack from foreign forces and terrorists like Daesh and for an Arab nation not to take part in this mission is unthinkable, it is unthinkable that an Arab nation wouldn't support another. Many Muslims are going to die if we do not act to defend them but given the ruling class of Saudi Arabia it is clear they do not care and would rather create suffering in Yemen and murder journalists then act justly Iraqi Sahawat Front and Daesh are terrorist organizations that need to be stopped and if given victory our brothers in Palestine suffering Gaza will loose another important ally. While we disagree with President Assad on many issues and his use of violence it cannot be denied his support for Palestine and his commitment to protecting Syria and we hope all armed factions in Syria put aside their differences and act wisely in defending their country. If God wills we will also help Iraq recover from the Daesh and IAF uprising that has divided the country and cause wide spread destruction. We do not support terrorists we support freedom and self-defense and if that is terrorism then yes we are terrorists, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia must understand that we are not their slaves nor are we their puppets and Qatar will make its own choices and decisions."

by **Inyourfaceistan** » Mon Dec 31, 2018 7:25 pm

Fallujah, Iraq

With the increased shelling, IAF began falling back from the eastern portions of the city. Falling buildings and the shrapnel from shell blasts taking their toll, killing or wounding hundreds of SAF fighters and bringing the total casualty count to around 18% of Awakening Front forces in Fallujah.

In the western section of the city, the IAF was already armed and prepared for a renewed Shiite offensive - hiding behind roadblocks and reinforcing building interiors with metal plates to ensure shrapnel and bullets that might pass through the cinder block and mud-brick walls. Soviet-era anti-tank mines were also buried in the roads, awaiting Savafid armored vehicles to attempt to take the remainder of the city from the entrenched forces, as well as "head mines" - pipe bombs and other high-shrapnel IED's left hiding at or above head level to inflict high personel casualities and make it harder to detect prior to detonation.

The troop of G6 mobile guns crewed by foreign mercs was still wracking up the kill count, largely undisturbed by enemy fire which seemed concentrated on the eastern section of the city. They were now operating just south of Salman Al Khalaf, continuing to fire away at enemy artillery guns. It was estimated that by this point in the battle the unit had eliminated at least threefold to fourfold their number in Iraqi artillery - while this statistic was nothing for the Inyurstans and their combination of reconnaissance and smart rounds, it was an impressive feat for the foreign crews working on behalf of the Iraqi Awakening Front.

The slow and clandestine build-up in Ramadi in Ba'qubah continued, with the leadership in Mosul allowing the enemy to exhaust themselves in their failing assault on Fallujah before the final counter-attack against the southern capital would commence. They contacted their Inyurstan advisers, who this time called in air support from a carrier in the Red Sea hugging the Saudi coast.

Kirkuk, Iraq

While the Iranian invasion met no resistance crossing the border, their movement was hardly clandestine. Sunni tribesmen in the area raised the alarm to the Awakening Front. It may have been too late to give the Iranians hard resistance and cut their invasion short, the IAF still had time to move forces into Kirkuk before Iran, the PMU/ALF or the traitors in Bagdhad could send forces to seize the city.
They would also aim to "grab up" as many outlying towns and villages as they could before the Iranians got to them.

Dor-ez-Zeir Governorate, Syria*

In Al-Mayadin small battalion probing fell back a few hundred meters as they collided with the larger mass. Their mission had been to test the cities defenses, and they had indeed discovered what they wanted to know. Now they dug in on the outskirts of the city and awaited reinforcements from the south and west before any future activity would commence.

Homs Governorate, Syria*

Outside of Tadmur, the SAF semi-encirclement eagerly awaited the enemy counter-attack. At some distance and against tanks - even old Cold War designs commandeered from decommissioned Iraqi scrapyards and stockpiles such as the T-54 and Type-69, or light tanks that were basically just an IFV with a big gun like the Inyurstan-supplied YT-1 Caiman - that were dug in behind ground cover the effect of enemy ATGM's were largely nullified; although two lucky Kornet ATGM's did manage to "snipe off" an Awakening Front Type-69 tank and a BMP-1 IFV.

Only a handful of SAF tanks and armored vehicles fired back at enemy gun emplacements, not wanting to immediately give away their positions. The howitzer fire from mobile batteries continued, this time focusing and honing in their barrages onto fixed positions on the outer rim of the city which were firing at SAF positions.

In the skies above, the various aircraft operated without opposition. Short-range and rudimentary SIGINT capanilities on the IA-52 "Gecko" MALE UAV located several spots which due to radio and comms traffic appeared to be either command posts or communications stations, and directed the MQ-1B to attack the locations with AGM-114L Hellfire missiles. The UAV's and fighter aircraft also caught the enemy reinforcements coming, and commanders back in Lebanon & Turkey quickly concluded that they were dealing with more foreign SAA/LPA supporters.
At altitude, it was hard to distinguish a SAM system such as MEADS or Patriot from an MLRS system - but either target was a threat to operations around Tadmur, and the pack of Nijonese Ki-92 quickly jumped on the targets, laughing ASM-7 STRIKE anti-surface/anti-tank missiles at both SAA/LPA rocket artillery and Hun M270/MEADS positions.

The pair of F-22M Mussurana both dropped their external fuel tanks and sped into supercruise towards Iraqi Kurdistan instead.

To gift unto the enemy counter-offensive the same fate they had gifted the forces of the ISIS ofshot Jayesh Al-Islam on the Neveh Plains many months ago, Commander Haddad had his Nijonese "advisers" drop a batch of "steel rain" rocket fire against SAA, PMU and """ISIS Hunters""" vehicles attempting to cross the open desert between Tadmur and the SAF lines. Three of the 300mm MLRS units fired, sending up ten rockets each loaded with just under a hundred small multipurpose bomblets. The rockets would disperse their submunitions over top the enemy forces, releasing over 2,800 bomblets over the counter-attack moving across the open field, slaughtering anything and everything lighter than an MBT caught in its way. "Grid Annihilation" the Yanquís called the tactic - and deployed in the Gulf War the Iraqi Republican Guard had lost entire brigades worth of troops and armored vehicles to a tiny number of MLRS.

The enemy reinforcements moving in from the west would also fall victim to the power of SACTO adviser & SAF organic rocket artillery. Four BM-21 Grad systems collectively launched around 160 122mm HEAT rockets at the enemy. A second set of three Nijonese Shotokan MLRS would fire on the incoming reinforcements - specifically German M270 MLRS and MEADS SAM systems. Ten rockets containing guided anti-tank submunitions would rain down right over their heads, each sending out five milimeter-microwave guided EFP warheads for a grand total of 50 such warheads coming down on the vital enemy equipment. Due to the small size of the submunitions it was unlikely that the enemy Pantsir systems would be able to intercept them in the first place - not to mention that the sheer volume of incoming projectiles would over-saturate their ability to down enough of anything. An additional 20 300mm HE-Frag rockets were also fired at the same targets, adding more clutter and overload to enemy air defenses should they even activate in time, as well as more explosive and fragmenting kill radius circles added to the area the enemy was occupying. Once their tubes were exhausted, the Nijonese MLRS systems began retreating back towards Albu Kamal.

Meanwhile, the probing attack on Al-Shaknah went without resistance, and the hundreds of SAF quickly overran the smaller city between Tadmur and Dor-ez-Zeir. From here, they began advancing towards the desert oasis town of Al-Kawm, as reinforcements relocated along the supply lines heading to secure Shaknah instead of adding bulk to the forces outside Tadmur.

From: Deputy Commander Abdul Tariq Hussein;
To: Brigadier Saood Al-Radi;

Seize the high ground to the east/northeast of the city. This land is less defended and arguably more valuable than the city itself.
If you have rockets or long-range artillery we ask you to fire on and destroy the Alawite reinforcements and their foreign puppet masters approaching the city from the west. Do not give them a chance to fire back!

Inshallah!

Dahouk, Iraqi Kurdistan

Contrary to the belief of the YPG, ENK was hardly unpopular in this section of Iraqi Kurdistan. They were seen as the victorious faction, having previously dealt massive damaged and crippled PUK/YNK command structure and "critical mass" in a large battle outside of Erbil. They had also picked the winning team, and their alliance with the Awakening Front meant the Kurds under ENK were more likely to win true autonomy that was actually respected by the ex-Ba'athist, Sunni fundamentalist and Assyrian factions and one without the race-baiting cultural distruction brought on by the leftist aligned Kurdish factions.

Unfortunately, what the ENK held in popularity they lacked in physical strength. Their numbers, morale and knowledge of the mountainscape of Dahouk and the surrounding areas were excellent; but they lacked armored vehicles, SAM systems beyond a few MANPADS and most of their artillery was second-degree hand-me-down of hand-me-downs.

IAF Airspace; Northern Iraq

In a matter of minutes since departure, the two F-22M ricocheted out of super-cruise and into position to intercept the incoming Iranian-allied airlift. Vectoring towards an inverted V-intercept, one F-22M would break and allow itself to flank the oncoming airlift, the other would speed forward and perform a sideways Herbst Maneuver, coming up as normal but allowing the full body of the plane "standing up" on it's Y-axis to be demonstrated well within visual range of the lead aircraft.

The flanking aircraft would then try to hail the pilots of the airlift, asking in both French and English who they were and why they were flying towards Syria without permission.

Of course, the pilots had been briefed since being ordered to redirect that the aircraft were probably of Iranian origin or some Savafid allied nation - because literally announcing your intent to intervene to the entire world was horrible OPSEC and now every commander on the ground knew to watch out for Iranian intervention.
This was likely due to the sheer arrogance of the Iranian and Baghdadi heads of state, who thought that the IAF and their backers were apparently push-overs.

Inyursta and the rest of SACTO would not just lie down and roll over in submission - especially not to the likes of Iran.

To attempt a move as deliberate and as ballsy as to announce your intentions to deploy then directly challenge a SACTO air corridor meant the Iranians and their cronies either mistook them as weak or it was an elaborate distraction play.

Meanwhile, what little high-altitude SAM's the IAF had (basically just a handful of ex-Iraqi S-75 and a few Type-50 Chu SAM's "totally not crewed by Nijonese") were alerted to the situation; while across the border in Turkey, a number of Riysan TaH-29S Danquosh fighters were prepped for launch.

by **Stojam** » Tue Jan 01, 2019 9:21 am

OOC: Yup, taking over as Israel from now on. I am playing both as Israel and Stojam.
Theme Song

HaKirya, Tel Aviv, The IDF HQ
With the past few crazy weeks, Gilad Metz was on crazy pressure to try and weaken Hamas further and had his coalition breaking down, people like Naftali Bennet, Avigdor Liberman and so on, he would have great trouble keeping them under control and a demand for elections was met, the date was chosen and 9th of April it was.
Gilad's biggest enemies were Nethanyau, who is running again, and a former Ramatkal (General) in the IDF known as Benny Gantz, a person who is estimated to overtake both of these men. He knew these people are great trouble to him, but fortunately for him, he was receiving reports of kidnapping of police officers, reports of the Inyurstans and various militias attacking Hezbollah and chaos in Syria. He knew that he could cement his reign by helping the cause against Hezbollah and solve various problems, so he went to the Kirya and got the report of the kidnap of Israeli officers, he is going to call the campaign on rescuing them before it becomes way too much of a problem. He received intel from the McNernians that first the DFLP/PFLP did that with analysis of ambushes and various other operations and that they might be taken to Iran, because Iran can host these kidnappers to make returning the victims almost impossible, but knowing both the PFLP/DFLP, in the West Bank they have almost became full fledged political parties and were losing their military wings for centuries, for example, the PFLP in the West Bank sank from being a trained militia and a threat to just a harmless political party because they pushed their military wing aside, the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades, this wing has been inactive for a couple of years and is not as it was before, plus DFLP didn't have much of a military wing, possibly a few cells working under it's name, but they still somehow kidnapped Israelis even though of their status, showing they meant business, and knowing the Iranians too, they have a lot of problems in Syria now, and they can't focus on small time groups in the West Bank at the same time, plus the IRGC didn't have much influence there but they could still make a deal if they don't act fast enough.

Gilad ordered the IDF commanders to send a Mista'arvim(people who infiltrate terrorist ranks to gain intelligence and assimilate in Arab society) Unit from the Duvdevan Unit and the Yamas Unit (Mista'arvim unit from the Israeli Border police), a few ELINT planes and use the Intelligence Directorate to locate where the kidnapped might be, Sayeret Matkal would go to that location, breach it and get this situation over with. There is to mention Israel is already experienced in such situations and a few small time organizations might not be a challenge to it.
They sent the some of the Mista'arvim to Bethlehem and to Nablus, where the support bases of the DFLP and PFLP are mostly at, they assimilated into Arab Communist society, parties and rings and started gathering intelligence, snooping around and asking unsuspicious questions and doing what they are supposed to do. They gathered various intelligence that there might be a delivery of a few "dirty colonizers" from some cabin east of Hebron in an open field. They tried to find out more but all in vain as it was the only intelligence they could get.
ELINT planes would be used and gathered signal intelligence of a very suspicious area East of Hebron and from a number of cabins there, the locations weren't nailed yet, also using McNernian analysis of the ambush, they realized the locations where they might took them.
The intelligence directorate also used the cyber units in it's arsenal to gain intelligence of anything in PFLP/DFLP social media and used even various cyber attacks and hacks to achieve their goal and they did.
Using all the data that was gained, they got that one cabin, East of Hebron was used for storing all the victims in there, who knows what they are going through right now.

Under the cover of night, Sayeret Matkal, which is especially in trained in Hostage rescue and operating behind enemy lines were sent to that one cabin in Hummers by cover of Helicopters, the Israeli border police and various elements of the army was in the fence if needed.

A team of 12 people was sent to rescue these officers.

East of Hebron, West Bank, 12 PM
The Israeli convoy of hummers was driving through the Palestinian authority land with ease, as they took popular routes for Israeli settlers and it was unlikely the PFLP/DFLP were going to pull off another ambush.
They arrived at some hill near it, not before getting recon and dismounting and proceeding operation.
They silently crawled and crouched in, not before taking out two guards on duty, one pissing and another watching the horizon, they took them out with combat knives as they approached them silently and slit their throats. The place didn't seem too heavily guarded as the DFLP can't have much resources.
The Sayeret Matkal commander made the troops stack up around the sides of the door, one threw a flashbang and BAM! Everything for the terrorist inside faded to a white light, as they started pouring in and moving and lighting up every DFLP militant they see, the cabin was a bit larger than expected but they lighted up most of the militiants, but one Sayeret Matkal member got wounded due to wild AK fire and was wounded in the shoulder and was MedEvaced by helicopter, the kidnapped were there and were rescued back to Israel.
They were going to announce their prestigious victory after they will deal with Hezbollah.
It was a pretty quick and easy victory because of manipulation of DFLP's/PFLP's lack of resources.

HaKirya, Israeli IDF HQ
Since the hostage rescue is over, they can focus on other things, such as harming Hezbollah operations in various areas.
The Israeli High Command remembered that the Inyurstans and Lebanese militias are attacking Hezbollah in Beqqa valley and also that Israeli Combat engineers are currently blowing up tunnels in Southern Lebanon, a pretty infested area, infested with the plague known as Hezbollah.
So they decided to send a letter to the Inyurstan commanders in Lebanon to notify them of their involvement and possibly get the Inyurstans to help Israel.

From: IDF High Command and Israeli Ministry of Defense
To: Inyurstan Command in Lebanon
Encryption: MAXIMUM

In recent times, you have attacked the known terrorist organization know as Hezbollah, we are going to help the cause and mainly weaken their air defense capabilities by targeting SAMs and organize Direct Action and Special Recon SpecOps operations in South Lebanon, this will be mutually beneficial for the both of our sides, however, in case things go wrong, we will request you for your aid.
We will aid you well and together we might fatally cripple Hezbollah.

With respect,
IDF High Command and Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Ramat David Airbase and Camp Gibor, Israel

In Ramat David Airbase, the airforce has been briefed about the situation in Lebanon.
The air force commander told to his soldiers: "We need to take out SAMs to make room for ELINT Super King Air planes that will spot out ground targets for our troops in there, we will conduct standard SEAD operations and use Harpy and Harop drones to our fullest extent, they will be launched from border checkpoints and all our planes will be launched from here, use flares and MALD decoys to detect any SAM you see. There is suspicion that after 2006 they have amassed a number of SAMs, SPAAGs aren't important as they can be dodged, but if any of you find any sort of SAM, take em' down, we need to pave a safe way for our ELINT aircraft. Be careful of hitting our ground units, because Sayeret Matkal and Unit Egoz will send it's men to South Lebanon to execute Direct Action operations. Eliminate SAM rings and be effective."
The pilots stepped into the F-16Is, a very popular and effective tool of the Israeli Defense Forces. It was equipped with top notch anti-radiation missiles, air-to-airs and external fuel tanks.
It was the time for action.
A squadron of 13 F-16Is started flying from the Ramat David airbase to the skies of Lebanon, they are skilled enough to know how to handle themselves and their planes.

Skies of South Lebanon, Lebanon

The Israeli F-16I planes were flying majestically in the sky, racing towards different areas and SAMs, their objective was to eliminate every SAM they get their hands on.
These advanced pieces of work knew how to handle a simple SAM, it was estimated that Hezbollah cannot have a lot of SAM rings, despite arming efforts by the Iranian threat.
They had anti-radiation missiles, MALD decoys (that can trick SAM operators into revealing themselves), cluster bombs and air to air missiles.
They targeted usually rugged, mountainous positions and known SAM positions that were detailed before this attack.
They popped MALD decoys to make SAM positions reveal itself and thus getting themselves bombed with Anti-Radiation missiles.
These Anti-Radiation missiles would often hurt the radar more than the battery but both are important things to get rid of.
They circled South Lebanon is search of SAM rings and batteries.
If any area was found to have more than a few SAMs they would fire cluster bombs that would effect the entire area in range.
Harpy and Haron suicide UAVs would fly in range with the F-16s and if any SAM would be detected by joint efforts or just the UAV's detection alone, it fly itself quickly towards the SAMs radar and launching platform and explode, such were the ways of destroying SAMs.
If such attacks would continue, Hezbollah's air defense capabilities would weaken severely in South Lebanon.

Israeli border with Lebanon
Sayeret Matkal and Unit Egoz would be sneaking over the Lebanese border, using old ways of finding loopholes inside the fence and Israeli checkpoints letting them in because of operational freedom and being helped by current Israeli soldiers inside Lebanon who are blowing up Hezbollah tunnels (Aka Israeli Combat Engineers and detachments of Golani Brigade), they would have a convoy of hummers into Israeli established territory and "checkpoints" and then would wait until the airstrikes are over and Hezbollah's air defense capability was crippled and ELINT aircraft could get in and spot ground targets for them.
Hezbollah wouldn't know what hit them from these highly trained SpecOps forces.

by **McNernia** » Fri Jan 04, 2019 3:42 pm

Southern Syria
1st Volunteer Brigade

TO: Deputy Commander Abdul Tariq Hussein
FROM: Brigadier Saood Al-Radi;

Confirmed,
We will move to seize the objectives you have indicated. Our artillery is some 120mms and our armor is armored cars with 45mm main guns and ATGMs. We hope we can do you proud.
Insallah

They moved as soon as the order could be passed around to the various lagers of armored vehicles. The command had gone out to also reposition the guns and satellite passes were relatively frequent. The promise of Mcnernian air support. The feared Pile drivers joining the battle was something that was relished. But the current fight had plenty of close air support on alert. So the oirder went out for a general advance. Secure the area near the city for artillery, half the guns were packed up and moved while drones were scouting for any sign of the enemy. Armor took point ever wary of the possibility of ambush and drones orbited overhead. Modified commercial things, not the ones that the Air Force or Army Air Corps would deploy to provide battlefield intelligence and strikes. But they could fly a decent enough distance.

Armored cars led the advance towards the heights, the artillery was Zeroed in on the place. Any sign of fire that was hostile and the place would be leveled with 120mm Thermobaric munitions.

Griffindon, McNernia
Prime Ministers Retreat

“This Syria problem will have to be resolved.”

Andrew Holtworth was old, tired, a grandfather and he had lost weight at the insistence of his doctors who were worried that the fate of the Empire would be in dire jeprody if he were to suffer a heart attack. One had to wonder how he had not died from the stress of the job, fourth Prime Minister in about as many years or something.

He walked through the garden at the Prime Ministers retreat out in the wilds beyond the bounds of the massive city. The old manor house was stately and well made. And very secure. The young secretary at his side smiled a bit. She had loved a soldier who was on exercise, anticipation was high that there would be a deployment to join the invasion. She had loved him but he was an officer and she was an ambitious woman. They wrote each other, emails exchanged. But the fact was, soldiers did not date aspiring politicians.

“Of course sir.” She said looking at her mentor. There was all manner of talk in her young circles about the Libertarians coming to power on the heels of a coup by Price who by all rights with Hutanjia and Damoclea had redeemed himself against half baked rebels who were even with the high technology of Communism still outnumbered. The Army had been caught flat footed by the invasion. And though Price had done well, those defeats haunted him. She knew that Holtworth had considered removing Price.

“Maeve, what would you do, if you were me?”

“Id arrange a demonstration of our might sir, the Army is getting better…best we deter rather than actually fire shots.”

The exercise was simple enough, a demonstration in the art of power projection, a operation that would see Aircraft used in a symbol of the might of a nation. SACTO was not going to roll over idily as Europe was falling into the hands of assorted Nazis. Bashar Al Assad was Baathist and a Leftist. Which made him someone on the Empires hit list as much as the people would not like it. Prosperity demanded that some nations die. And so the Syrian Arab Republic and its saviors may well face that wrath. Spilling refugees into the world beyond.

The Mcnernian Royal Air Force dispatched eight bombers on a mission from the homeland, from bases in the north across the land to Cardinth and then they would be on to America and exercises there. Nellis and return after many hours in the air.

A sign SACTO was not to be messed with.

It was only a small part of the plan. SACTO had other ways of projecting its might. A fleet was dispatched from the Homeland whilst Communiques were sent to the various nations that had intervened in the conflict warning them to stay out. Four full carrier groups would be sent on a mission. The threat of a blockade of the Straits of Hormuz would be more than enough to deter the Iranians. Who seemed to be the leaders in the coalition forces. And with Marines they would be prepared to keep the straits open. Or shutter them.

Four groups would not be enough if the UN/(WA) sent the Americans full might against the Mcnernians as they moved to sever the juglar of the worlds economy. Mcnernia had acess to oil from extra regional sources and plenty of Nuclear power. The arrival would set off alarm bells in the middle East. Best to do that. Best to make sure that they knew just who they were messing with.

by **Khataiy** » Sun Jan 06, 2019 5:54 pm

Al-Khalidiyah, Hasakah Governorate, Syria

After fulling withdrawing from the front lines with ISIS in Ash-Shafah and withdrawing from Raqqa YPG's forces arrived in the border town of al-Khalidiyah, while it was held by the Kurdish YPG it was prominently Assyrian with a mostly Christian population. The only connection to Iraq was severed by a river, a floating bridge built was the only link connecting the two. The bridge was used frequently to send supplied to YPG from Iraq and was now being used by YPG to invade northern Iraq and "liberate" Iraqi Kurdistan, YPG was relying on the Sinjar Alliance and PUK to help stabilize and support their efforts against their new rival the ENK that would prove to be a major roadblock in the PKK's mission to unite the Kurds under their banner.

Relations between the YPG and Assad were the best they probably have ever been even with the recent mass defection of Assyrians to the National Defense Forces, but the common enemies of SACTO and Turkey were enough to force them together. SAA units in Qamishli were also deployed to the border not to enter Iraq but provide logistical support, mortars were also brought along to help shell ENK for YPG and their allies in the Sinjar region.

Kirkuk, Hawija and Tuz Khurmato, Kirkuk and Salahhudin Governorates, Iraq

Tribesmen allied with ISIS celebrating the takeover of Hawija and Tuz Khurmato

It has been barely 2 years since ISIS lost all territorial control in Iraq leading them to continue to carryout an underground insurgency in eastern Iraq's rough terrain with attack frequently targeting local police and whatever Iraqi governmental forces or Shiite militias that dare entered into the area. ISIS' strategy and policy in eastern Iraq its heartland was vastly different than elsewhere that the group operated and this was thanks to strong tribal ties and former Iraqi officers using ISIS as a means of combating Iran's occupation of the country, a lot pragmatic decisions and alliances were made including at times backroom deals with the Kurds not to attack them, sell them oil and weapons or even agree to assassinate shared rivals such as Shiite politicans loyal to Iran, strong ties were also held to Iraq's Baath resistance which itself is strongly linked to Khataiyi intelligence.

ISIS stormed the cities of Hawija and Tuz Khurmato simultaneously from the mountains and deserts and took control of a portion of road 24 that connects Kirkuk to Tikrit in the process Inghimasi units attacked local police stations, while cells in the cities began targeting government offices, Shiite Mosuqes and Husseiniyas, checkpoints and the homes of people identified as being affiliated with the Iraqi government in anyway or form, tribesmen affiliated with both ISIS and the Baath Party were also quick to act by having their tribal forces take control of the cities and keep order while ISIS came in after clearing out the area of resistance to their raise their flag and claim control.

Code: Select all: From: Abu Udai al-Iraqi, The Public and Tribal Relations Office of the Islamic State-Wilayat al-Iraq To: The Iraqi Awakening Front While we share many differences and while we may have open declared animosity towards one another, nothing can beat our hatred for the Rafida Safavids of Iran that are occupying Iraq, we vow before Allah to leave your men alone if you agree to leave ours in the districts of Kirkuk, Diyala, Salahhudin, and Northern Baghdad. Our offices, committees, and departments also vow to protect business between our regions, secure arms shipments, and allow free passage of your men through these areas unharmed or harassed and we ask for the same in return. Such agreements have been arranged with the Baathis, Kurdish factions, and other resistance organizations and movements in the region, we seek to unite the Sunnis of Iraq, May God guide your decision in this generous offer, Allah is witness in all affairs. -Islamic State- 1440 Hijri

"White flags" guerillas near Kirkuk

Nobody knew who they truly were, an ISIS offshoot, Kurdish nationalists, Baathists, a new al-Qaeda affiliate, tribal warriors or all the above? But one thing was certain they opposed the Iraqi government and Iranian forces and were more than willing to fight them by waging a guerilla campaign attacking oil fields, police stations and carrying assassinations and planting IEDs. While the group to outsiders was mysterious after emerging in late 2017 the group has links to Talha Khairallah, Peshmerga, the Baath Party and former Ansar al-Islam & ISIS elements that have come together in a sort of combined operation room to jointly carryout attacks covertly not to draw to much attention while also at the same time centralizing their efforts in an effective manner, as way to help out one another without putting the others against each other or creating unneeded competition, and now with IAF, ISIS and Iraq's tribes mobilizing across northeastern Iraq it was the perfect time for the secret coalition to join in with seizing Kirkuk with IAF, White Flag's got their name from the white flags they fly to show their neutrality between the different parties and their Pan-Iraqi movement their members were diverse but exclusively Sunni Muslims the leaders were Arab, Turkmen and Kurdish as were its members.

Syrian Desert, Homs Governorate, Syria

ATGM firing at oncoming armor

SAA and allied forces had battled in this region before and were ready to use an elastic-defense to eventually counter-attack. The first phase of the counter-attack was multiple ATGMs firing upon various SAF tanks along different parts of the front, while MLRS would also fire to penetrate behind enemy lines and cause panic and hopefully damage enemy equipment and vehicles as Syrian armored columns consisting of multiple T-72s, T-62s and a few T-90s would begin go emerge from Tadmur.

While the forefront of the counter-attack was seemingly going well the aerial bombardments would change that situation, the bombings hundreds of SAA soldiers and allied militia fighters were killed dozens were injured some fatally and scores of equipment was damaged. ZU-23s began firing the air in an attempt to hit something even if it was futile.

However the Bm-21 GRADs and rockets while killing and injuring many was something SAA was prepared to deal with and took proper action to protect themselves, but as time went on the counter-attack began to falter in the open field combat of the desert and overwhelming bombardments and oncoming fighters, commanders began discussing a tactical retreat to Tadmur to regroup and force the enemy to fight an urban battle the city which would hopefully drain them of resources so that SAA could successfully counter-attack later on. The Syrian military had also began moving engineering units to go to Tadmur to begin building defenses such as bunkers, trenches and so on so that when SAF arrived they'd be in for a fight.

OOC: I will address Lebanon and Fallujah in my next post

by **Bronze Serpent** » Fri Jan 18, 2019 11:29 pm

Hasakah, Hasakah Governorate, Syria

The Assyrian Patriotic Resistance an organization formed from mass defections from failing SDF had joined the Pro-Assad NDF, , however a recent move had been made through numerous clever political maneuvers the Assyrian Patriotic Resistance then opted out of the National Defense Forces and declared itself its own faction only days after the declaration of joining the NDF, the move was a great surprise for many and came after a unified vote by the National Council within the various Christian militias within the pro-Assad NDF and former SDF in the Hasakah.

After the meeting of the various groups a decision was made, the group's new goal was to operate in between supporting the Assad regime and whoever they might find benefiting their political interests.

A message was sent to SACTO forces

An Official Communique from the Assyrian Patriotic Resistance to the Syrian Awakening Front

We would like to forge a non-aggression pact, since we do not see the use in fighting you as many of you are brothers and honorable. We seek common cooperation in rooting out the Marxist kurds, We hope that you accept our offer.

by **Khataiy** » Mon Jan 21, 2019 4:16 pm

Raqqa, Raqqa Governorate, Syria

TASWJ video message addressing HTS, the YPG, the FSA and SACTO's Syrian Awakening Front

In Eastern Khataiy clashes have erupted between HTS and the FSA-aligned National Front for Liberation, TASWJ was still a new formation but this conflict was of certain urgency to the group as many of its men at one point were members of both al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham but ended up joining either Arab factions in the YPG-led Syrian Democratic Forces or ISIS but now found themselves reunited and managed to convince YPG to withdraw from Raqqa due to threats of war which would be extremely costly to YPG and result in a large loss of life and resources that they currently need to fight Peshmerga and the ENK, and possibly the Turkish, along with careful moves on behalf of Saudi Arabia's own intelligence agency that was coordinating with Khataiy's over YPG's affairs. But not only was TASWJ made up of fighters formerly part of the opposition but the group's leader was the nephew of Khataiy's President and the son of the director the intelligence agency tasked with upholding Khataiyi interests in Syria.

Plots were being made to convince multiple Turkish backed factions to defect and reform under a Khataiyi backed banner, but things were changing and Khataiyi ties to the Turkish-backed factions were going a new direction where influence was steadily rising to where drastic measures were perhaps not being needed, the Turkish backing could even be over looked if the conditions were right, Talha new this as did everyone in the Khataiyi government, TASWJ had to establish their stance on HTS and the situation in Eastern Khataiy as it would be pivotal to the future of the important Eastern Syria region, he began to speak as a Nasheed

"In the name of Allah the most Gracious, the most Merciful, all praise is due to Allah the lord of the worlds, we are the sons of the land, we are the sons of the Levant and Jazeera. Over the years we have shed blood to defend the revolution against the Iranian agent Bashar and his colonialist backers in Tehran to free our people, we have strove hard with many great factions and many of our brothers, fathers and sons have become martyrs. We see the situation in Khataiy between the soldiers of the revolution, and we see Hayat al-Joulani, let it be known he is the abandoner of the Eastern region, and he put his selfishness before us leading to the PKK take over and now we see this repeated in Rayhaniya, many of us once fought under Joulani during the days of Jabhat al-Nusra and we saw many victories but it wasn't without sacrifice and it wasn't free of guilt seeing the ways of Joulani and his loyalty to foreign intelligence agencies and the strong links to Bashar's mukhabarat.

We are indeed not only the sons of the Levant and Jazeera, but we are the sons of Ahrar al-Sham, we are the sons of freedom and the revolution and we stand by our brothers in Rayhaniya against the treachery of Hayat and we will your arrival in Raqqa oh our brothers, we will welcome you and your return, we call on Joulani and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham to come to their senses and to stop acting foolishly you will drag Khataiy down with you just as you dragged Syria and its men down with you.

We also warn the so-called "International Freedom Battalion" and their presence around Raqqa you are criminals and we will come after you, you are not welcome in our country you filthy homosexual criminals you slaughtered Raqqa and we will slaughter you unless you evacuate the entire Raqqa governorate, and YPG has told us they will not protect you, you may hand in your weapons in exchange for safe passage to any other area held by Rojava or you can choose to resist and be punished by us.

We also address the Syrian Awakening Front, we call on you to cooperate with us in the liberation of Syria, we demand that we be allowed in your areas, and we ask that you send forces to assist us against the invaders. We also ask that you allow our forces to administer liberated sections as this is our land, and your formation is a guest of our nation, we wish you blessings and victory against the Alawites and Safavids.

At this time we have no dealings with the Syrian National Army or National Liberation Front, but as their brothers we pray for their victory against the oppressors, God is with you our brothers be patient oh Rayhaniya, God is the greatest, all praise is due to him, may the peace and blessings of God be upon you, sincerely from your brothers in Free Raqqa."

by **Qirmizi Azerbaycan** » Mon Jan 21, 2019 5:05 pm

Syrian Border
Southwest Khataiy

Following the successful meeting between the Khataiyi President and the Commissar of National Defence, the Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan had agreed to deploy a force to the Arab nation in order to send a message to their mutual foe, the Iranians. Well aware of the ever-shifting nature of the conflict in the region, the People's Red Army had wasted no time in sending the requested force to support their new allies. The 15th Mechanised Battalion, a veteran formation composed of soldier-revolutionaries who had supported the March Revolution from within the military, now patrolled the Khataiy-Syrian border, BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles and MT-LB armoured personnel carriers trundling across the rocky landscape.

They had not yet deployed not Syria proper, instead biding their time within Khataiy and waiting until they were sure of where to strike. Being only a battalion in strength, they had limited resources and could only operate within a relatively small area, ensuring that they had to pick their targets carefully. Obviously their primary foes were the Tehran-backed Assad government and their allies, including Hezbollah and any Iranian military personnel, but they certainly wouldn't turn down the opportunity to strike at the islamist terrorists plaguing Syria, particularly the so-called Islamic State itself. Their nominal allies in these objectives were quite bewildering to some of the less realpolitik-inclined soldiers of the 15th Mechanised, they may well end up fighting alongside the forces of the Santiago Anti-Communist Treaty Organisation itself during their mission in Syria, not to mention the Israelis and their American allies. Still, they weren't about to question the decisions of the Commissar of National Defence himself, and fully intended to loyally carry out their orders once they received them.

by **Khataiy** » Mon Jan 21, 2019 8:51 pm

Baku, Azerbaijan

Khataiyi Army Special Forces awaiting orders in Baku

As Azerbaijan's forces had arrived in Khataiy to prepare joint operations with the Khataiyi army near the Syrian border, Khataiy's military arrived in Azerbaijan to do the same along Iran's border 145 men were sent 30 of which were special forces from the "al-Battar special operations and tasks battalion", which along with As-Sai'qa commandos were considered the most elite in the country. The other 115 men were regular foot soldiers of different ranks that had been selected mostly from positions near Syria's border as many have experience combat against Iran's forces and proxies and already had experience in border patrol, another 10 men came along from the Khataiyi Border Guards which is tied to the national guard under the interior ministry, multiple armored cars were brought along as well and were unloaded from the C-130 that delivered them from Khataiy to Azerbaijan.

After organizing and unloading a convoy set out towards the Azerbaijani army's position near Iran's border, Khataiyi military vehicles bore police lights, and several civilian buses were used to transport the regular fighters and heavier vehicles such as armored cars not being used were loaded on the back of flatbed trailers, cameramen affiliated with the Khataiyi military filmed the entire event as it made for great propaganda value and embedded journalists interviewed various soldiers involved in "Operation al-Qisas (retribution)" and the convoy of Khataiyi vehicles accompanied by Azerbaijani policy and the military continued until they reached their destination near the border and began unloading to prepare for their task.

by **Inyourfaceistan** » Wed Jan 23, 2019 7:14 pm

Coastal Syria*

As noon turned to afternoon and tilted towards dusk, the enemy finally revealed themselves in full and began attempting a push-back against the 1st Brigade D'Armor's bypassing maneuver on the eastern outskirts of Tartus. The Inyurstan armored force moved to hit the enemy head-on, the IFV's and light tanks still taking the lead due to the presence of enemy ATGM's but the lack of targets requiring a full MBT battalion. An array of weaponry, topped by 105mm cannon fire from the Caiman light tanks and 57mm fire from the Gila IFV's met the oncoming enemy columns as the Inyurstan forces pushed forward.
Battalion level commanders began employing their Type-22 "Tigerfly" tactical MLRS to meet the enemy's counter-attack. The Type-22 was a smaller, 120mm towed system similar in appearance to the Chinese Type-63 or Russian RPU-14. It was designed to engage targets inside of 10km, and relied more on close proximity to the enemy rather than specialized guidance (beyond in-flight-stabilizing fins). Using the rockets, the Inyurstans would seek to drive a wedge between the frontal components of the counter-attack and the center component, or "mass", of forces trying to move up behind them - ideally leaving the very frontal units briefly cut off and facing down much heavier and well-trained opposition while the center bulk would be either taking cover or back-pedaling and surrendering the initiative.

Casualties were beginning to pile as the drive moved north on the first day. Tartus was proving itself a complicated battle, with roughly 200 killed or critically wounded on the first day. Such numbers would not look pretty on the nightly news, especially given the fact they were incurred against a largely Christian opposition.

"Contacté a la droitché!" Someone shouted as automatic fire erupted from an adjacent alleyway as Corporal Emilio D'Aveux ducked behind the IAV-95M2 Gila IFV and a number of loud pinks hit the ground and side of the vehicle where he had just been.
"Fuck this shit!" Said one of his squadmates, also taking cover behind the vehicle.
"Fuck these assholes, and give me cover!" He replied, taking point as he leaned back around the live vehicle and fired his black, carbon fiber AKI-3M assault rifle (AK-103 equivalent) at an enemy behind a brick wall.
"BUHM!!!" the cannon from the IFV echoed as it sent a high explosive round straight into the engine block of an oncoming technical, simultaneously disabling the vehicle, killing the driver with the forward explosive splash of the round sending shredded and flaming shards of the engine block right into him. The sudden shift of inertia caused the pick-up truck to bow over backwards, its gunner pinned beneath the weight as the truck caught fire.
With little warning the APS alert system on the Gila started screaming and both soldiers dropped to the ground. A 73mm low-velocity gun came flying in from left-field, and the inner hard-kill layer of the Hailstorm APS intercepted the round in mid-air approximately 2.5m from the front left-side of the vehicle, sending warhead shrapnel and concussive force at the pair, effectively knocking out Emilio and severely wounding his comrade.

The Gila hit back with a quick BUHM-BUHM-BUHM as it fired a 3-round burst of 57mm cannon fire, the first triggering an ERA panel and the second & third entering the BMP from the dead front, stopping it in its tracks and leaving a tiny plume of black smoke in the holes they left behind; meanwhile, more soldiers rushed to bring Emilio and his squadmate to better cover and the nearest medic.

Inyurstan and Lebanese artillery fired back at the Syrian guns, using the opportunity of the enemy's positions up on the hills to hopefully score easy shots, even with unguided ammunition; while they, on the other hand, would either remain mobile as was the case with the Type-44 Calango guns or hug the south & southwest-facing slopes, narrowing the angle at which enemy unguided shells could strike them without either hitting the slope or overshooting the target.

The pair of F-16C Vipers swooped down and targeted enemy artillery positions on the hill with 500lb laser-guided bombs, while the pack of EF-20 Crotaléas targeted rocket artillery such as Grads and Uragans with their ASM-7 missiles. The pair armed primarily with air-to-air and SEAD hung higher in the sky, in case more enemy SAM's should come online or fighters should show up. Both the IA-52 and IA-59 MALE UAV's continued overhead surveillance, using both IR & color livestream as well as short-range SIGINT data to track enemy movements and attempt to locate and isolate vital enemy command positions.

In Saifita, the Lebanese Army hunkered down, using the city as cover from the shelling - assuming the Syrians/[Lonogradi] wouldn't fire indiscriminately against their own city.

Damascus-Golan Front

With a period of relative non-action on behalf of the enemy forces in western Damascus, the troops of the 5th Brigade D'Armor were given additional time to dig in on their holdings. They continued fortifying and "compartmentalizing" the front lines with Hesco bastions, and now rear engineering units were bringing forth barbed wire rolls to cover vulnerable areas. A combination of smart mines, M18 "Claymore" clones, and remote-triggered anti-vehicle shape charge mines were also set up in major areas which might allow vehicle advances.

The mobile Type-44 "Calango" 155mm artillery guns kept firing away, coating large swaths of the western city sections with vision and IR obscuring smoke.

Two OA-29 "Hognose" (EMB-314 Super Tucano) light attack aircraft made their pass over the city now that a large portion of SAM and radar-directed AAA fire had been suppressed. Their major payload was not any lethal munition, but rather external storage bays mounted to hard points carrying hundreds of leaflets written in Arabic and French warning the civilian population of the western Damascus suburbs to evacuate. Once dropped to the wind, the papers would disperse and drift over areas of Damascus, as the two Hognose propeller-craft would try to quickly evac back to friendly airspace. Meanwhile the EC-370S "Magic Madness" PSYOPS aircraft was now flying above the border in Lebanon, blasting messages to any and all communications channels still live after the power was shutdown. The messages, spoken by the same Arabic linguist on the crew, were urging soldiers to defect and civilians to evacuate, warning that the "Armageddon Firestorm" was inbound. Messages were also sent targeting the ethnic divides, asking if the socialist Alawite in power would risk his family and die for them in the face of overwhelming force as he was asking them to do for him.

Meanwhile, the 9th Brigade de Composité continued its sweep through the Golan, now pushing south towards Nawa to link up with the main body of rebel forces in Da'ara and complete the liberation of the corridor from Jordan to Lebanon, as well as cutting of SAA/[LPA] and Bashryyian forces left on the Israeli border - those that had survived the initial FSA & American push underlying the Inyurstan massacre of their rear flank forces.

Lebanon

To the north and west, Inyurstan precision-guided munitions had managed to draw an immense number of civilian casualties despite picking military targets - now, Hezbollah had started firing unguided HE rockets into Lebanese cities. Within the first hour, almost a hundred civilians of mixed faiths had been killed by Hezbollah indiscriminately peppering urban and residential areas with unguided Grad, Katushya and Fajir rockets to try and kill the Sunni and Maronite infiltration squads. In the Bequaa Valley, the militias engaged Hezbollah in close quarters, catching them by surprise and firing upon them with rockets and small arms before backpedaling into the hills and rural outskirts. Hezbollah had indeed long fought in both Syria and Iraq, and this is what SACTO, Lebanese and Israeli commanders had actually placed their confidence in. Hezbollah, battered from foreign campaigns and an ongoing conflict with Israel would be forced to fight a 3-front war in Lebanon, Syria/[Lonograd] and Iraq - and of course the home fight being a much larger anti-Hezbollah coalition.

In Beirut the fighting between Hezbollah and the Kataeb militias broke down into street-to-street conflict, with the Christian militia determined to drive the Shiites into the sea. Lebanese propaganda was already cheering over the death of Muhammed Aknan, Hezbollah's commander in Beirut, dispute neither Inyurstan nor Lebanese forces having confirmed the result of the drone strike yet. Meanwhile the Lebanese Army was merely "quarantining" the conflict in Beirut, although acting as effective supply lines for the Kataeb in their assault on Hezbollah. Uniformed forces also made multiple arrests, and even a few summary executions of organized crime associated with the "Party of God's" prostitution and Hashish/Opium dealings, while some of the arrested were handed over to the Inyurstans, who would vanish them away to a blacksite in Israel.

The Inyurstans themselves were currently setting up aerial surveillance of the Iranian Embassy in Beirut. SIGINT intel and comms data suggested that Nasrallah was in the building, and now with street fighting going on their chances of finding him were actually increased. They had a contingency plan in case the Iranians stayed put, in case they tried to move via sea, or more likely in case they made a bolt for the airport. The Lebanese Army had been asked specifically not to storm the airport - yet - but to be ready to support an Inyurstan operation to capture the Hezbollah leader. A single IA-59 was flying high above the city, with its focus down on the area around the Iranian embassy and the street battles breaking out on the borders of the Shiite and Maronite sections of the city, while the NIS had up several smaller low-altitude IA-67 "Sparrow" UAV's - which were funnily enough actually designed to look like small birds flying at around 2,000-5,000ft overhead.
In the hills of Baadrane, the A-TAG commandos were gearing up again, running through possible scenarios while ground crews fueled up the birds and prepared to move into Beirut...

Hugging the coastline to mask their radar signatures with ground clutter and salt spray, the aerial pack moved into engage what was left of the enemy ships enterin Lebanese waters. Their weapon of choice was the ASM-7R STRIKE-II, a modified STRIKE missile used by the Inyurstan Navy & Marínas consisting of a two-stage shape charge - thermobaric warhead optimized to kill small boats and coastal fortifications. Flying just above the water, each helicopter selected a target such as a torpedo boat or patrol craft just on the edge of the visual horizon, and let fly. They hovered over the water, rotorbeats slapping the top of the shallow blue eastern Mediterranean - still out of range of most enemy SAM's that would be adorning any boats of this size, but close enough to keep control of their missiles and redirect or adjust fire if need be.

Jordan

"So am I to take it forces under the direction of Khatiay will move to take Latakia and meet us at Jablah or am I to inform my commanders to go ahead and proceed with their plans to capture Latakia as well?" Calderone then sat back, awaiting a reply.

"This out of the way, I am sure you are aware our allies in the Awakening Front and other SACTO multi-national forces are having a bit of an ISIS problem. Of course, I am also aware that Khatiay has itself a bit of a Turkey problem...

Whats the old saying...? If you scratch our back, we'll scratch yours?"

Various domestic airbases; Inyursta

In two separate locations, one in the super-island of Marindino, the other somewhere in the mountains of Topoguya, a chunk of the Inyurstan strategic bomber force was being mobilized. A total of 10 BM-37R4 medium-heavy bombers were wheeled out of their fortified hangars onto the runways and prepped for launch. Within the hour they would be heading for the Middle East, where they would refuel over Israel and move through Jordan towards their various targets.

At a third location on the east side of Marindino, and air wing was being prepped for deployment to Iraq. Unlike past wars, especially the infamous Lolloh-Roulnik Conflict, the Inyurstans would not be able to just send their fighters early, and needed to bring in the appropriate ground crews and set-up beforehand due to the situation on the ground.

by **Khataiy** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 12:29 pm

Rebel-held Latakia, Latakia Governorate, Syria

National Front for Liberation taking control of a village

The Khataiyi government had been pushing for the Syrian rebels to be tasked with leading the offensive to clear the Khataiyi border from Assad's control, the cards for Khataiyi interests in Syria were seemingly shrinking with the rise of SAF in the East in almost direct contradiction to the Khataiyi intelligence plot to convince Arabs disgruntled with YPG to split off, and in the northeast Inyursta's forces were directly attacking Assad, talks were emerging of Khataiy sending its own army in to take the border but this wasn't what Khairallah wanted, to send in his own troops who had just fought Assad and come to a Russian mediated agreement to end the fighting, Khataiy was also working to turn the FSA on Turkey much like they turned several Arab factions against YPG and this would be a prime opportunity to do so by giving them some room to operate with direct Khataiyi support, leaving this the best option for Khataiy compared to either supporting SACTO efforts or staying out all together, brief cooperation with Turkey was nothing new for Khataiy especially when there were benefits.

Tensions were high in Idlib and Eastern Khataiy where the National Front for Liberation and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham battled for control, with HTS seeking to subjugate every group not part of HTS even their closest allies, Latakia had been spared of the bloodshed due to no group holding dominance in the area along with Khataiyi and Turkish troops in the area that would block any HTS attempt to break into Latakia. The time for NFL to rise was now, as SAA was distracted moving down to Tartus to push Inyurstan troops back into Lebanon, eastern Latakia was now exposed and prime for attacking.

Early in the morning multiple mortars began to barrage regime outposts, followed by several howitzers. Soon an attack was led by small formation consisting of dozens of men began to advance through Latakia's forests taking over remote locations until they began to reach villages which were almost all left empty by SAA and their allies, by 10:00 in the morning 5 villages had been successfully taken before the Syrian began to notice, after holding these villages reinforcements would arrive with technicals, BMPs, additional fighters and ATGMs.

Khataiyi drones flew above providing live intel on SAA and allied movements to NFL so they could adequately prepare to counter their attacks, fresh supplies from Khataiy were also coming in, Khataiyi soldiers handed weapons including M4 rifles, various Kalashnikovs and PKMs to whoever showed up no questions were asked as to who they were they were just given out, and ammunition along with fresh supplies were being delivered by Khataiyi forces in the area.

HTS in the area was nowhere near as significant or as powerful as it was in Idlib being cutoff by Khataiy and Turkey, however a presence did still remain, HTS kept most of their foreign fighters in Latakia as the area was free from much of the rebel infighting which many foreign fighters rejected as many wanted to fight the regime only, the area was likewise home to the Chinese Turkistan Islamic Party which also had a fair share of fighters from other countries and even native Syrians, there was also a large presence of fighters from Russia and the Caucuses as many veterans from the Chechen wars and had experience in mountain warfare the Caucasian and Russian presence was significant enough to where they ran independent groups such as Ajnad al-Kavkaz, many independent and factionless fighters were also present in the area along with several smaller Jihadi factions, the areas lack of true control and freedom from rebel infighting in a way made it the capital for foreign fighters and Jihadi groups focused on fighting the Syrian government.

The Khataiyi government turned a blind eye to the TIP and the foreign fighters in general as many had traveled through Khataiy in the first place to get to Syria likewise the fighters from Russia were also shown a blind eye, some even say that the Russian government brought them to Syria so they wouldn't be bothering Russia in the homeland or filling up Russia's prisons creating problems back home, and from the Khataiyi perspective it was just more men to fight Hezbollah's and Iran's militias.

The Khataiyi government, the Turkish and FSA did not mind at all the presence of TIP or the Chechens or the other foreign fighters in smaller less significant factions, but HTS was another story, the Khataiyi government views HTS as more than a generic terrorist organization but rather a puppet of Iranian interests that takes funds and orders from Tehran itself as odd as it may seem, and the relationship between HTS and Khataiy had been mixed and complex with Khataiy relying on HTS to allow the Khataiyi government to annex the entire Syrian border in Idlib and even open a sort of embassy in the city itself to correspond better with the opposition as well as show Assad that he has no legitimacy, but at the same time Khataiy feared that if HTS became powerful enough they would betray Khataiy through illicit deals with Iran, and as the Khataiyi government became increasingly suspicious of Qatar once an ally of Khataiy, fears were also rising that Qatar and Iran would use HTS against Khataiyi interests to counter-balance Khataiy's strong links to the Syrian revolution, but in light of the desperately needed purging of Assad's forces from the border much of this would need to be overlooked and not all of HTS would or could be prevented from taking part in this offensive.

Also present were the Syrian Turkmen brigades, which were natives of the region and strongly loyal to Turkey which was problematic to Khataiy such a well armed ethnic nationalist force that could potentially provoke Khataiyi Turks in the future, and though the Turkmen were strongly linked to the FSA and had many Arab allies back by Khataiy a strong Turkmen force was concerning and preventing them from taking part in the offensive would cause issues just as preventing HTS would, and this was aside the fact the Turkish government was pushing for the Turkmen to have a strong role in the offensive, however this was Khataiy's border and removing one threat to replace with another was counter-productive, Khataiyi forces on the ground kept a close eye on the Turkmen and an agreement was made with Turkey that no Turkmen brigades would take part in the battle for the Kessab border crossing.

Thus HTS would likewise follow behind in the offensive through not anywhere near in size in comparison to NFL only a few hundred men and a BMP or 2 would be allowed through by Khataiyi and Turkish forces through an understanding that this fight would be NFL's and HTS was only there to provide canon fodder which in exchange they would maintain their image as fighting the Syrian army, and HTS' own purge would come at a later time as many in the NFL were ready for vengeance as were some Jihadi factions, as a result of HTS' numerous campaigns to subject and conquer anyone not part of HTS, sometimes the HTS campaigns to swallow other groups even came in the way of fighting Assad, which in itself made many in the FSA, Jihadi groups and Khataiyi government uneasy, with Khataiyi intelligence officials even pointing fingers to Assad as being responsible for HTS through Syrian intelligence agencies like the Mukhabarat and the Air Force Intelligence Directorate which was known to have agents active in various factions to provoke infighting and defections to SAA, and according to the Khataiyi government HTS was the biggest of such intelligence operations to destroy the Syrian revolution.

Tartus, Tartus Governorate, Syria

Pro-Assad fighters taking cover

The counter-attack in Tartus was going successful for Assad's forces as reinforcements kept arriving from the east while in the city forces pushed against Inyurstan troops holding the eastern parts of the city squeezing them out from multiple directions pushing further and further south with every advance the MLRS added a new element several fighters were killed and injured from the MLRS but after it stopped being a surprise cover was taken in the urban area in basements and other buildings until the barrage would end, several vehicles were also damaged and destroyed but not enough to totally paralyze or even stop the SAA and their allies, while he was taking cover Commander Abu Muhammad, an ex-FSA commander from Daraa radioed in a SITREP to the elite Tiger Forces about the direction of the MLRS and about the situation in regards to how Inyurstan forces were falling back.

Though SAA was winning it did not come without a cost with 145 being killed in fighting and another 300 being injured the battle was nothing that could be considered easy. The artillery in the surrounding mountains did take beating as well the laser-guided attacks was not something easy to evade and many were killed instantly upon being hit, loud explosions rocked the mountains with chain reactions occurring with the other bombs being detonated as a result of the targeting, survival chances were slim to impossible, but they had served their purpose in shelling the enemy when they needed to do so in order to support the efforts in Tartus.

As Tartus increasingly became a victory and with Inyurstan and Lebanese forces falling back, choosing where to strike was now in the Syrian's hands to decide seeing how SACTO's forces were falling back toward Safita could be a good opportunity to deliver yet another massive blow to Inyursta and Lebanon damaging their moral and weakening their armed strength but at the same time the high concentration of their forces could make things difficult creating a Hajin like situation where SACTO could counter attack after exhausting the enemy with their defenses.

The Syrian government would have to tread carefully in Latakia and Tartus as this was Assad's biggest base of support with the area being home to Syria's Alawite population this is where Assad recruited his top officers and officials from, and the area hadn't been affected by the war and was even subject to receiving special treatment as a result, a gift for not rebelling and to keep the people in these areas from wanting to do so, this meant SAA needed to work hard on keeping an image as liberators and defenders, unlike elsewhere in Syria where image did not matter and anything was justified to win a battle.

SAA's plan was to keep pressing down from Tartus to secure the coast line, while in the east to utilize their control of Homs as a supply line, a build up of forces began to occur in the Christian village of Kafroun east of Safita where there were many tactical hills that would make the area easy to control and could be utilized against the enemy for mortars, snipers and other forms of fire.

Damascus, Syria

Aftermath of an explosion in Damascus

With the impeding offensive on Damascus looming, cells linked to the Free Syrian Army took advantage of the chaos to carryout attacks much like in the early days of the revolution, a cell known as the "Abu Amara Special Tasks Battalion" frequently carried out guerilla style attacks in regime strongholds like Latakia, Damascus and Aleppo, this time the target was the ministry of defense. As the leaflets fell FSA cells began to awaken across the city the explosion was executed using a simple IED made from several mortar shells and TATP in the back of a van that was parked out front and detonated killing several ministry officials and not long after Abu Amara claimed responsibility as did another, the Gathering of the Eastern Martyrs which is heavily tied to TASWJ and Talha, regardless of who did it more were certainly to come before Inyurstans would enter Damascus this would only show both Assad that he is not wanted and to show Inyursta to be careful in how they handle Syria.

The attack was also a blow to Syrian moral in defending the city and renewing the revolutionary flare that could elevate the FSA and make them known once more so when Inyursta does come they are the only ones in the arena of negotiations for a post-Assad Syria.

Daraa Governorate, Syria

Iraqi Militiamen

Daraa's situation was complex, the regime was resented here with nearly daily assassinations of SAA officials and several acts of civil disobedience, several insurgent cells also existed in area plotting and waiting for the time to strike to renew the revolution in its home as Daraa gave birth to Syria's civil war in 2011. The area was also important to Jordan and Israel, as the Nassib border crossing was a major source of income for Jordan through trade and for Israel the civil war gave the country a break from Assad's presence on their border however the influx of Iranian backed militias would come to a pose a security risk eventually leading to a deal being made where ex-FSA units act as border guards in a sense keeping Hezbollah out.

The fear of Shiite militias along the borders of Jordan and Israel prompted many of Iran's militias to join Syria's infamous 4th armored division to conceal the fact that they were indeed Iranian militants, however this didn't stop major militias from boasting about being on Israel's door step such as Harakat Hezbollah an-Nujaba from Iraq part of both Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces and Syria's 4th Armored Division, the group created a special unit in Daraa called "Liwa Tahrir al-Joulan" (Golan Liberation Brigade), and after taking the region from Syria's rebels Iranian generals would likewise also boast how close they were to Israel threatening to invade. The area saw an influx of Shia militias more so than almost any other part of the country aside from Aleppo, there were many Iranian stockpiles and bases in the area plotting for attacks either on or from Israel and Inyursta's invasion was the kind of situation they had been plotting for.

The town of Nawa was once the strong hold of the ISIS affiliated Khalid Ibn Walid Army, the area saw many refugees come to the area as it was cut off from many of the frontlines by the rebels, the area was run by familial ties and who you knew, with many of these familial ties being heavily linked to the Khalid Ibn Walid Army as a result forming its own sphere of influence almost reminiscent of one of China's warlord cliques in the early 1900s, as SAA arrived in 2018 retaking the area they were not received in open arms as the influential ruling families in the city had been removed from power in place of an outsider, the arrival of Inyursta's forces was met with mixed reactions from locals some weary of a non-Syrian force entering their town and imposing their rule much like Assad had, others saw this as an opportunity to restore the clan's rule to power just as the families of the area had in 2012 by forming the Yarmouk Martyr's Brigade and aligning with the FSA, time would tell however what direction the powerful families of Nawa would go, be it supporting Inyursta's "liberation", re-approaching Assad, or waging war against both just as they had in the past against the FSA and Assad alike, it truly was Nawa vs the world.

Lebanon

Hezbollah missiles firing at oncoming forces (play in background for effect)

Hezbollah's resources were strained, the group had witnessed many victories in Syria and Iraq, as well as successfully evicting the Syrian rebels from eastern Lebanon but they relied on a lot of external support in all these efforts, and now being largely cutoff and forced to fight a defensive war on the homefront, a large winter storm had also recently passed through the eastern Mediterranean covering much of the coastline from the Baalbek region of Lebanon all the way to Khataiy covered in snow, which could be a defensive advantage, the continuous hit and run attacks from Sunni and Christian militiamen inspired Hezbollah to do the same and send out small cammando teams armed with small arms towards the direction the militia fighters came from, they drove out using Iranian supplied 4x4 Safir jeeps fitted with SPG-9s and the men were armed with Iranian manufactured M4 style rifles, the Cammando unit much like the Sunni counter part known as Inghimasis were sent on a suicide mission minus the explosive belts as Hezbollah had long abandoned the use of suicide bombers, but the concept was the same to go in and kill as many as possible with extremely slim survival chances, they were given the same treatment, with farewells to their friends and family and videos making martyrdom statements to be released if they should die which was very likely, and they went out towards the enemy planning to destroy weapons caches, seize equipment if possible and most importantly kill as many as possible. The fire from Hezbollah's rockets was relied upon to soften the area and demoralize the enemy.

The street-to-street fighting in sections of Beirut was a regular thing for Hezbollah against its rivals from the Future Movement to Kataeb to even rival Shiite parties like Amal. Hezbollah's loyalists in Beirut were not uniformed or as well armed as typical Hezbollah members but were still armed nonetheless with PKMs and AK style rifles, many wore ski masks and keffiyehs to cover their faces, some fighters had equipment vests holding extra ammo and grenades others were able to get their hands on RPGs and use them against the Christian and Sunni fighters.

Nasrallah had fled the country seeking medical care for his cancer as well as safety from the violence in Lebanon, he had fled to Iran and made an audio recording addressing Lebanon's situation as he did not want to publish where he was while still addressing his supporters,

"Oh brothers and sisters, I address you as a Muslim and as a patriot for Lebanon, you have shown the world once your resilience in dealing with the Zionist's evil aggression against Lebanon and you will show the world again your strength in defending the homeland. You are like our brothers in Yemen with Ansarullah (supporters of Allah, Houthis) who resisting the Wahhabi invasion of Yemen that is backed the Zionists, and you too will not defend Lebanon from the invaders by waging a harsh war, you destroyed their puppet Wahhabi creations, they go by various names, Daesh, Jabhat al-Nusra, the Free Syrian Army and so on. You are a volcano of resistance and you will erupt on them, and I remind my countrymen, and my brothers, the Christians and Sunnis we are all believers in God and we follow the teachings of the blessed prophets Muhammad and Jesus, oh my Christian brothers do not sellout your nation for the imperialists, as for my Sunni brothers it is haram to kill fellow Muslims do not go down the path of the Wahhabis who are the Khawarij of our era, as for the men standing firm by Lebanon and the Party of Allah you are treading the path of Imam Hussein, Muhammad and Jesus, this is your Karbala oh followers of Hussein, this is your Kheybar oh soldiers of Muhammad, the path to Jerusalem will be paved with your blood, do not fear martyrdom in the way of Allah on the path of Jihad for this is honorable.

Long live Lebanon, long live the resistance, long live Hezbollah!"

Deir Ez Zor Governorate, Syria

ISIS GoPro footage of the Inghimasi attack on Stojamian forces

The cease-fire with SDF gave ISIS time to reorganize and regroup despite the constant shelling from Stojam, arrangements were being made to send an Inghimasi team across the Euphrates towards Stojam's forces where the artillery was coming from, the plan was to send a team of 20 fighters dressed in the uniforms of SDF complete with YPG patches and captured American supplied weapons to confuse Stojam's forces and convince them they had been attacked by YPG for their support of SACTO, the fighters wore GoPro camera to capture the footage for propaganda purposes, the fighters crossed the Euphrates slightly before sunrise and crossed through SAA area undetected as they frequently had in the past due to localized understandings, tribal or familial ties to certain SAA officials or simply bribery and they traveled on towards the source of the fire and unleashed upon arriving, their vehciles even flew YPG and SDF flags to give the appearance of a true YPG attack.

As the clashes intensified fighters began setting off their explosive belts as ammunition began to run low, the remaining fighters retreated back towards Hajin and Mayadin after the job was done and a statement was not released immediately nor was the footage to create issues between SDF and Stojam.

Jordan

President Khairallah listening to Chaldeorn

"We do have an issue with Turkey but we work with them at times, we have our own ideas for the Latakia region based on the needs of local forces and we wish to utilize them, in fact they are attacking as we speak right now, to be perfectly honest with you, I think the Khataiyi mission in Syria is drawing closer to an end seeing how YPG has turned into an Iranian proxy and also seeing that Raqqa has been liberated by tribal forces, and SDF is collapsing. We wish for local fighters to be used and utilized to their fullest extent to preserve their country and I recommend SACTO begins talks with the various factions for the freedom of Syria."

by **Thermodolia** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 1:19 pm

OCC: so what is the current state of the conflict? And what’s the end game here?

by **Khataiy** » Thu Jan 24, 2019 6:12 pm

Thermodolia wrote:OCC: so what is the current state of the conflict? And what’s the end game here?

OOC: Its complex, as for an end game that just depends on how everything goes

The incursion (Mt, Open)

Who is online