Previously the Syrian government confirmed that Russian and Syrian air forces successfully launched over 100 airstrikes since yesterday, softening up peripheral targets and making impossible the possibility of any break-through or counter-attack, or other maneuver on the part of the terrorists.
Comment: The Russian and Syrian air forces have been hard at work, tonight, as their fighter pilots carry several airstrikes across the Hama-Idlib axis.
Led by their Sukhoi jets, the Syrian and Russian air forces initially began their aerial campaign on Saturday morning, when they repeatedly bombarded the jihadist rebels in both the Idlib and Hama provinces.
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The Syrian and Russian forces will likely continue their heavy bombardment throughout the night and early into tomorrow, as their ground troops make their final preparations before they launch their assault.
It is expected, barring a major U.S counter-attack to protect their own assets, that the Syrian and Russian forces will heavily bombardment specific targets throughout the night, and into the early morning hours of September 9th.
SAA and allied forces have been making simultaneous preparations for the ground assault which will likely commence tomorrow. Syrian and Iranian intelligence operatives inside of Idlib had been successful, over the last few weeks, in documenting and noting the location of targets where terrorists had made their HQ. One such was a former hospital, fortunately that this premises was being used as a base of operations by terrorist groups was recorded on video, and presented to the international community via information war channels.
In the weeks leading up to today, both the US and Russia scrambled massive naval fleets into the Mediterranean, as a means to deter each other from any successful action. However, given the outcome of diplomatic efforts, in particular the events at the UN, it became apparent that the US's plan to use a false flag or hoax attack as a pretext to attack Syria with a UN mandate-of-sorts (statements from the UN envoy to Syria, that is - there would never be a UNSC resolution to that effect).
After securing an international coalition to support the final liberation of Idlib, and after having fought with some success in the UN to preclude any prejudgment to the effect that only Syria could be capable of pulling off a chemical attack, Syria said it was committed to 'liberate' Idlib.
Jafari said "those who facilitated the entry of foreign terrorist fighters into my country, especially the Turkish government, still have a chance to remove them from Idlib province." With the United States, Britain and France all reportedly making final preparations on September 8th to launch a major offensive against Syria, and threatening use of force on a scale far larger than that of the attack carried out in April 2018, Russia has notably responded by moving naval assets to the Mediterranean and deploying its warships in defensive positions to deter a potential second Western attack. Russian media said officially, that they were fully expecting a false flag or hoax chemical weapons attack to take place in Idlib, even going so far as to name the date as September 8th, carried out by the US and MI6 primarily, in order to use this as a pretext to take military action against Syria. So far, this has not materialized.
Comment: A massive Turkish military convoy entered the Idlib Governorate from the Hatay Province, tonight, opposition activists reported.
According to the Syrian opposition activists, the Turkish military convoy consisted of more than 300 vehicles, including tanks, MLRS launchers, and BMPs.
Some opposition activists have claimed that the Turkish military was heading to the Idlib Governorate with manpads, which, if true, would mean that they are preparing to down any Syrian warplane flying over their positions.
While Russia has previously tolerated Western interventions against Damascus on a small scale, namely token missile strikes initiated with prior warning and with apparent coordination with Syria and Russia, which were further blunted by Syria's own air defences, a larger strike which could have a significant impact on the outcome of the war - at a time when Damascus' forces and those of its allies prepare for a major ground offensive against the Jihadist held province of Idlib - could well cross a red line which would lead to Russian intervention on the side of its Middle Eastern ally. To be able to deter a Western attack however, Russia will need to demonstrate that it has a credible chance of protecting Syria against the combined firepower of its adversaries despite the far smaller size of its forces in the country - which pale in comparison to the massive Western military forces deployed throughout the Middle East and the U.S. and possibly French carrier strike groups which are likely to participate in an attack.
As the US prepares its last ditch effort to derail the final destruction of Al Qaeda and ISIS in Syria, in their hopes to stop the liberation of Idlib, the Atlantic Council - the media wing of NATO - has instructed YouTube to shut-down the news channels of Syrian agencies.
In the lead-up, two days ago, Russian, Turkish, and Iranian leadership met to discuss an agreement to see this operation carried out with as few problems as possible. "Damascus has every right to take back all its territory," Russian president Vladimir Putin told a summit on Friday the 7th, which decided how these countries would relate to the Syrian government during the last major terrorist stronghold, Idlib.
"The legitimate Syrian government has a right and must eventually take under control all of its national territories," Putin told Iran's Hassan Rouhani and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the summit.
The Russian leader said it was important to begin work on a political settlement in Syria "as soon as possible" and urged Iran and Turkey to ramp up their coordination with Russia of their countries' foreign and defence ministries and security services. Now the world waits in anticipation, whether the U.S will work with the UK as planned, to carry out a false flag or hoax 'chemical attack', which the U.S officials have already said in advance they would blame on the Syrian government.
Putin said "terrorist elements" continued to "stage provocations" and use drones in Idlib. "We cannot ignore this," the Russian president said. "We should solve this problem together."
The three leaders determined the future of Idlib amid growing fears of a humanitarian disaster. The three countries are guarantors of the Astana process, a track of talks launched after Russia's game-changing 2015 military intervention which has eclipsed the failed Western-backed Geneva negotiations led by the United Nations.
The only real foreseeable problem now is the US finding some last minute pretext to bring this final operation to a halt. While the US appears to have exhausted all options, the desperation may lead to a rash decision. It was previously reported that the US asked for Turkish assistance in removing some 200 US and UK military personnel that were in Idlib.
To connect the dots here clearly, it has been generally and publicly understood for some time that the US and its coalition, have been actively backing the ISIS and Al Qaeda efforts in Syria. This is despite the US's intervention in the country being initially based on fighting ISIS and Al Qaeda, even though the intervention was started without the consent of the Syrian government, making the moves in fact an invasion against the sovereignty of the Syrian state and people.
Comment: US forces on high alert in Syria