Syrian Conflict News Updates

[TomSea]

From Syria Call:

Russia and its militias lose 133 members in 3 days in the vicinity of "Kabina" north of Latakia (Infograph)
  26 Oct, 2019

Russia and its militias suffered military and human losses in the vicinity of the hill "Kabina" in the northern countryside of Latakia as the revolutionary factions repelled the militias attempts to progress on the region.

Russia and the Assad regime's militias have tried to advance to the hill several times, following heavy air and artillery strikes, accompanied by militiamen of Lebanon's Hezbollah and Iranian-affiliated regime's Fourth Division.

The monitoring unit in "Syria Call" during the past three days, documented the loss of militias to 43 militiamen, while 83 were wounded, and military vehicles were destroyed (5) tanks, and two immunization mechanisms.

Read more at: https://nedaa-sy.com/en/news/16578

This website has questionable stories but there probably is a chance, it is true.

People talk about losing "influence" in a place and we should not be careless with our influence but if being somewhere means a heavy death toll of forces,  I'm thinking, better to let someone else have at it. Of course, North East Syria and Iraq are somewhat pacified. So, that is to be considered too.

I wonder how many men the Russians have lost? Too, these websites have plenty of stories on the regime and Russians bombing civilian populations. So, those stories are about equal to this one in terms of credibility to me. This website also has published some unflattering articles on the people we support.

To not be doing well around Latakia is a big negative because that's the Alawite homeland.  Assad is an Alawite. That's a bad war indeed.

[TomSea]

I don't follow this twitter account (Hassan Hassan) that closely but he seems to know what he's talking about and this is the other ISIS official killed today, the tweets say he is a spox for them. This is important stuff here, that "IDLIB" where Baghdadi was killed, Turkey had some sort of heavy operation on "IDLIB" too, I guess it's not as Kurdish, must have been earlier this year.  The other twitter account, Liz Sly is suppose to be recommended.

Hassan's account, writer for the Atlantic.
https://twitter.com/hxhassan  These tweets are there obviously.

Hassan Hassan
@hxhassan
It makes sense for Baghdadi to choose an unlikely place like Idlib, but I’m frankly surprised he wasn’t in Iraq. Syria was never going to be a good hiding place. Very likely he was moving around & most likely Turkey was involved.
Quote Tweet

Liz Sly
@LizSly
 Â· 12h
It is not THAT surprising that Baghdadi would be hiding in Idlib, if indeed he was there. There have been reports of 100s of ISIS fighters escaping there in recent months. True, they are foes of HTS. But HTS doesn’t have absolute control....1/2

Hassan Hassan
@hxhassan

To me, the killing of the spokesman on the same day makes it even more disruptive for ISIS, which has no public face now. It’ll be tough to pull it off quickly like this. Also, it’s confirm what we’ve been saying for years, that the Turkish zone is a safe zone for ISIS + al-Qaeda

 I guess the picture of the fellow above is the other ISIS official that got killed in a USA/SDF operation. Of course, he's nothing on par to the cowardly monster that Baghdadi was, I mean, not a head-honcho type. A spokesman.

Some of these twitter accounts is like having a front row seat to the confrontation.

And again, I try to read both sides, I mean, it's really easy to just hate Turkey in all of this. I stand back a bit to try not to get to emotional.

[Formerly Once-Ler]

Some of these twitter accounts is like having a front row seat to the confrontation.

yes.  thank you for posting them.

And again, I try to read both sides, I mean, it's really easy to just hate Turkey in all of this.

It shows. Thank you for that too.

[TomSea]

Some articles are not that cheery, I'm looking, the Newsweek one seems useful:

ISIS Already Has a New Leader, But Baghdadi May Not Have Been Running the Group Anyway
By Tom O'Connor AND Naveed Jamali On 10/27/19 at 3:14 PM EDT

Back-to-back U.S. operations Saturday and Sunday have resulted in the deaths of Islamic State militant group (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and spokesperson Abu al-Hassan al-Muhajir in Syria, but the organization has already designated a successor, Newsweek has learned.

Abdullah Qardash, sometimes spelled Karshesh and also known as Hajji Abdullah al-Afari, was said to have been nominated by Baghdadi in August to run the group's "Muslim affairs" in a widely-circulated statement attributed to ISIS' official Amaq news outlet, but never publicly endorsed by the group. Though little is known about the former Iraqi military officer who once served under late leader Saddam Hussein, one regional intelligence official asking not to be identified by name or nation told Newsweek that Qardash would have taken over Baghdadi's role—though it had lost much of its significance by the time of his demise.

Baghdadi, who died after detonating a suicide vest following a Delta Team operation first reported by Newsweek, built ISIS' self-styled caliphate out of Al-Qaeda's Iraqi branch, but the official said that the influential hard-line cleric's role had become largely symbolic.

Read more at:   https://www.newsweek.com/isis-new-leader-baghdadi-running-things-1468025

"The Professor", probably an old picture of the alleged new leader:


Already reported in August, 2019


Arizona Republic:

Arizona Republic
Parents of Kayla Mueller relieved by death of ISIS leader who held their daughter hostage
Karina Bland, Arizona Republic

Terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who the president said was killed during a special forces raid in Syria, had reportedly been the captor and tormentor of Arizona's Kayla Mueller, who was taken hostage in 2013.

“What this man did to Kayla — he kidnapped her,” her father Carl Mueller, his voice choking, told The Arizona Republic on Sunday morning, shortly after President Donald Trump announced al-Baghdadi had died.

“She was held in many prisons," Carl Mueller said. "She was held in solitary confinement. She was tortured. She was intimidated. She was ultimately raped by al-Baghdadi himself."

Read more at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/parents-of-kayla-mueller-relieved-by-death-of-isis-leader-who-held-their-daughter-hostage/ar-AAJqDKm?li=BBnba9I

Here's Kayla, I do remember her. A few versions of the story about her:

Inside the dramatic US military raid that killed ISIS leader Baghdadi
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/10/27/politics/bagdhadi-inside-the-raid-timeline/index.html

[TomSea]

Casualties on both sides in ISIS, Iraqi militia clashes in disputed Diyala
Kurdistan 24

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A series of clashes between Islamic State insurgents and Iranian-backed Hashd al-Shaabi militias in the disputed Iraqi province of Diyala on Sunday resulted in several casualties on both sides, according to reports.

Local media reports quoted security sources as saying that Islamic State sleeper agents launched a “major attack” against an outpost of the Hashd al-Shaabi – also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) – and wounded four militiamen. The PMF militias in question were part of First Brigade, which includes the Badr Organization.

The incident reportedly occurred in Diyala province’s Khanaqin district in a rural area close to a religious shrine known as Baba Mahmoud. The location is near Mount Murawid, the rugged terrain common in the region that sleeper cells of terrorist groups often exploit to establish bases for their operations. 

Read more at: https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/5952ea58-50c1-46d9-9385-864f159bb0d5?fbclid=IwAR0F1WUs6MHMX5JlJwAqsBCfPr-XW-e5LOyWZdbT7eV7xP4-ZyzPWUo4jG4

[TomSea]

Stories go for and against what is going on over there and for example, what Turkey's role is....

Former National Security worker under Bush 43, Mike Doran

tweeted this article today.

'Corrupt' YPG smuggled Daesh terrorists into Idlib, BBC journalist says
DAILY SABAH    ISTANBUL     Published 27.10.2019 22:57

The Syria producer for BBC, Riam Dalati, said in a tweet late Sunday that "corrupt" members of PKK's Syrian wing People's Protection Units (YPG), which constitute nearly all of the umbrella organization Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), helped smuggle Daesh terrorists into restive Idlib province.

"Back in April, a trusted contact of ours had told us about how corrupt #SDF officials were smuggling #IslamicState families to #Idlib," Dalati said in the tweet, using the self-styled name for the Daesh terrorist group.

"Belgians had just arrived," Dalati added, pointing to Daesh terrorists of Belgian origin.

Read more at: Daily Sabah

I see something mentioning this... still.

To other:
   

ISIS prisoner from Palestine: We were treated in Istanbul
[ib]SDF-detained Palestinian ISIS jihadist Muhammed Balusha claims that he was accommodated in an Istanbul ISIS house in 2016 and 2017 and, like other members of the terrorist militia, received medical treatment in a private hospital.[/b]

The links between the Turkish state and the ISIS are becoming increasingly clear through the statements of jihadists jailed by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Islam Ahmed Muhammed Balusha (Talha al-Gazzawi), a member of the terrorist militia, speaks of open support from the Turkish state until 2015 and continued assistance and cooperation also in the period following.

Balusha was born in 1991 in Gaza. His father had worked in the Palestinian police department and his elder brother for the secret service before the Hamas election victory in January 2006. Between 2004 and 2008, Balusha claims to have been in the mosques of Hamas and distributed leaflets. In 2008 he met the Palestinian Salafist leader Mahmoud al-Talib. The following year, he joined the Palestinian al-Qaeda offshoot Jund-Ansar-al-Allah and was arrested during a mosque raid. After three and a half months in prison, he was released because of his proximity to Hamas. Till 2010, he remained back in the mosques of Hamas.

Read more at: https://anfenglishmobile.com/features/isis-prisoner-from-palestine-we-were-treated-in-istanbul-37895

Information war definitely.

[TomSea]

France on Alert for Revenge Attacks after Baghdadi’s Death
Sunday, 27 October, 2019 - 18:00


French police secure a street in a Paris suburb. Reuters file photo

 Asharq Al-Awsat
French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, in a letter to police prefects, called on Sunday for increased vigilance to prevent possible revenge attacks following the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in northwest Syria.

The possible intensification of extremist propaganda following Baghdadi’s death, “which could possibly call for acts of vengeance, requires the most extreme vigilance, notable during public events in your departments in coming days," Castaner said, according to Reuters.

One of the few senior ISIS commanders still at large, Baghdadi died Saturday when he detonated his suicide vest in a tunnel while being pursued by US forces in Syria's Idlib province, killing himself and three of his children, US President Donald Trump announced Sunday. He was believed to be 48.

Read more at: https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1963956/france-alert-revenge-attacks-after-baghdadi%E2%80%99s-death

So yes, even Drudge Report published an article linking to this; and it seems to be a well-founded awareness, Jihadists seem to be like this, you mess with them, they will try some cowardly attack back.

[sneakypete]

So yes, even Drudge Report published an article linking to this; and it seems to be a well-founded awareness, Jihadists seem to be like this, you mess with them, they will try some cowardly attack back.

@TomSea

There is a simple way for the French to pretty much eliminate these problems,but they are too  PC to do it. They should just deport every protester they have to arrest.

[Right_in_Virginia]

TTTT

[libertybele]

Great picture of our POTUS.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Don't ya just love it when a plan comes together? 


FTA:

The SDF also implored Russia to help make sure “a constructive dialogue” takes place between the Kurdish-led administration in northeast Syria and the Syrian government run by President Bashar al-Assad.

For the first time in years, Assad’s troops will be able to return to the border areas, Reuters noted.

Syrian state news agency SANA reported that Assad’s government accepted the SDF retreat, saying it gets rid of “the main pretext for flagrant Turkish aggression on (Syrian) territory,” according to Reuters.

The Syrian government plans to assist residents reach “a return to Syrian national unity,” SANA added.

[TomSea]

@TomSea

There is a simple way for the French to pretty much eliminate these problems,but they are too  PC to do it. They should just deport every protester they have to arrest.

The can of worms that is Syria and Iraq and the Middle East too, goes on and on.

@sneakypete

I even read that the way ISIS has been defeated there in Iraq is a general severe crackdown on the Sunnis (the sect ISIS basically comes out of)... and now, Iraq has these protests going on in which over a hundred protesters have been killed.

It's time to examine, this "success" in Iraq too... but what can be done,  it's a whole "hornets nest"... really is.  If the Kurds do our fighting and we give them air backup, that sounds better to me than our being on the ground.

[sneakypete]

It's time to examine, this "success" in Iraq too... but what can be done,  it's a whole "hornets nest"... really is.  If the Kurds do our fighting and we give them air backup, that sounds better to me than our being on the ground.

@TomSea

I agree,but we need to find a Muddle Eastern ally to open a second front to help the Kurds. I just don't believe their population has the numbers necessary to squash the ISIS "bug".

I ain't happy about it,but my prediction is that sooner or later we are going to have to nuke Islamic fundies until they glow in the dark,or they will nuke us. We are holding back because we really don't want to do that,and they haven't nuked us yet simply because they don't have any nukes or a delivery system. The instant that do,NYC or DC is going to light up. Or maybe London or Paris,because they are easier to get to.

Make no mistake about this,though. This IS a religious war,and there is going to be no such thing as a treaty with lasting peace. We are either going to have to kill them off,or they are going to kill us off.

I would rather see this thing start with Mullahs suddenly disappearing into thin air. Disappear enough of the bastards,and the wheels fall off their goat cart and MAYBE millions of lives on both sides will be saved.

[libertybele]

Syrian Kurdish forces keeping closer watch on ISIS prisoners in wake of al-Baghdadi’s death

Syrian Kurdish forces say they're ramping up security in prisons and detention facilities where ISIS militants are being held amid concerns about possible riots or attacks in the wake of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s death.

The reported changes Monday come after the former ISIS leader was killed in a U.S.-led raid in northwest Syria over the weekend.

A Kurdish official told the Associated Press that forces are now "on high alert" in anticipation of possible riots or attacks on the guards in the prisons and displaced people camps they control in northeastern Syria.......

https://www.foxnews.com/world/syrian-kurds-ramping-up-prison-security

[TomSea]

500 US troops return to NE Syria
Syrian forces increase border control
28 OCTOBER, 17:04

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, OCTOBER 28 - US military forces have returned to their bases in northeastern Syria after withdrawing in previous days during a Turkish military operation in the area. Reports were from the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which noted that 500 US soldiers had returned from Kurdistan Regional Government territory in Iraq to bases along the M4 highway, which crosses the region east of the Euphrates river from west to east....

Read more at:  http://www.ansamed.info/ansamed/en/news/nations/syria/2019/10/28/500-us-troops-return-to-ne-syria_5e2b89e8-c36a-4e13-a048-0bc5077190bd.html

This isn't just about moving troops around the region, see first line, reportedly moving back into one of our bases.

[TomSea]

Thinktank, CSIS, Center for Strategic Interntational Studies I believe.

Experts React: Turkey’s Intervention, U.S. Diplomacy, and the Crisis in Syria
October 18, 2019

When quick decisions are made in a very complex and vitally important region, it is difficult to immediately understand the far-reaching geostrategic implications of those decisions. CSIS scholars have come together to offer brief reflections from their respective portfolios on the most consequential impacts of President Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from northern Syria.

  It is impossible to describe in 500 words the complicated, mistake-laden post-Cold War history of U.S.-Turkey relations or the decisions taken (or not taken) by the U.S. government over the past eight years regarding the Syrian civil war and its regional implications. More significant scholarship is required for those tasks, but this complex history is a testament to U.S. credibility and trustworthiness as an international actor.

  Trust and credibility are foundational elements in human relations as well as in international affairs—and in particular, alliances. Because the United States is the backbone of the international alliance system (by its own design 70 years ago), U.S. actions have repercussions on other countries and populations. When trust begins to erode, nations will find ways to test or increase pressure on U.S. commitments or seek other guarantees that the United States will fulfill these commitments (such as requesting U.S. forces be present in the host nation). When credibility and trust evaporate, nations realign themselves with more or less trustworthy or more expedient, results-oriented nations. Trust is destroyed quickly but can only be rebuilt slowly and cautiously over time.

Read more at: https://www.csis.org/analysis/experts-react-turkeys-intervention-us-diplomacy-and-crisis-syria

[TomSea]

Advocate: Turkish forces doing 'soft' ethnic cleansing in northeast Syria

AMMAN, Jordan (CNS) -- Despite Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly assuring U.S. Vice President Mike Pence that his forces would not persecute religious minorities in northeastern Syria, people on the ground say minorities are being targeted.

Amnesty International reported that the Turkish military and its allied Syrian armed groups have demonstrated a "shameful disregard for civilian life" during the offensive into northeast Syria. A Syrian Christian political leader has joined international condemnation over the attacks and abuses.

Bassam Ishak, who heads the Syriac National Council, told Catholic News Service by phone that Armenians and Syriac Christians in northeastern Syria are being intimidated and forbidden access to their land by pro-Turkey forces in what is now the time of the cotton harvest.

Read more at: https://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=186127

[Elderberry]

Russia calls US move to protect Syrian oil ‘banditry’

https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2019/10/27/russia-calls-us-move-to-protect-syrian-oil-banditry/

Russia’s Defense Ministry on Saturday harshly criticized the United States decision to send armored vehicles and combat troops into eastern Syria to protect oil fields, calling it “banditry.”

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has said the move is aimed at keeping the fields from potentially falling into the hands of Islamic State militants. The decision was the latest sign that extracting the U.S. military from Syria is more uncertain and complicated than President Donald Trump has made it out to be.

On Saturday, there were several troop movements in Syria as the various players adjusted to the U.S. decision to withdraw troops from the northeast.

A U.S. convoy of over a dozen vehicles was spotted driving south of the northeastern city of Qamishli, likely heading to the oil-rich Deir el-Zour area where there are oil fields, or possibly to another base nearby. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor also reported the convoy, saying it arrived earlier from Iraq.

More at link.

[Victoria33]

@Cyber Liberty

Trump said about Syrian oilfields/oil, "And, number three, it can help us, because we should be able to take some also.”  And, Trump wants Exxon-Mobil to go there and get the oil. 

The oil fields belong to Syria, not Trump.  Exxon-Mobil is not going to send their people there to get killed for Syria's oil.  I looked up the companies who have taken the oil out of the ground there and had refining plants there, and there are several foreign oil companies through the years, but Exxon-Mobil has not been there.  Earth Scientist Bob, retired from Exxon-Mobil, says the oil fields there are not large, relatively speaking.  It is usual Trump "magic thinking" to think he owns the oil because our military is there. 

From Wikipedia:
"Syria is a relatively small oil producer, that accounted for just 0.5% of the global production in 2010, falling to less than 0.05% by 2016.  Although Syria is not a major oil exporter by Middle Eastern standards, oil is a major component of the Syrian economy. Syria's oil sector has been hit by the Civil War and international sanctions imposed on Syria."

"Syria’s two biggest oil companies are the Syrian Petroleum Company (SPC), which is owned by the Syrian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, and Al-Furat Petroleum Company, which is 50% owned by SPC and the other 50% foreign owned. The joint venture currently includes SPC with 50%, Anglo-Dutch Shell with 32%, and the remainder held by Himalaya Energy Syria, a consortium of China National Petroleum Company and India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation."

[sneakypete]

@Cyber Liberty

Trump said about Syrian oilfields/oil, "And, number three, it can help us, because we should be able to take some also.”  And, Trump wants Exxon-Mobil to go there and get the oil. 

The oil fields belongs to Syria, not Trump.  Exxon-Mobil is not going to send their people there to get killed for Syria's oil.  I looked up the companies who have taken the oil out of the ground there and had refining plants there, and there are several foreign oil companies through the years, but Exxon-Mobil has not been there.  Earth Scientist Bob, retired from Exxon-Mobil, says the oil fields there are not large, relatively speaking.  It is usual Trump "magic thinking" to think he owns the oil because our military is there. 

@Victoria33


Good to know you don't think the US should get paid back for all the 100's of millions of dollars that has been spent there to protect them,never mind the US lives lost/

We iz da wurld......

We iz da peep-pulls.....


 

[Victoria33]

@Victoria33
Good to know you don't think the US should get paid back for all the 100's of millions of dollars that has been spent there to protect them,never mind the US lives lost/  We iz da wurld......  We iz da peep-pulls.....

@sneakypete

Good to know you think we should steal the oil.   
Hope you are doing well.  You are a strong person.

[TomSea]

@Victoria33


Good to know you don't think the US should get paid back for all the 100's of millions of dollars that has been spent there to protect them,never mind the US lives lost/

We iz da wurld......

We iz da peep-pulls.....

Date : 2019-10-28 13:00:08
"Our protection of oil is for the benefit of SDF, we continue to fight extremism with them" – Sen. Lindsey Graham
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham

2019-10-28 13:00:08
Washington DC – North-Press Agency
Hadeel Oueiss

The strategy of "staying to protect oil" is even more evident with the death of the Islamic State group's leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, where the United States President Donald Trump, in announcing the death of the group's leader, said that the United States will now remain in Syria to "protect oil" as justifying the importance of oil by several reasons, the first of which was financing ISIS, second, because it would help the Kurds, and third, because the United States would be able to take some of it. He added: "We are considering a deal for ExxonMobil, or one of the largest U.S. companies which invest in oil, to turn it into wealth."

Senator Lindsay Graham, in a speech at the White House following President Trump's speech, has explained the dimensions of the "oil strategy": "The U.S. companies can now run Syrian oil and this will not be considered a breach of American sanctions on Syria, where oil will be under Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), of Arabs and Kurds, as the latter make up the majority. This is a new foreign policy that changes the rules of the game.”

Furthermore, he added that the new strategy in Syria is embodied in securing the oil, “by taking it from ISIS and putting it in the hands of our Kurdish allies who fought ISIS for us.”

Read more at: https://npasyria.com/en/blog.php?id_blog=1008&sub_blog=10&name_blog=

That link looks like it might be one of those that don't work... so, this is at the North Press Association of Syria, https://npasyria.com/en if the link doesn't work.

I'm starting to think, there is quite a lot in this whole thing that at least, I don't know. I don't think the news is indicative of what's going on behind the scenes.  Difficult to say.

Hawk Graham certainly had a discussion with the President and staff and apparently, came out seeing things different, Graham reportedly went to the WH with Retired General Jack Keane too, Graham went two times last week apparently.

More than meets the eye, my take is maybe, we did things so as to not upset Nato ally Turkey but maybe and hopefully, we didn't really abandon the Kurds in the way, it appeared to a number of people.  Difficult to say, a bunch of refugees were certainly produced out of this situation.

[TomSea]

Six Syria soldiers killed in first border clash with turkey
AFP, Beirut Tuesday, 29 October 2019

At least six Syrian regime fighters were killed as heavy clashes broke out Tuesday between the army and Turkish forces for the first time since Ankara attacked northeastern Syria three weeks ago, a war monitor said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said artillery and machine-gun fire was exchanged near Assadiya, south of the border town of Ras al-Ain.

“Heavy fighting erupted for the first time between the Syrian and Turkish armies,” the Britain-based monitoring group said.

https://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2019/10/29/Six-Syria-soldiers-killed-in-first-border-clash-with-turkey-.html

Per this source, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights but there was a report about 5 hours ago of the Turk and Syrian army in battle against each hours ago. A fairly big development and one to keep track of.

[Cyber Liberty]

@Cyber Liberty

The oil fields belong to Syria, not Trump. 

I must have missed the story where Trump said the oil belongs to him, personally.

[TomSea]

I must have missed the story where Trump said the oil belongs to him, personally.

@Victoria33 @Cyber Liberty

What Trump said and maybe it's just talking out of one's hat was something like, well, here's one story:

"We're keeping the oil," Trump said during a speech to police officers in Chicago. "Remember that, I've always said that. Keep the oil. We want to keep the oil — $45 million a month — keep the oil. We've secured the oil."

Esper emphasized that the purpose of securing Syria's oil region is to deny income to the Islamic State. But a reporter asked whether the mission includes preventing Russian and Syrian government forces from entering that area.

"The short answer is yes, it presently does," Esper said, "because in that case we want to make sure" the Syrian Kurdish-led militia known as the Syrian Democratic Forces, "does have access to the resources in order to guard the prisons and arm their own troops, in order to assist us with the defeat-ISIS mission."

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-suggests-impeachment-reason-kept-141438308.html

And I posted yesterday, where Graham was saying we are securing it for the SDF and so ISIS doesn't get it, maybe I even posted it above. I think so.