The most advanced multi-role jet in the Russian Air Force, the SU-57 was deployed to Syria for the first time about 36 hours ago. Today, they began doing what Russia said would be done: Attacking "Rebel" enclaves in eastern Ghouta, Syria, an area to the east of Damascus. The attacks have been fierce and they continue as of 9:20 PM eastern US time. Ghouta is being leveled.
It was just 24 Hours ago that a Russian General flew on a Russian Air Force plane directly from Damascus to Riyhad, Saudi Arabia, and told the Saudis (to their face) that unless the Saudis pulled their "Rebels" out of Ghouta, the area would be destroyed "Grozny Style." Grozny was a city in Chechnya during the 1999-2000 Chechnyan War that Russia hit with Thermobaric Bombs, leading the UN Secretary General at that time, to describe the place as "the most destroyed city on earth."
Today, Ghouta began feeling the power of Russia, as brand new SU-57 jets from the Russian Aerospace Force began pounding Ghouta with incredibly heavy bombardment.
Russia's effort was joined by the Syrian Army which fired surface-to-surface , low-range, missiles into buildings housing Rebels throughout Ghouta. Much of the place is now on fire after White Phosphorus was allegedly used in the evening there.
As llof this was taking place, the UN Security Council brought up a "cease-fire" resolution for Syria, which Russia said they would agree-to as long as the cease fire did not apply to Al-Nusra and other terrorist/rebel forces. The US and it's coalition would NOT agree to such a stipulation. After several rounds of bargaining, a vote on the UN Resolution was POSTPONED until 1700 HRS GMT on Saturday, which is 2:00 PM eastern US time. By then, Ghouta will likely no longer exist.
This week, and tonight's attacks upon Ghouta, mark as astounding escalation in hostilities inside Syria, and the battle lines are clearing. One one side is the legitimate Syrian Government with its Russian ally. On the other side, the US, Australia and several European countries and a number of regional Arab states. The US ***** APPEARS ***** to be backing the Rebels, and Russia is now kicking the living crap out of those rebels.
Motivating the Russians is the admission today, that 218 Russian Private Military Contractors (PMC's) were killed in Syria after they launched an attack upon a US Base last week, and after three hours of attacking it, the US called-in air strikes which obliterated the attackers. While the attackers were not Russian TROOPS, they _were_ Russian and that seems to be a big part of Russia striking Ghouta very hard right now.
An awful lot of geopolitical agendas are coming to a head in Syria and things are escalating faster than many ever anticipated. What this may turn into is a frightening thought.
This top-performance fleet raises Russia’s air strike and defense capabilities in Syria to the highest standards of any air force in the world, with enough power to take on superior US and Israeli air might in the Syrian arena.
The Su-57’s weapon bays are designed to carry Russia’s new nuclear tactical X-50 air-launched cruise missile, although it is not known whether the aircraft in Syria are carrying them. DEBKA Weekly’s military sources see President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send the Su-57 fighters to Syria as substantially raising the big power stakes in Syria after the loss of dozens of Russian troops on Feb. 7 to massive US artillery and air strikes that decimated the Russian, Syrian and pro-Iranian forces crossing the Euphrates River. An American radar-invisible F-22 took part in that raid. The Russians have dubbed the Su-57 the “F-22 killer.”
It is also Russia’s response to Israel’s air offensive on Feb. 10, which targeted the shared Russian-Iranian T-4 air base near Palmyra and smashed four Iranian Revolutionary Guards forward command centers in Syria, after downing an Iranian drone. It is also seen in Moscow as a challenge for Israel’s newly acquired fifth-generation US F-35 combat aircraft.
Does Putin intend to order his mighty airborne strike force to go into battle against the US or Israel in the boiling Syrian arena? If he does, he will be launching the first contest between the most sophisticated warplanes ever devised for a test of superior might between the US and Russia and a war escalation unprecedented, even in Syria.
The very presence of the Su-57 across the border has had the instant effect of reducing the Israel air force’s freedom of action over Syria and Lebanon.
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