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Syrian, Russian and allied forces have suspended most of their military operations against insurgents in the remaining “rebel-held” area in eastern Aleppo to facilitate the evacuation of more civilians and to give insurgents an additional opportunity to decide whether they want to surrender of continue a lost battle. However, sporadic fighting continued.

The Russian Defense Ministry, on Saturday, noted that military operations against insurgents in eastern Aleppo had been suspended to facilitate the evacuation of non-combatant civilians. The pause in combat operations also gave insurgents an additional chance to lay down their arms. Insurgents had been given the choice to evacuate to other “rebel-held” areas. Syrian citizens were also given the opportunity to surrender to have their status settled, be granted an amnesty and to return to a normal life.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov stated that “More than 20,000 residents left eastern Aleppo in the first part of Saturday, and 1,217 militants laid down their weapons.” No details about the exact whereabouts of those who surrendered were provided. The evacuation was monitored by drones and webcams and broadcast life. Remaining insurgents are holding on to about ten percent of the area of Aleppo they controlled about three weeks ago. nsnbc could not independently verify that 20,000 have been evacuated, but an nsnbc correspondent located in Aleppo confirmed that “a substantial number of civilians were evacuated to relatively safe places such as makeshift evacuation centers in the Jebrin area. nsnbc’s correspondent noted that “the 20,000 mentioned in some State media reports appear strongly exaggerated and that the number of those who were evacuated on Saturday is closer to about 5,000 – 6,000 persons. Last week the International Committee of the Red Cross commented that some 30,000 civilians had fled eastern Aleppo to government-controlled areas. Russian officers in Aleppo are also coordinating aid efforts with the Red Cross, the Red Crescent and other internationally recognized aid organizations. Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Russian Reconciliation Center said the Russian mine disposal experts continue their work alongside the engineering members within the Syrian army to clear liberated areas in the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo. The Center noted that mines have been removed in an area of 8 hectares, while explosive devices have also been removed from 24 buildings, bakery, two schools, two mosques, power stations and 4.5 km of roads. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also said that the decision for taking all of Aleppo has been taken, adding that the army recapture of rebel-held areas in Aleppo will change the course of the battles in Syria. The Syrian government also strongly condemned the United States’ decision to legalize the increased transfer of weapons to “rebels” in Syria under the banner of fighting terrorism. It is noteworthy that the U.S. administration has not published any details about how exactly it wants to monitor whom exactly it transfers weapons to and which mechanisms it will put in place to assure that these weapons would be used in the “fight against terrorism”.

As Syrians gather in their capital Damascus to celebrate, there is a sense that the New Year will bring a measure of peace – the first time such hope has been felt over the past five years of war in the country. Russia’s military intervention to help its Arab ally at the end of September has been the seminal event of the year. After three months of sustained Russian aerial operations in support of the Syrian Arab Army against an array of foreign-backed mercenaries, there is an unmistakable sense that the «terrorist backbone has been broken», as Russian President Vladimir Putin recently put it.

What is interesting is how the Western news media are reporting all this. Their reportage of the truces and evacuations are straining to minimize the context of these developments. This BBC report is typical, headlined: «Syria fighters’ evacuation from Zabadani ‘under way’». The British state-owned broadcaster tells of hundreds of «fighters» being relocated from the town of Zabadani as if the development just magically materialized like a present donated by Santa Claus. What the BBC fails to inform is that that truce, as with several others around Damascus, has come about because of Russia’s strategic military intervention in Syria dealing crushing blows against the militant networks. The Western media have preoccupied themselves instead with claims from the US State Department that Russia’s military operations have either been propping up the «Assad regime» or allegedly targeting «moderate rebels» and civilians. The disingenuous Western narrative, or more prosaically «propaganda», then, in turn, creates a conundrum when widespread truces and evacuations are being implemented. That obviously positive development signaling an end to conflict thanks to Russia’s military intervention has to be left unexplained or unacknowledged by the Western media because it negates all their previous pejorative narrative towards Russia and the Assad government.

Furthermore, the Western media are obliged to be coy about the exact identity of the «fighters» being evacuated. As noted already, the militants are variously described by the Western media in sanitized terms as «fighters» or «rebels». But more informative regional and local sources, such as Lebanon’s Al Manar, identify the brigades as belonging to the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State group and al-Nusra Front. These are terror groups, as even defined by Washington and the European Union. So, the Western media has to, by necessity, censor itself from telling the truth by peddling half-truths and sly omissions. The Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam), whose commander was killed, is also integrated with the al-Qaeda terror network. Jaish al-Islam is funded and armed by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and serves as a conduit for American CIA weapons to the more known terrorist outlets. Notably, Voice of America referred to the terror commander Zahran Alloush with the euphemistic cleansing term as a «rebel leader». What the Russian-precipitated truces and termination of sieges is demonstrating is that the western side of Syria, from Daraa in the south, through Damascus and up to the northern Mediterranean Sea coast around Aleppo and Latakia, are infested with the terror brigades of IS and Al-Nusra and their myriad offshoots.

Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said ahead of a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday that an agreement on the evacuation of militants from eastern Aleppo, Syria had been reached and that the evacuation could start within hours.

On Tuesday, ahead of the UN Security Council meeting, Chrurkin tol the press: “My latest information is that they indeed have an arrangement achieved on the ground that the fighters are going to leave the city“. During the Security Council session, Churkin stressed that the evacuation of civilians from the remaining “rebel-held” districts of Aleppo was no longer necessary because the militants had agreed to evacuate. Churkin also noted that the counter-terrorist operation in Aleppo would conclude within hours. Militants are in the process of evacuating the city through corridors of their own choice and will leave in the direction of Idlib province, he said. He also noted that the militants were allowed to take their families with them. Syrian and Russian State media show images of celebration, Aleppo citizens who are praising the army while images have largely been “sanitized”. Some allegedly “independent” media also show captured “rebels” being mocked but treated relatively fairly, at least while they are paraded before the cameras.

Moreover, nsnbc’s source in Aleppo also reported that an unknown number of insurgents is determined to stay behind and to battle it out with the advancing Syrian forces despite their hopeless position. The insurgents are holding no more than between 4 – 5 square kilometers of the city but house to house combat in densely populated areas is notoriously slow and dangerous. Churkin’s assessment that all of Aleppo could be “liberated within hours” seems overly optimistic he said.

The story of Fukushima should be on the front pages of every newspaper. Instead, it is rarely mentioned. The problems at Fukushima are unprecedented in human experience and involve a high risk of radiation events larger than any that the global community has ever experienced. It is going to take the best engineering minds in the world to solve these problems and to diminish their global impact. When we researched the realities of Fukushima in preparation for this article, words like apocalyptic, cataclysmic and Earth-threatening came to mind. But, when we say such things, people react as if we were the little red hen screaming "the sky is falling" and the reports are ignored. So, we’re going to present what is known in this article and you can decide whether we are facing a potentially cataclysmic event.

There are three major problems at Fukushima: (1) Three reactor cores are missing; (2) Radiated water has been leaking from the plant in mass quantities for 2.5 years; and (3) Eleven thousand spent nuclear fuel rods, perhaps the most dangerous things ever created by humans, are stored at the plant and need to be removed, 1,533 of those are in a very precarious and dangerous position. Each of these three could result in dramatic radiation events, unlike any radiation exposure humans have ever experienced.  We’ll discuss them in order, saving the most dangerous for last.

Missing reactor cores:  Since the accident at Fukushima on March 11, 2011, three reactor cores have gone missing.  There was an unprecedented three reactor ‘melt-down.’ These melted cores, called corium lavas, are thought to have passed through the basements of reactor buildings 1, 2 and 3, and to be somewhere in the ground underneath.  Harvey Wasserman, who has been working on nuclear energy issues for over 40 years, tells us that during those four decades no one ever talked about the possibility of a multiple meltdown, but that is what occurred at Fukushima.  It is an unprecedented situation to not know where these cores are. TEPCO is pouring water where they think the cores are, but they are not sure. There are occasional steam eruptions coming from the grounds of the reactors, so the cores are thought to still be hot. The concern is that the corium lavas will enter or may have already entered the aquifer below the plant. That would contaminate a much larger area with radioactive elements. Some suggest that it would require the area surrounding Tokyo, 40 million people, to be evacuated. Another concern is that if the corium lavas enter the aquifer, they could create a "super-heated pressurized steam reaction beneath a layer of caprock causing a major 'hydrovolcanic' explosion." A further concern is that a large reserve of groundwater which is coming in contact with the corium lavas is migrating towards the ocean at the rate of four meters per month. This could release greater amounts of radiation than were released in the early days of the disaster.

Following the meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in the German city of Hamburg on Wednesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed that “an intense exchange of documents” had taken place and that c a compromise could possibly be reached. The statement comes amidst latest reports about Al-Nusra possibly agreeing to an evacuation from Aleppo and the possible deployment of special forces from Chechnya for anti-terrorism operations in Syria.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the press that Russia and the United States are close to reaching an understanding on Aleppo. Rybakov said: “In the past several days an intensive document exchange on the situation in Aleppo has taken place…We are close to reaching an understanding, but I want to warn against high expectations.”

Ryabkov noted that the meeting between Lavrov and Kerry on Wednesday was an indicator of the intensive communications between the two sides, particularly because it was the second of its kind within the past few days. Ryabkov expressed hope that eventual new agreements between Moscow and Washington on Syria would be firmer compared to the previous agreement that collapsed last September. The previous agreements collapsed when Washington insisted that Russia stops targeting “moderate opposition fighters”, while Moscow blamed Washington for not assuring that the “moderate rebels” disengage and separate from Jabhat Al-Nusra (a.k.a. Jabhat Fatah Al-Sham). Both parties agree that Al-Nusra’s re-branding as Al-Sham hasn’t changed its status as a terrorist organization.

he Israeli government will not force West Bank settlers to leave their homes, even under a permanent peace agreement with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a TV interview.

The prime minister said it was clear that Israel would not be able to extend its sovereignty under a permanent accord to encompass all of the settlements, but he was adamant that “there will be no act of evacuation.” The comment marked the first time that he has indicated that he would not countenance a repeat of the 2005 forced evacuation of Gaza’s settlements, overseen by the late prime minister Ariel Sharon, which he opposed at the time. Asked in the Channel 2 interview on Friday how he could hope to reach a deal with the Palestinians within such limitations, and whether he expected settlers to leave their homes voluntarily, Netanyahu said it was not yet clear where the borders of a two-state solution would run, and that he did not “want to go into the details” of how an accommodation regarding the settlers might be achieved. “Of course some of the settlements won’t be part of the deal, everyone understands that,” Netanyahu said. “I will make sure that [number] is as limited as possible, if we get there.” He pledged that no Israeli will be “abandoned.” Netanyahu’s comments marked the closest he has come to confirming The Times of Israel’s exclusive report from last month, which quoted a well-placed official in the Prime Minister’s Office as saying that Netanyahu would insist that settlers who find themselves on the far side of a two-state border be given the choice between remaining in place and living under Palestinian rule, or relocating to areas under Israeli sovereign rule.

The prime minister charged, however, that the Palestinians under PA President Mahmoud Abbas were “a very long way” from readiness for viable peace terms. They had to recognize Israel as a Jewish state, abandon the demand for a “right of return” for millions of refugee descendants to Israel, and agree to an “end of the conflict” accord, he said, and were giving no signs of being prepared to do so. Asked about the stern interview given by Barack Obama to Bloomberg on the eve of his meeting with Netanyahu in Washington Monday — the US president had castigated the settlement enterprise in a wide-ranging critique — Netanyahu said vaguely that “lots of people say lots of things.” He said he’d “stood up to pressure” in the past, and added that he had done so again while in the US this week, but did not elaborate. More important than any critical interview, he said, was the “positive” meeting he had with Obama at the White House.

The UN brokered evacuation of about 2,000 Jihadi insurgents from the Syrian capital Damascus to Raqqa, the de facto capital of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, has been delayed after an air strike of the Syrian Air Force took out the commander of Jays al-Islam, Zahran Alloush. On August 21, 2013, Alloush, in his function as supreme commander of Liwa-al-Islam, gave to order to launch the chemical weapons attack on the East Ghouta suburb of Damascus.

The exterminated Zahran Alloush was, until he became the commander of Jaysh al-Islam the supreme commander of Liwa-al-Islam; a position he continued to hold until his death. An in depth investigative report published by nsnbc international in 2013 shows that Zahran Alloush was the field commander who, on August 21, 2013, gave the order to launch the chemical weapons attack against the East Ghouta suburb of Damascus. Zahran Alloush has been on the payroll of the Saudi intelligence service since the 1980s. Despite certain media reports to the contrary it must be noted that the air strike that ended the life of Zahran Alloush was carried out before a ceasefire that should allow the evacuation of the 2,000 insurgents to Raqqa came into effect. Jobar is of immense strategic importance for foreign backed insurgents’ logistic support from Turkey, Lebanon, Israel and Jordan.

Liwa_al-Islam Commander and Chemical Weapon Expert Zahran Alloush has been working for Saudi Intelligence since the 1980s

Palestinians from the Gaza Strip have criticized an Israeli report on the country’s 2014 military operation against the besieged coastal enclave. The report was released by Israeli state comptroller Yosef Shapira on Tuesday. “I understand from the report that Gaza was merely the setting for an Israeli war game, with no objective but to destroy and murder indiscriminately,” said Basman Alashi, executive director of the El-Wafa Medical Rehabilitation and Specialized Surgery Hospital. The hospital, formerly located in the Shujaya neighborhood by the separation barrier with Israel east of Gaza City, was repeatedly shelled by Israeli forces during the 51-day offensive before it was evacuated under fire on July 17, 2014.

“The overall impression it leaves is this: ‘Netanyahu, You didn’t do a good job of destroying Gaza, do it better next time,’” Alashi said of the report. Others said the document contained useful information about Israel’s behavior during the offensive, even if its conclusions remained incomplete. “The report shows that Israel follows a systematic policy of humiliating Palestinians, especially through careless targeting of civilians,” said Ramy Abdu, founder and chairman of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor. Abdu’s Geneva-based agency has conducted investigations of Israel’s military conduct, including an Oct. 30, 2014 report stating that its forces had “deliberately targeted locations with concentrations of civilians” during operations earlier that year. “What the report has failed to cover is to cite careless targeting of civilians as a consistent failure of the Israeli forces, with almost no serious actions to do something about it,” Abdu said in regard to the Israeli comptroller’s findings.

It also claimed the cabinet had not only failed to consider diplomatic alternatives to military action, but also to set any clear strategy concerning Gaza. Once the operation began, it said, Israeli forces largely failed to meet their objective of thwarting tunnels dug by Palestinian resistance groups, destroying only half of them over weeks of a bloody ground invasion that produced many casualties. The comptroller did not appear to consider the goals of an earlier military operation, launched by Israel in the West Bank on June 13, 2014. These goals were to weaken Hamas, obstruct an agreement by Hamas and Fatah to form a unity government across the West Bank and Gaza Strip and recover three young settlers captured by Palestinians.

The Russian General Staff announced on Wednesday that a new humanitarian pause in combat activities will be implemented in Aleppo on Friday from 9am to 7pm local time. The pause will give non-combatants a new chance to leave the “rebel-held” pocket in eastern Aleppo and “rebels” to leave the pocket with their weapons and to move to other “rebel-held areas.

It hasn’t been part of the official announcement about the humanitarian pause and the offer that militants could evacuate. However, military logic dictates that this is a last “do or die” ultimatum before the use of decisive military force will be used against those militants who don’t leave the pocket in Aleppo. The offer about the 10-hour-long pause comes as insurgents are engaged in a massive assault against Syrian and Syrian-allied forces west of Aleppo in a desperate attempt to lift the siege. Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia Valery Gerasimov asserted that the decision was approved by Syrian authorities and was meant to “prevent senseless casualties” by allowing civilians and gunmen to leave the eastern neighborhoods of Aleppo. Gerasimov said: “All of the militants’ attempts to break through in the city of Aleppo have been unsuccessful. The terrorists suffered heavy losses of manpower, weaponry and military equipment. They have no chance to escape from the city” . He also called upon all terrorist groups’ leaders to get out from Aleppo city in light of Washington’s failure to separate the so-called “moderate opposition” from the terrorists. The latter statement underpins that Syria and Russia have to, and will count on a decisive military confrontation to clear the eastern part of the city from insurgents and to reestablish Syrian sovereignty as well as law and order in the entire city.

One of the corridors for the gunmen leads to the Turkish-Syrian border and another one to Idleb countryside, the General said, adding “During Friday’s pause, six additional corridors will be opened for civilians wishing to leave the city.”

The Syrian White Helmets rescue group has urged international organisations to protect its volunteers in rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo, warning that they face torture and execution. The rescue group said it believed it had less than 48 hours before the Syrian army, backed by Iranian militia, reached the districts in which it has been operating.

“If we are not evacuated, our volunteers face torture and execution in the regime’s detention centres,” the group said. “We have good reason to fear for our lives.”

The White Helmets in Aleppo fear they will be “be treated as terrorists” and could face detention or execution by advancing regime troops. “We hold the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross], the United Nations and the [UN] security council responsible for our lives and we call on you to secure safe passage,” a statement added. Western sources said there were credible reports of people being arbitrarily arrested and executed in Aleppo, though there was a lack of firm information. The White Helmets operate in rebel-held territory throughout Syria and have won international acclaim for their work in the aftermaths of attacks. The Bashar al-Assad regime has always described the group as a western propaganda tool, but it contends it has no political affiliation, working only to save civilian lives in highly dangerous circumstances. It was nominated for the Nobel peace prize this year and is backed by UK funds.

DAMASCUS: Negotiations are underway between the Syrian government and rebels for the evacuation of opposition forces from the last area they hold in Homs city, the provincial governor told AFP Monday. Talal Barazi said a meeting was planned for Tuesday "with the goal of reaching a final resolution of the situation in Waer," in the west of Homs city. Barazi said a deal would "mean the evacuation of the armed men and their weapons, as well as the return of state institutions to the district." Some 75,000 people currently live in Waer, down from 300,000 before the Syrian conflict began in March 2011.

Waer is the only part of the city, which is the capital of Homs province, that remains in the hands of the rebels after opposition forces were evacuated from the Old City in May 2014. Their withdrawal came after a government siege of two years and daily shelling and combat that devastated the Old City

According to media, the US and Saudi Arabia have agreed to provide Islamic State (IS) terrorists and members of their families with a safe exit from Iraqi province of Anbar and city of Mosul prior to its assault by the international coalition forces. Evacuated terrorists will be sent to Syria to conduct an offensive on cities, controlled by the Syrian government forces.

The special services of the US and Saudi Arabia have reached an agreement, according to which members of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group can safely leave Anbar province and the Iraqi city of Mosul before start of the assault on it by the international coalition forces, pro-Russian and pro-Iranian media reported on Wednesday. As the Fars news agency reported, citing a senior commander of the Iraqi volunteer forces (the Hashd al-Shaabi), Nazem al-Jaqifi, the western part of Anbar province have already been left by IS emirs and commanders at the order of the US. “The IS commanders and their families have fled Raveh, Ana, al-Qaem, al-Rataba and other areas under their control in western Anbar province,” Fars quoted al-Jaqifi’s words. “The IS commander have fled Anbar province after disguising in Shepherd’s clothes,” he added. Al-Jaqifi also stressed that the evacuation of IS members from the province of Anbar has been held upon an order of Washington. Meanwhile, the RIA Novosti news agency also reported about withdrawal of IS terrorists from the province, citing an unnamed military-diplomatic source in Moscow.

According to the source, US President Barack Obama has already decided to carry out the operation to liberate Mosul in October. During the assault, the coalition’s air power would carry out strikes only on detached empty buildings, pre-agreed with terrorists, the source said. According to him, the plan of Washington and Riyadh also provides that terrorists would move from Mosul to Syria in order to conduct an offensive on cities, controlled by the government forces. “More than 9,000 IS terrorists will be transported from Mosul to the eastern regions of Syria for conducting a following major offensive operation, which involves the capture of Deir ez-Zor and Palmyra,” the source added. RIA Novosti does not have any comments of the US or Saudi sides, as well as any official information on this matter. Earlier, it was reported that about 120,000 people will take part in the operation to liberate the Iraqi city of Mosul from IS terrorists.

President Bashar Assad's forces have removed several Scud missiles and dozens of launchers from a base north of Damascus, possibly to protect the weapons from a Western attack, opposition sources said on Thursday.

At the headquarters of the army's 155th Brigade, a missile unit whose base sprawls along the western edge of Syria's main highway running north from the capital to Homs, rebel scouts saw dozens mobile Scud launchers pulling out early on Thursday.Rebel military sources said spotters saw missiles draped in tarpaulins on the launchers, as well as trailer trucks carrying other rockets and equipment. More than two dozen Scuds — 35-foot-long ballistic missiles with ranges of 200 miles and more — were fired from the base in the Qalamoun area this year, some of which hit even Aleppo in the far north.The base was among a list of suggested targets presented by the rebel Syrian National Coalition to Western envoys in Istanbul earlier this week, opposition sources said. Scud units, of Soviet or North Korean manufacture, are designed to be mobile and so could still be set up quickly to fire from new positions.

Assad's forces appeared already by Wednesday to have evacuated most personnel from army and security command headquarters in central Damascus, residents and opposition sources in the capital said.In the Qalamoun area, an activist calling himself Amer al-Qalamouni told Reuters by telephone: "Most of the personnel in the base appear to have left.He added that trailer trucks loaded with military equipment were also seen on the Damascus ring road to the south: "Either the hardware is being transported to be stored elsewhere or it will remain constantly on the move to avoid being hit," he said.Captain Firas Bitar of the Tahriri al-Sham rebel force, who is from the Qalamoun area but is based in a Damascus suburb, said two other missile units based near the 155th in the districts of Qutaifa and Nasiriya were also moving rockets out.He said they could be move northwest to loyalist strongholds near Homs or further into the coastal mountain heartland of Assad's minority Alawite sect.Opposition sources also suspected the evacuation of another missile unit based in Sahya, just south of Damascus."The Sahya barracks have been hitting the southern suburbs with rockets and artillery non-stop," said rebel commander Abu Ayham of the Ansar al-Islam brigade. "Since yesterday, nothing has been fired from the camp, suggesting it has been emptied."

Fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant have vowed to march on Baghdad, as Iraq's parliament failed to agree the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency. "We will march toward Baghdad because we have an account to settle there," said the armed group's spokesman on Thursday in an audio recording posted on the internet. The statement could not be independently verified.

In a sign of ISIL's confidence, he even boasted that its fighters would take the southern Shia cities of Karbala and Najaf, which hold two of the holiest shrines for Shia Muslims, following the fall of cities in the Sunni north. Its boasts come as Iraq's parliament failed to reach a quorum on Thursday to vote on a nationwide state of emergency. Most of those boycotting parliament were from the country's Sunni and Kurdish factions, who oppose giving extraordinary powers to the Shia prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.

The schism came even after days of advances had left ISIL in control of towns 50km from the capital. On Wednesday, the group seized Tikrit, 140km northwest of Baghdad, as Iraqi soldiers fled.  The day before, it captured Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city. ISIL and its allies among local tribesmen also hold the city of Fallujah and other pockets of the Sunni-dominated Anbar province to the west of Baghdad.

Three months, a naval fleet, 3,000 marines, one Billion dollars, and 450 cruise missiles later, it’s May 2011 and Obama had yet to ask for permission to engage in his offensive war from anyone but himself and the previously noted ‘club of the traveling pantsuits’. Despite the Office of Legal Council (the golfers own legal team) telling him approval is needed, he chose to violate the War Powers Act and more importantly the Constitution. It is critical to remember the political battle being waged at the time over whether President Obama had the authority to take “offensive military action”, without congressional approval,  when the threat was not against the United States. It’s critical because from that initial impetus you find the reason why arming the Libyan rebels had to be done by another method – because President Obama never consulted congress, nor sought permission.

Tuesday marked a milestone for the 12-year-old war in Afghanistan, with NATO forces officially handing over responsibility for the country's security to Afghan government forces. Since 2010, when President Barack Obama accelerated training as part of his rapid surge of forces into the country, the Afghan National Army has grown from around 100,000 members to 195,000. But it still faces a number of challenges, including a desertion rate so high that it needs 50,000 new recruits every year to replace those who leave). In December 2012, a Pentagon report determined that only one of the Afghan military's 23 brigades was able to operate effectively without NATO support. Now, Afghan troops will have to do just that; except in rare cases, they will no longer be able to rely on the support of U.S. warplanes, medical evacuation helicopters, or ground troops.

Tuesday marked a milestone for the 12-year-old war in Afghanistan, with NATO forces officially handing over responsibility for the country's security to Afghan government forces. Since 2010, when President Barack Obama accelerated training as part of his rapid surge of forces into the country, the Afghan National Army has grown from around 100,000 members to 195,000. But it still faces a number of challenges, including a desertion rate so high that it needs 50,000 new recruits every year to replace those who leave). In December 2012, a Pentagon report determined that only one of the Afghan military's 23 brigades was able to operate effectively without NATO support. Now, Afghan troops will have to do just that; except in rare cases, they will no longer be able to rely on the support of U.S. warplanes, medical evacuation helicopters, or ground troops. Here's a look back at the long preparation for this week's big handover. An Afghan National Army soldier assigned to the Mobile Strike Force Kandak fires an RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenade launcher during a live-fire exercise supervised by Marines Team on Camp Shorabak, Helmand province, Afghanistan on May 20, 2013.

The sense of pride expressed by officials of the Obama administration at the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl is not shared by many of those who served with him: veterans and soldiers who call him a deserter whose "selfish act" ended up costing the lives of better men.

Obama today: “We broke the ISIL siege of Mount Sinjar,” Obama said. "We do not expect there to be an additional operation to evacuate people off the mountain, and it's unlikely we'll need to continue humanitarian air drops on the mountain," Obama continued. This "broke the siege" statement is a lie. There never was a "siege" on the Sinjar mountain range. The Yazidi who had fled there were quickly welcomed and evacuated to Syria by the Kurdish PKK and YPG forces. There are now some 15,000 of Yazidis in the Kurdish part of Syria. Some thousand refugees may still be in the mountains but the nomadic shepherds who live there will likely help them along. The PKK was already there doing the job three days before the first U.S. action took place.

The only reason Obama sent troops and jets to the area was to protect the city of Erbil with its CIA station, the international airport and the local headquarters of various "western" oil companies. When U.S. jets started bombing a few ISIS positions near to Erbil most Yazidis were already safe and on their way out of the mountains. The U.S. announced its first airstrikes on Friday the 8th while the PKK had started its operation to help the Yazidis on Tuesday the 5th. There was never a blockade or a siege and always a safe way out towards Syria which the refugees were helped along by the PKK. But that good deed was done by the socialist from the PKK and YPG. The U.S. State Department officially designates the PKK as a "terrorist group" for its fight against the Turkish state. Unlike the pesh merga under the Iraqi Kurdish leader Barzani these people know how to fight and have the discipline and training to achieve successes against ISIS and other Jihadi organizations. But that is a story Obama does not want to tell. He needs an excuse to reintroduce U.S. forces back into Iraq, to secure the oil U.S. companies are pumping from there and to pressure for regime change in Baghdad. The Sinjar mountain "siege" was an easy excuse. Nearly as good as the sinking of the Maine and the Gulf of Tonkin incident.