Syriy War - Trump tells Russia to 'get ready' for Syria missile attacks

Trump tweets warning after Russia vowed it would shoot down any US missiles fired at Syria. US President Donald Trump told Russia in an early morning tweet to prepare for "nice and new and 'smart!'" missile attacks in Syria after an alleged gas attack on the last rebel stronghold in the country. The tweet came after the Russian ambassador to Lebanon said in an interview on Tuesday with Hezbollah-owned al-Manar TV that "if there is a US missile attack, we - in line with both Putin and Russia's chief of staff's remarks - will shoot down US rockets and even the sources that launched the missiles". Trump further chided Russia for its support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Wednesday's tweet, saying it "shouldn't be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!"

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova responded to Trump's tweet saying: "Smart missiles should fly towards terrorists, not [Syria's] lawful government, which has spent several years fighting against international terrorism on its territory."

The past few weeks since our previous Syria map update have been dominated by news from two main arenas of battle, both in the country's northwest. In the most politically significant development, the Turkish military has entered the Kurdish-administrated Afrin region (also spelled "Efrin") as part of a mission, alongside allied rebel fighters, to drive Kurdish militias out of the western border region. Meanwhile, forces loyal to Syria's Assad government have made major advances in areas south of Aleppo, eliminating an enclave of the so-called "Islamic State" (IS; formerly ISIS/ISIL) and cutting into rebel control around the edges of Idlib province.

The main boundary-related milestones in this update involve the former side-by-side rebel and IS exclaves at the corner of Idlib, Aleppo, and Hama provinces, which were together already encircled by pro-government troops as of our January report. Since that was published, IS forces managed to take over the rebel-held parts of the pocket, simultaneously eliminating the rebel exclave, erasing one of only two IS borders with Syrian rebel territory, and making the IS territory into a proper enclave, fully surrounded by government forces. Not long afterwards, the IS enclave was itself eliminated by government forces, though a smaller, short-lived pocket of IS control briefly sprung up farther to the west.

Turkey's incursion into the Afrin region has also created three or four new exclaves of rebel control wedged between the Kurdish-administered area and the Turkish border. However, because of the heavy involvement of Turkish troops, some observers might consider these mere extensions of Turkish territory. If the Turkish-led forces are able to continue their advance, we may also soon see the elimination of Kurdish Afrin's border with Turkey.

Note: Red triangles on the map represent towns where rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) - formerly known as Al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra (a.k.a. the Nusra Front), and later Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS) - is thought to be in a dominant position among rebel forces, even if it doesn't exercise exclusive control. This organization has at least some presence in most rebel-held areas of Syria.

Timeline of Events
The following is a timeline of changes to territorial control and other key events in Syria since our previous map update of January 20, 2018. Sources are provided as in-line links.

January 21, 2018
Turkey-supported Free Syrian Army (TFSA) rebels pushed into the Kurdish-administered Afrin region and captured four to nine villages. Later, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) recaptured two villages. Turkish military forces were fighting alongside the rebels, on a mission to establish a buffer zone between the border and the territory of the SDF, whose dominant Kurdish YPG militia Turkey considers to be terrorists because of links to rebels inside Turkey. (The Turkish government hopes to eventually create a Turkey-friendly buffer zone along Syria's entire northern border.)

Vladimir Shamanov, chairman of the defence affairs committee in Russia's lower house of parliament, told Russia's Ria Novosti news agency on Wednesday that Russia would retaliate.

"Russia has a decent weapon. If there are attempts to test it out, they will get a worthy response," he said.

Meanwhile, the Syrian government has put its forces on "high alert" amid the looming threat of a US military response.

News Source:
ALJAZEERA
Political Geography Now