SITREP 1/28/24: US Troops Suffer Fatalities in Strikes as Escalation Grows

I get tired of saying “things are heating up” but…things continue to really heat up.

The first direct troop deaths have finally begun rolling in as warhawk voices in the US cry out for total war:

Here’s CENTCOM’s official statement:

And here’s the statement from the Islamic Resistance which claimed responsibility for the attacks:

There seems to be some major disagreement or deliberate obfuscation on US’ part as to where the troops were hit, exactly. The above resistance statement says multiple bases were hit. Most are assuming the fatalities were in al-Tanf base in Syria—the illegal base the US uses to facilitate ISIS and train terrorists to agitate against Assad, as well as to block the all important Syria-Jordan border-route to keep Syria isolated and economically stifled.

But in fact the US claims the hit was not at al-Tanf, but just over the border at a base called ‘Tower 22’ on the Jordanian side:

It’s understandable how things could get so confusing, what with so many illegal American bases strewn about like candy wrappers, and all. But in reality, this is likely an attempt to downplay and conceal US’ al-Tanf activity and give the appearance of legality by misdirecting everyone to the Jordanian base which US actually has legal permission to be in—unlike al-Tanf.

But before we go on, I’d like to remind everyone of this report. I may have posted it long ago—it’s from an Iranian attack in 2021. But it is an absolute must watch. I strongly, strongly urge everyone to watch this below and see if you don’t come away with a different opinion of the ‘invincible’ US military as portrayed by Hollywood:

Not only are there no working air defenses to speak of, but the troops and generals themselves leave much to be desired. Can you even imagine these people on the frontline against Russia in Ukraine? The majors and generals in the video are brought nearly to tears by a few Iranian bottle rockets, with the base commander desperately urging his troops to abandon the base and spread out in the desert.

A lot of people clinging to the old Hollywood stereotypes of American supremacy are really out of date and have no idea what the American military is currently like—nor have ever had any idea of what some of America’s most vaunted weapons truly performed like in real combat settings:

And for those who think “How could this be? The US was invincible during the Iraq War in 2003”—well, I have some news for you. There was no war, it was a total sham pysop operation, which I covered in depth here:

If that wasn’t bad enough, US troops are even taking casualties on the Texas front:

https://www.newsweek.com/dan-patrick-responds-tensions-over-use-razor-wire-border-1864642

Now there’s “rumors” that Israel is gathering on the Lebanese border and is getting ready to launch a huge invasion up to the Litani River, of which we wrote about here long ago. If there’s any truth to that, then we can surmise any such escalations with Iran as this new strike could potentially even be a falseflag—whether of the USS Liberty variety, or of the Pearl Harbor variety where something is “let through” on purpose. Or it could simply be Iran drawing Israel and the US into a war it wants because it knows it can win it through its vast proxies. There are many possibilities as yet. Hard to imagine, though, that Israel really wants a piece of Hezbollah given their inability to even put a dent in Hamas:

The only thing that’s certain is election year has just begun and things are already melting down faster than anyone could imagine.

And while the pot boils over, US factotums make no headway in cooling the brewing disasters:

To be quite honest, it’s difficult to imagine how this situation could resolve without either a total US withdrawal from the Middle East or a new major war. The problem in both scenarios:

1. If the US withdraws, it will be viewed as the mother of all failures and weaknesses for the Biden administration, akin to the Afghan withdrawal x 100. I have no idea why it should be viewed that way, when in reality it’s a giant win for Americans to disentangle their country from globalist and MIC pursuits, but that’s how it will be spun by the totally compromised media which is the enemy of humanity. Most Republican warhawks will of course agree and stoke this interpretation as well, as they’re on the MIC payroll.

2. If Biden escalates and orders major strikes on Iran itself as Lindsey Graham and others are now cheerleading for, it could lead to an escalatory cascade that would shut down the entire region by engulfing it in flames, crashing the world economy to new levels, which would be a massive shock to any establishment re-election chances this year.

Don’t even bother thinking about boots on the ground, if such a thing was possible it would take a year or more of preparation. Remember the Iraq invasion required 6 months just of transporting materiel and assets to the region, staging them, etc. But Iran wouldn’t let you stage them because it has far more sophisticated modern ballistic systems than anything Iraq had, which means large troop concentrations and armor/materiel staging areas could be hit and wiped out long before zero hour. Don’t believe me? Just watch the video at the beginning, the US army general says it himself toward the end: he states the accuracy of Iran’s ballistic missiles was shocking and they hit “pretty much everything they wanted to hit.”

So ground invasion is out—that’s not happening. The only thing they could possibly attempt is a long-spanning aerial campaign. But to even remotely scratch Iran’s capabilities would require a vast campaign lasting minimum 6-12 months and probably much longer. Remember, all of NATO mustered for 3 months against little Serbia with 6 million people and barely managed to destroy anything of worth. Iran has a 90 million population and a country probably a hundred times the size of Serbia, not to mention a far larger military. How long do you think it would take NATO to even put a dent in that from only an aerial campaign?

In short: it would take years, and during those years, Iran would shut down every major maritime and economic chokepoint in the region, crashing the global economy. If you thought a few ships being hit now was bad, wait til you see the nominal Iranian forces rather than Houthis hitting everything in sight—it won’t be pretty. And I’ve beaten the point before about how difficult it would be to even find targets in the decentralized vastness of Iran, just like in Yemen.

Here’s a photo of a secret Yemeni launch site as an example:

These can be strewn by the hundreds or thousands throughout the deserts, and no amount of advanced “ISTAR” will locate them.

But of course that doesn’t stop the warmongers of the corporate-owned press:

And as of this writing, rumor has it there are some assets en route:

At least 6 U.S. Air Force KC-135 Aerial-Refueling Tankers, most from March Air Reserve Base in Southern California, are heading Northeast across the United States and preparing to Transit the Atlantic towards the U.K. and Europe. I wonder what kind of Aircraft they are Refueling?

So there is potential for some escalations, though it could merely be precaution as always.

I think US will continue looking for a diplomatic solution, as it knows how indigestible both of the options above really are. It will continue looking for ways to de-escalate, perhaps even advancing the talks of withdrawal from the region so as to signal to Iran that it’s backing out, though perhaps dragging their feet in the process to make the ‘pull out’ as drawn out as possible and more symbolic in nature.

The US looks weaker than ever so of course a token strike of a kind is possible, to signal some impotent brawn to its now demoralized partners. But this won’t accomplish anything and will only put US troops in the region in increasing danger.

The truth is, the entire current framework looks highly orchestrated between the resistance axis, particularly of Russia, Iran, and perhaps China. The reason is that just as Russia tied up the Empire in Ukraine, Iran began its strangulation maneuver in the Mid East, and look how ‘elegantly’ it’s all working out: Europe is being entirely cut off from cheap energy while Russia and BRICS gain not only some of the most powerful energy producers but also the countries responsible for the most important maritime chokepoints; i.e. Egypt and the Suez/Red Sea; Ethiopia and the Red Sea; Iran and Saudi Arabia for the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, etc.

Now, suddenly what do we hear? Major moves being made by Russia to put the Arctic in a chokehold, securing another key corridor:

https://www.wnd.com/2024/01/russia-builds-arctic-oil-route-middle-east-tensions-escalate/

From the next navigation period, the Northern Sea Route will be open year-round

"Cargo navigation along the entire length of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) will become year-round from 2024."

From Slavyangrad:

Note: Today there are SEVEN nuclear-powered icebreakers of three types in operation:

1. "Yamal" and "50 Let Pobedy", project 10520.

2. "Taimyr" and "Vaigach", project 10580, whose service life has been extended until at least 2027.

3. "Arktika", "Sibir" and "Ural", project 22220.

The fourth icebreaker of Project 22220 "Yakutia" should enter into service by the end of this year and then we will have EIGHT nuclear icebreakers.

The fifth "Chukotka" in 2026. Even the USSR did not have such a group. By the end of its existence there were only SIX of them.

By the way, today President Vladimir Putin took part in the laying of the next icebreaker of this project, "Leningrad", which is to enter service in 2028 (and another "Stalingrad" is to be laid down next year). And by the end of 2027, the giant icebreaker Russia, whose characteristics allow it to sail the Arctic Ocean anywhere at any time of the year, is due to enter service.

And the above is true: Putin just attended the laying down ceremony of another brand new nuclear icebreaker:

China also has access to the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic Ocean. The West does not have access to this route because these are Russia's territorial waters.

In summary: the resistance axis is muddying the economic transport waters for the Western economic bloc while opening its own brand new and vast transport corridors.

The danger in this, of course, is that once things get too desperate, the only possible recourse for the West to save themselves would be to launch a total global war in the hopes of ‘resetting’ the situation. This is why now again we continue to see the drums of war beating louder than ever:

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More geopolitical bad news for the Empire:

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have announced they are leaving ECOWAS. The collapse of the French neocolonial empire continues. France’s attempts to spoil Russia in Armenia and Ukraine can no longer stop these processes.

As well as:

And:

The Iranian foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also just arrived in Pakistan to a warm reception, playing into theories that the recent cross border strikes each country dealt to the other were actually a secretly agreed upon joint operation to cleanse American GLADIO-style terror groups.

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Let’s turn to Ukraine for a moment. There are a few interesting updates. A fascinating story has come to light regarding how precisely Russian forces were able to win their way into the Tsar’s Hunt area of southern Avdeevka. It turns out they were able to cut their way through a drainage pipe hundreds of meters behind enemy lines, waiting until a very foggy day to pop out in the rear and liquidate and capture an entire detachment:

The operation is described by them here:

More info:

The underground pipe under Tsarskaya Okhota, which managed to break through the front on the approaches to Chemist (Khimik sector), was intended for the DFS, and according to other sources as a water supply for the Coke plant. The entrance to the collector was found on our side in the area of the reservoir, cutouts were made in the pipe itself to get out behind enemy lines.

When there was fog, the assault groups of our intelligence came out of the pipe and quickly surrounded and destroyed the AFU forces with a sudden blow. Some of our employees immediately took over the private sector and gained a foothold in it. In one day, the 110th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which was stationed there, took on 80 FAB attacks.

AFU sources were furious in discovering one of the methods that the Russian forces reportedly used to surveil Ukrainian units in the region, particularly noting their main supply routes. It turns out Russian forces were able to use GPS signal hotspots from Ukrainian phones, which showed the most common routes they take in and out of Avdeevka, shown here:

APU supply routes were determined by the activity of GPS sensors in the Avdeevka area using Yandex services. Based on these data, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have two supply routes for their group in the city: northern and southern. The northern route begins in Ocheretino and runs through Novobakhmutovka, Berdychi and Semyonovka. The southern route goes from Netaylovo through Umanskoye. In the Orlovka area, both paths combine into one and, passing north of Lastochkino, reach Avdeevka.

Here’s the supply routes Russian forces were able to hash out based on the above information:

The closest positions of the RF Armed Forces to the supply routes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are in the area of the confluence of railway tracks near Novobakhmutovka in the north - more than 2 km. In the south in the Vodyanoye area - about 5 km.

Supply logistics for Avdeevka largely comes from Krasnoarmeysk through Grodovka, Novogrodovka, Zhelannye, Novoselovka-1 more than through Ocheretino.

Ukrainian units caught on to this and issued a warning:

Rusnia tracks travel routes using Yandex maps and other applications!

The golden military rule - when performing combat missions, always turn off geolocation and put your phone in "flight" mode❗️

But for some reason, a small number of soldiers adhere to this rule, thereby putting themselves and their fellow soldiers at risk!

That said, another video of the MSR to Avdeevka:

Taken apparently around here:

Also, here’s a video from the “Khimik” section, which is the dense highrise area just northwest of Tsar’s Hunt, where I said Russian forces could soon end up and gain full fire-control over the MSR. Most notable was the report, which this video affirms, that the ‘sound of gunfire and shelling’ is getting closer and closer to this Khimik sector:

Avdiivka. The sounds of gunfire are getting closer to the Khimik area - a key point in the western part of Avdiivka, the capture of which makes holding the city by the Ukrainian Armed Forces meaningless.

That would be somewhere here:

Ukraine tried desperately to counter-attack the lost Tsar’s Hunt area the past few days, but they were repulsed:

Avdiivka. Our fighters repel attacks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in a private building immediately after the Royal Hunt

In fact, it was recorded that they sent in some of their most elite special units to try to pry Russian forces from the area, but they failed with several of the ‘elite’ being captured. Here in one celebrated episode yesterday a lone Russian soldier captured several of them:

⚡️Video⚡️How elite intelligence officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces surrendered to a soldier of the 9th brigade in Avdeevka⚡️

Continuation of the story about how Ukrainian intelligence officers went to recapture the opornik, but were stopped by one of the soldiers of the 9th brigade, who threw grenades at them.

Realizing that they couldn’t recapture the opornik, and no one was going to let them go back either, the elite fighters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces made the only right decision - to surrender.

This is how one fighter of the “nine”, which is now fighting under the leadership of the legendary commander and Hero of Russia - “Baycott”, captured the four surviving enemy fighters. And such stories happen every day in the 1st Army Corps, so very soon watch on our channel a new report about the heroic defenders of Donbass.

Russian 9th brigade fighter single handedly captures "elite" AFU team in Avdeevka: In the Avdeevsky direction, the fighters of the 9th brigade were to take the enemy’s support position. And the enemy didn’t like it so much that the next morning they sent not ordinary mobilized men, but five, and, as it later turned out, elite Ukrainian intelligence officers to recapture the position. But the elite of the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not know that a “9th brigade” fighter was already entrenched in the defensive position, and had no intention of leaving there.

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In the meantime, Russia continues to inflict heavy casualties via long range strikes to the operational rear. Another report from Sergey Lebedev details how just days after the infamous Kharkov strike on French mercenaries, Russian ballistic missiles rained down on a Kraken HQ, also in Kharkov. It reportedly killed dozens of Kraken and another strike in Balakleya reportedly killed over 100+ Ukrainian militants as well:

More than 130 fighters from the neo-Nazi Kraken unit and Russian Volunteer Corps* were eliminated in Kharkov by Russian forces on Wednesday night, Sergey Lebedev, coordinator of the Nikolaev resistance movement, told Sputnik, citing his sources from Kharkov.

The strikes were carried out near where French mercenaries were destroyed on January 17, Lebedev said.

More than 100 members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were also eliminated in the city of Balakleya, Kharkov region, Lebedev added.

The so-called Russian Volunteer Corps is part of the neo-Nazi Kraken unit, formed by the leaders of the Azov** Regiment and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

There continues to be a lot of activity in this northern region. Not only the strikes on Kharkov but the Kupyansk-Sinkovka area has heated up to be by far the second most active after Avdeevka—and perhaps even taking first place. In fact reports indicate that Ukraine has shifted most of its Leopards and other advanced armor to this Kupyansk area.

Major headway was made today when Russian forces captured a sizable amount of new territories around Tabaevka. Here’s a detailed analysis of all the advancements.

Rumors continue to swirl that Russia is building up troops on the border areas there as well, particularly given Ukraine’s various escalations in shelling Belgorod, shooting down Il-76s, etc. This has led to speculation that Russia is getting closer and closer to launching a large second front from the north.

Now the Azov ‘chief of staff’ Bogdan Krotevich stated on Dmitry Gordon’s channel that he believes in 2024 Russia will conduct a mass invasion from the north, in the Sumy and Chernigov regions, as well as from Belarus toward Kiev:

It’s clear that Russia is waiting for the ‘boa constrictor’ of economic damage and lack of Western aid to cripple the Ukrainian military at which point such a new front is a possibility to fully break the back of the AFU. Right now there are massive ammo woes being reported all across the Ukrainian front, but they are thus far making up for it with drone warfare, as there is no shortage there.

In fact their drone usage continues to get increasingly more sophisticated, with Russian troops now reporting Ukrainian “motherships” which not only act as signal repeaters but can also carry FPVs deep into the rear, to give them increased flight endurance:

While Russia holds the quantitative edge, there is no question that Ukraine continues to lead in the qualitative and innovation department when it comes to drone warfare. However for now these innovative steps still do not produce disproportionate effects of any kind but are merely keeping Ukraine “in the fight” by a hair.

Ukraine also continues innovating with UGVs (Unmanned Ground Vehicles) as this sample seen below, which they use in attempt to destroy a Russian logistics bridge:

One of the reasons for these advances is that necessity breeds invention, as everyone knows. And since Russia has ample other types of weapons and advantages in every other category, they aren’t under as much pressure to ‘push’ so desperately in squeezing water from the stone of every possible drone capability. Ukraine on the other hand has no real choice, as they’re forced to make do with what they have and get as much capability out of it as possible.

That being said, the Russians are likewise experimenting with a ton of new things, like this anti-drone net-dispensing drone:

As well as this ‘Brother’ ground transport drone which has already undergone extensive testing and appears to be nearing actual serial roll-out:

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As US agitates Europe into a war footing against Russia, one of the founders of Azov Brigade, Sergei Korotikh, says there’s no way NATO can win because “they have no people even capable of fighting” due to years of emasculating their warrior class.

In the meantime, Ukraine’s own dwindling warrior class is on display, as women continue to fill more roles—which now includes even tankers:

And frontline menstruation during assaults is now a serious topic in the AFU:

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Things are slowly unraveling for Ukraine and the vultures are beginning to circle to pick up the pieces. The Romanian edition of Newsweek reported that far-right leader Claudiu Tarziu of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) party says Romania must take back its regions from west Ukraine:

“We are at a crossroads… We will not be truly sovereign until we reintegrate the Romanian state within its natural borders,” he reportedly stated. 

“Northern Bucovina cannot be forgotten! Southern Bessarabia cannot be forgotten…The Hertsa land, Transylvania, everything that was and is the Romanian nation must return to the borders of one state!" the AUR leader said.

He was immediately backed by Hungarian right-wing party leader (Our Homeland Party) Laszlo Toroczkai, who said:

Speaking on Saturday, Toroczkai said: “If this war ends up with Ukraine losing its statehood, because this is also on the cards, then as the only Hungarian party taking this position, let me signal that we lay claim to Transcarpathia,” according to Reuters. 

https://www.rt.com/news/591417-eu-urged-to-take-piece-of-ukraine/

If you’ll recall, last month Putin stated in a speech that he would not interfere with other claimants taking their rightful parcels of Ukrainian land in the west. This is clear indication that Ukraine is heavily trending toward precisely where most of us expected, to be piece-mealed out.

Now, one of Putin’s top siloviks, Naryshkin, confirmed that Russia will not stop at any half-way measures, and will go all the way:

He’s basically saying Russia will go all the way and remove this ‘sad regime’. Ukraine is as good as finished.

And on that note, a video from 2007 was unearthed showing a Ukrainian mystic-healer-oracle named Mihailo Nechay who appeared to predict precisely these events almost 20 years ago:

“Our gene pool will die out and Ukraine won’t exist…western Ukraine will go to Hungaria and Czech, Galicia to Poland, south and central Ukraine to Russia…”

For the religious minded who want to see more prophetic predictions about Holy Rus from long ago figures, here is also an interesting video.

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A last few sundry items:

Russian engineers captured and repaired the American M113 belonging to the 110th which fights in Avdeevka:

Russian industry continues hammering at full throttle. Here they are pumping out the 2S19M2 upgraded variant of Msta-S self-propelled howitzers:

I’ll leave you on a somber note, as the 81st anniversary of the breaking of the Leningrad siege passed. An emotional Putin laid a wreath in front of a mass grave where his own brother Viktor died as a child during the Nazi blockade and was buried. I’ve included scenes of Lukashenko with him, the Lakhta Center in St. Petersburg lighting up for the occasion, as well as an interesting quote from the joint press conference, where Lukashenko lamented Ukraine’s absence at the wreath-laying ceremony:

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