„Islamist rebels have captured the north-western Syrian city of Idlib from government forces“
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-32100644

These rebel coalition going by the name „Jaysh al Fateh“ is not only „Islamists“ but mainly even Al Qaeda, as the main factions involved were Jabhat al Nusra (JAN) and the Salafi group Ahrar al Sham.
„While Al Nusrah is an official arm of al Qaeda in Syria, both Ahrar al Sham and Jund al Aqsa are also linked to al Qaeda.“
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2015/03/jihadist-coalition-claims-control-of-idlib.php

„Moderate fighters once supported by the United States played no role in Idlib’s capture. They had been routed from the province by Nusra over the past three months, and starting in December, the United States had cut their salaries and supplies.“
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2015/03/28/261325/al-qaida-affiliate-seizes-major.html

What is interesting is that in a Sunni city of 100.000 people no rebel victory video shows any population greeting and celebrating the rebels. Where are the „liberated“ civilians?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEaeKLbQutw&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScAv6ZGm3f8&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDDeIkfKD5c&feature=youtu.be

And there is the well-known neutral blogger Edward Dark who even says that most of the people fled Idlib towards government areas:
https://twitter.com/edwardedark/status/582126777205702656
Same repeated by another source:
https://twitter.com/Nutsflipped_z_1/status/582282853557231616/photo/1

According to SOHR „120,000 fighters supporting Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad have been killed in the civil war since 2011“
https://middleeastmonitor.com/news/middle-east/15876-over-120000-pro-assad-fighters-killed-in-syria

Why is this number unlikely (too high)?
In April 2014 SOHR was speaking of a total „pro-regime“ death toll of 57.500 fighters. So, the statement above would imply that in the last 8 months until December 2014 some 62.500 further pro-government army soldiers and militia fighters were killed. This is totally exaggerated as it would mean that these forces had an average monthly casualty figure of almost 8.000 men.

More interestingly, however, this contradicts another assertion made by SOHR in the same article above:
„nearly 11,000 government security forces and allied militia were killed in the five months after Al-Assad’s inauguration speech at the start of his third term…Al-Assad began a third term last July…“
This figure sounds more realistic and puts the average death toll at 2.200 pro-government fighters per month, which is way below the 8.000 men calculated before.
Assuming the latest average of 2.200 deaths to be true, the highest casualty figure for the government side would be 57.500 + 8 x 2.200 = appr. 75.000.

According to an early report by Nir Rosen and later admissions by SOHR themselves in many cases rebel casualties were declared civilian deaths to demonize the government. At the same time it is not far-fetched to assume that SOHR has been very open to accept rebel claims about „Shabbiha deaths“. Probably many pro-government civilians or state employees (such as ordinary policemen) who were killed intentionally or accidentally by the rebels were denounced by the latter as „Shabbiha“ or otherwise part of the security apparatus.

May God destroy a sick ideology that considers lawful the intentional killing of school children:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/peshawar-school-attack-will-the-most-horrific-attack-in-pakistans-recent-history-finally-unite-its-squabbling-politicians-9929383.html
The criminal mindset that motivates „believers“ to consider mass killing of children „halal“ has nothing „divine“ in it. This is no religion from God, it is a mental disease, an evil cancer that has to be dealt with harshly and destroyed.
This mental disease disguised as „heavenly religion“ is a result of Saudi Arabia successfully spreading it´s radical and sectarian Wahhabi ideology due to having almost unlimited financial ressources. The US has facilitated this as a matter of fact by not penalizing Saudi Arabia and – on the contrary – encouraging every military and political strategy that harms and „contains“ Iran.
To achieve this Saudi Arabia has been investing for more than 30 years in a systematic and massive build-up of Madrassahs and military camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan teaching and preaching anti-Shia and thus anti-Iranian Wahhabism. This has always been considered OK and even as a desirable result by the US and it´s allies.
The Taliban were created, maintained and armed and trained by Pakistans secret service ISI and with massive infusions of money from Saudi and other Gulf Arab individuals who share the same Wahhabi ideology. Saudi Arabias Prince Turki himself visited Afghanistan under the Taliban in the late Nineties and provided hundreds of Datsun and Toyota Pick-up trucks with heavy MGs and artillery pieces mounted on them. Without enormous help by the Saudi government and private donors from the Persian Gulf countries plus the immense support by Pakistan where major parts of the military establishment sympathize with the Taliban the latter would not have been able to battle and push back the other Mujahedeen factions (who were mainly Sunni Afghans themselves).

Also today Al Qaeda in Yemen following the same sick ideology staged another attack that led to the death of many Children: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30504641

The artcile on the top contains this statement, which brings it to the point:
„Like Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Pakistani Taliban has an aversion to classrooms. It is a function of its own illiteracy, but also its belief that such places of learning promote “vulgarity” and “Western-inspired decadence”.

We Muslims must finally find the courage to acknowledge that there are major flaws in this religion, which are unfortunately not limited to Wahhabism. The broad majority of problems related with Islam come from the „prophetic traditions“, the so called „Hadeeth“, which are supposed to be the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Although even the supposedly authentic „Saheeh Hadeeth“ are highly disputed in their reliability and do not withstand critical investigations the broad majority of mainstream Sunni muslims and many Shias believe in them and consider them „teachings“ that are as binding as the Quran.
The islamic community is simply too lazy and fearful of committing a sin by doubting the Hadeeth and being more sceptic towards them.
One such Hadeeth (allegedly by Umar ibn al Khattab) which is often cited to „justify“ hostility towards schools and universities or any centers of non-religious learning is the following:
„As for the books you mention, here is my reply. If their content is in accordance with the book of Allah, we may do without them, for in that case the book of Allah more than suffices. If, on the other hand, they contain matter not in accordance with the book of Allah, there can be no need to preserve them. Proceed, then, and destroy them.“
http://www.roger-pearse.com/weblog/2010/09/10/abd-al-latifs-account-of-egypt-and-the-destruction-of-the-library-of-alexandria/
Although there are indications that this Hadeeth is a forgery some Muslims cite this and other Muslims – holding Umar for an almost „infallible“ person – simply accept it.

The relevance of the loss of the Syrian Arab army´s two military bases in Idlib province, Wadi al Deif and al Hamidiya should not be played down.
Both bases were more or less besieged for almost two years. The army and allied forces such as the Popular Defence Commitees (PDC; the former NDF) managed to hold out and overcome/repel many attacks, among them major VBIED attacks and tunnel bombings.
The location of the bases is important with regards to securing the army´s supply chain to Aleppo coming through the Damascus-Aleppo highway. This in turn means that the encirclement of Aleppo will get under pressure.
Also, it enables insurgents to send troops towards Khan Sheikhoun and (later) Morek in Northern Hama:

Of course, the SAA can now forget about recapturing Maarat an Numan, which is located few Km west of Wadi al Deif. In addition Idlib city, the provincial capital is even more exposed with the two last remaining major bases in Idlib lost.

What is the current overall military situation considered from a negative point of view (negative for me as a government supporter)?
1. The „success story“ in the North is endangered: While Jabhat al Nusra managed to marginalize the so called „moderate“ factions of SRF and the Hazm movement the SAA could not capitalize on that. JAN captured sophisticated ATGMs (American Tow missiles) and tanks from the „moderates“. The Salafis from the Islamic Front (IF) and some remnants of the FSA joined forces with JAN and finally seized the two Idlib bases. As a result in the mid term Idlib province could become for al Nusra what Raqqa has become for ISIS. It also proves that Idlib is hostile terrain for the government forces while the insurgents apparently enjoy wide scale local support. Hopefully I am wrong.
2. The situation in the southern provinces of Quneitra and Deraa is „unclear“ at best. In any case there are no indications that the army has been able to reverse any of the many insurgent gains. While the army has still some bases and strongholds in both provinces the overall „score“ shows a clear „plus“ for the insurgents.
3. In the east the army has so far successfully repelled continuing IS attacks on the Deir al Zour military airport but the question is „how long“, while there are little signs that the army could be able to really change the situation to its favor.
4. The siege of Jobar has stalled to some degree. While one month ago it appeared that Jobars recapture would be imminent it seems that the insurgents are able to hold out, probably being supplied through tunnels, something that the army so far has been unable to do anything against.

Something that has always puzzled me is the Syrian army´s inability to destroy or at least booby-trap heavy weapons and ammunition that they leave behind while abandoning a base. It is unbelievable that the insurgents capture heavy weapons such as 6-8 tanks in Wadi al Deif which they will deploy against government forces in upcoming battles.

The SAA and allied forces are badly in need of a new crucial victory, be it in the Eastern Ghouta, in Aleppo or in shape of recapturing some of the areas in northern Deraa province which lead to south-western „Rif Dimashq“ area.

Once again a major channel of western mass media is trying to reinvent and unhold the image of the „vetted“ and „moderate“ Syrian insurgent who deserves to get western support in order to topple the Syrian „regime“:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-30374581

Readers should be aware of often applied deceptive schemes such as downplaying the role of the notorious „bad guys“ of Syrias Al Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front (Jabhat al Nusra):
„Abu Majd el-Zoubi, a spokesman for the Southern Front, acknowledged that the Nusra Front operated in the region but insisted they were only 10% of the fighting force “

The number and percentage of Al Nusra is irrelevant as the group continues to be the most effective fighting force next to ISIS. Almost in every case of insurgents besieging army bases or attacking major checkpoints it is a VBIED (vehicle-borne IED) driven by a Nusra suicide bomber that makes the difference and overwhelms the defenders.

What the above quoted spokesman conceals is that the non-Nusra insurgents are not automatically „moderates“. As it can be seen and heard on below 21+ explicit material video the „moderates“ of the SRF are walking next to beheaded corpses of army soldiers, insulting the dead as „Assads dogs“ and calling the Syrian army the derogatory and sectarian name „Nussayri army“:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iD1VJ5BP7k&feature=youtu.be
Just to illustrate the degree of „non-modernation“ and outright sectarianism of these „vetted rebels“: Would someone consider a Hamas fighter „moderate“ who calls Jews „Kikes“? How about a white farmer in Americas „bible belt“ calling Afroamericans „niggers“?

In addition to the Nusra Front and the SRF, the „Southern Front“ also features the „Yarmouk Brigade“, which is not only sectarian, but also kidnapped at one point Unifil peacekeepers and openly cooperates with al Nusra:
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2014/03/zoubi-yarmouk-brigade-qaeda-saudi-southern-front.html#
More about definitely non-moderate groups within the „Southern Front“:
http://www.voltairenet.org/article183052.html

The BBC article and similar articles also ignore the role of the radically Islamist factions Ahrar al Sham and Islamic Front (which mainly builds on Ahrar al Sham and the likewise radical „Jaish al Islam“ group). The so called „Free Syrian Army“, which in the South uses the less tarnished term „Southern Front“ has seldom hesitated to join forces with the sectarian and non-moderate forces of Al Nusra, Ahrar al Sham and Islamic Front:
http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2014/10/free_syrian_army_continues_to.php

Now is this funny, ridiculous or shocking?
For almost 4 years now and especially in the first 1,5 years Arab and Western media relied on „activists“, when it came to get allegedly genuine, uncensored and unbiased reports from Syria. Activists were portrayed as nonpartisan, neutral sources telling the audience that „truth“ that the „regimes propaganda“ was seeking to hide and suppress. These activists were often presented as parts of a democratic, liberal-libertarian, non-sectarian, peaceful reform movement striving for a new human rights abiding post-Assad Syria.

Everybody who bothered to read between the lines could easily recognize that these activists were in their broad majority rebel sympathizers and all but unbiased. Some of the most famous among them turned out to be systematic fakers of „news“ intended to demonize and denounce the Syrian government.

In the article below one such „activist“ exposes himself very blatantly:

„We targeted the town with dozens of mortar shells and dozens of hell cannon shells and Nusra’s forces made progress and control buildings which are in the first line of defence of Nubl,“ said media activist Ahmed Hamidou“
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/reuters/article-2846312/Fighters-Syrian-al-Qaeda-wing-close-Shiite-village.html

Two sections of the article below are particularly interesting and insightful:

1. „The first time Hellfire Cannon was used was in Aleppo’s Ashrafieh neighborhood, causing severe damage in addition to killing and wounding dozens of civilians. Currently, fighters of the Islamic Front began to target the Citadel of Aleppo with these shells.“

2. „Arms manufacturing plants spread rapidly in Aleppo and its countryside and manufacturers found a large market to sell their products. It is believed that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) took advantage of its presence in Aleppo and its nearby countryside to persuade plant owners affiliated with the Free Syrian Army to manufacture hundreds of Hell Cannon bombs for double the price. Some of them moved to al-Bab and Manbij after ISIS was expelled from Aleppo. “

http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/after-%E2%80%98hellfire%E2%80%99-and-%E2%80%98hell%E2%80%99-meet-syrian-rebels%E2%80%99-new-rocket-aleppo

Here another article about rebels using gas canisters as weapon against civilian areas (of course western press does not consider pro-government civilians as „real civilians“):
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2014/Nov-30/279371-rebel-fire-kills-mother-3-sons-in-syrias-aleppo-monitor.ashx

So, the rebels do not only indiscriminately shell civilian areas, they also produce arms and sell them to ISIS.
So much about differentiating between ISIS and „good“ rebels.

I have seldom come along such a garbage pretending to be serious news:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKCN0JA1C220141126?irpc=932

Just some excerpts:
1. „At a desert base, Gulf state Qatar is covertly training moderate Syrian rebels with U.S. help to fight both President Bashar al-Assad and Islamic State“
It´s puzzling that western press still is using the expression „moderate“ as though it has not been proven on several instances that no recipients of western weapons and training among Syrian rebels has ever refused to sell/hand over his weapons to IS/Al-Qaeda (Nusra Front) or even voluntarily join them.

2. „Syrian rebel sources said training in Qatar has included rebels affiliated to the “Free Syrian Army” from northern Syria.“
In case anyone has forgotten it, the FSA from northern Syria is hardly anyone else than the much celebrated „moderates“ from the Syrian Revolutionaries Front (SRF) and the Hazm movement, both of them either openly cooperated with the Nusra Front or let them take their weapons.

3. „Once cleared of links with „terrorist“ factions, they travel to Turkey and are then flown to Doha and driven to the base.“
It would be nice how this kind of „clearance“ is done. As mentioned above, those groups who were considered „vetted moderate rebels“ turned out to work with the beheaders of the Nusra front which has correctly been labelled terrorist by the US state department.

4. „Gulf states dislike the West’s emphasis on fighting Islamic State. Assad is the bigger problem, they say.“
Really? For whom? In how far is Assad a bigger problem or a threat for the Gulf states? How much money and resources did the Gulf states invest in funding, arming, training or even housing Palestinian militias fighting the Israeli occupation?

5. „“The training would last a few months, maybe two or three, and then a new group would be flown in, but no lethal weapons were supplied to them,“ one of the sources said.“
Who is to believe this nonsense? Where do then all the seemingly endless sophisticated long-range anti-tank (ATGMs) weapons come that rebels proudly show in their „success clips“ from Syria?

6. „In recent weeks, the Qataris, disappointed by lack of progress in the fight against Assad, have started to consider training members of the Islamic Front, a coalition of Islamist rebels less militant than Islamic State or the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front, but stronger than the FSA.“
Now, this is the absolute lowlight in an already extremely weak piece: „Islamist rebels less militant than Islamic State or the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front“. How is militancy measured by the way? The „Islamic Front“ includes several Salafi sectarian Islamists like the „Ahrar al Sham“, „Liwa Tauheed“ and the „Jaish al Islam“ (Islamic Army). They have both cooperated with IS and the Nusra front, among others during the infamous attack on Adra where they beheaded government supporters and threw people into baking ovens:
http://rt.com/news/russia-condemns-adra-massacre-406/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/12/12/us-syria-crisis-adra-idUSBRE9BB0PM20131212

Saudi Arabias Wahhabism, a minority branch of Sunni Islam, has already infected several countries like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and even parts of Egypt, Lebanon, Libya and Tunisia to name some places where this violent and highly sectarian ideology is behind a wave of bombings and beheading.

While there might be minor theoretical differences Wahhabis and Salafis are the fathers of jihadism and takfirism. Both are highly self-righteous narcissistic and supremacist ideologies that easily name others including Sunni muslims „infidels“ or „apostates“ whose killing is „legitimate“.

Saudi Arabia which is awash in money, is not subject to the slightest sanctions and enjoys superb relations with western countries has freely exported its very radical brand of Islam to places that used to know moderate Islam. Western countries have kept silence in order to not offend one of their major weapons buyers and at the same time the world´s most crucial exporter of petroleum. The same applies to Kuwait and Qatar, two other strongholds and exporters of Wahhabism and fundraisers of terrorism (https://radioyaran.com/2014/11/03/will-qatar-become-part-of-the-axis-of-evil-or-sanctioned-as-rogue-state/).

Now, it seems that Saudi Arabia is extending it´s devastating grip to Kosovo, a European country with a muslim majority that so far has been well known for its tolerant islam:
„There is a real threat to the society and the state in Kosovo, where a ‘tolerant’ brand of Islam, which is becoming more and more rare in our world, today prevails. This report sheds light on how Wahhabism is trying to infiltrate the Kosovar society after the war, amid suspicious Western silence that resembles the silence vis-à-vis the Wahhabi infiltration of Syria and Iraq prior to the disaster that befell the two Arab nations.“
http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/will-kosovo-be-able-confront-takfiri-threat-facing-balkans