Kyle OrtonVerified account

@KyleWOrton

Research focuses on Syria and terrorism | History digressions, particularly on the Soviet Union | Likes are just bookmarks. RTs = ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

London and Wirral, Britain
kyleorton1991.wordpress.com
Joined April 2012
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  1. Pinned Tweet
    18 Dec 2018

    The waged an undeclared war against through terrorists and rejectionist states. Since the end of the Cold War, Russia has retained alliances with such actors, notably , and sees Israel as an extension of America, the "Main Adversary".

    21 replies 78 retweets 170 likes
  2. 39 seconds ago

    Totally believable stuff.

    says black boxes recovered from the wreckage of sustained damage and some parts of their memory lost.
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  3. Retweeted
    49 minutes ago

    Asked re his vague call for NATO to get more involved in the Middle East, Trump says he has come up with a "beautiful" name, "NATOME," for NATO Middle East. He says he is great at names, like USMCA, which is like the song YMCA. "Doesn't that work beautifully?...'NATO' plus 'ME.'"

    655 replies 485 retweets 1,287 likes
  4. 6 minutes ago

    👀

    BREAKING: Video taken outside of Jeffrey Epstein's cell on the night of his 1st suicide attempt was deleted by mistake, according to federal prosecutors - NBC
    1 reply 1 like
  5. Retweeted
    1 hour ago

    Given increased signs that the military infrastructure at these two bases in Iraq were the real targets of Iran's ballistic missile response, this underlines that the attack was literally an attack on Iraq itself, not an attack on Americans in Iraq.

    5 replies 9 retweets 19 likes
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  6. 1 hour ago

    Obviously, the clerical regime in has already refused to hand over the black box from the plane.

    2 replies 6 retweets 8 likes
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  7. 1 hour ago

    . also says that the U.S. has assessed accidentally shot down the plane.

    .: US officials are confident Ukrainian Flt 752 was shot down by Iran. US intelligence picked up signals of the radar being turned on & satellite detected infrared blips of 2 missile launches, probably SA-15s, followed shortly by another infrared blip of an explosion.
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    1 reply 7 retweets 5 likes
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  8. Retweeted
    2 hours ago

    7:13pm in Baghdad and Tahrir Square is gradually filling up for tomorrow's anticipated revival of protests. Tomorrow's theme focuses on rejecting all foreign interference.

    6 replies 109 retweets 233 likes
  9. 1 hour ago

    Ukraine IAF 752 "stopped transmitting data ... minutes after takeoff and not long after Iran launched missiles [into] Iraq. The aircraft is believed to have been struck by a Russia-built Tor-M1 surface-to-air missile system [a.k.a. 'Gauntlet'], the three officials told Newsweek."

    1 reply 6 retweets 5 likes
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  10. 1 hour ago

    The plane that crashed into on JAN 7 was brought down, accidentally, by the Iranian regime, using a -built anti-aicraft system, according to a DoD official, a senior U.S. intelligence official, and an Iraqi intelligence official.

    6 replies 21 retweets 21 likes
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  11. Retweeted
    Jan 8

    U.S. military did not attempt to shoot down Iran's ballistic missiles because there were no American military assets in place to intercept them, officials say.

    85 replies 587 retweets 1,041 likes
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  12. Retweeted
    2 hours ago

    From left to right. Iran, 2 IRGC flags, Lebanese Hizballah, an interesting Ansar Allah (Houthi) one used by Iran proxies, Hashd al-Sha'abi, Hamas, Fatemiyoun (Afghan Shia), Liwa Zaynabioun (Pakistani Shia).

    Revolutionary Guard commander gave a press conference today flanked by the flags of Iran's proxies. Interesting to see Hamas up there but not Islamic…
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    5 replies 47 retweets 52 likes
  13. Retweeted
    3 hours ago

    New Quds Force Commander Esmail Qaani was previously seen only rarely in the media. Here he sits alongside Khamenei and Rouhani in a mourning ceremony in Tehran today. Qaani's myth-making is ongoing, as the Guards seek to portray him as a new vanguard of national resistance: 1/9

    2 replies 10 retweets 12 likes
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  14. Retweeted
    3 hours ago

    This obvious fact is being flushed down the memory hole. The rise of the militias in Iraq, to name just one area, was a direct result of Obama's strategy. The claim that Trump's efforts to compete w/Iran gave it a privileged position in Iraq is ignorant or dishonest.

    The dramatic gains that Russia and Iran made in the Middle East happened not under Trump but under Obama
    11 replies 125 retweets 249 likes
  15. Retweeted
    4 hours ago

    Unrest is brewing in N-Idlib. The forceful arrest of a Hezb ut Tahrir member in Killi triggered local protest demanding the release of detainees by HTS. Interestingly support is mainly spreading via women often having a detained family member themselves.

    6 retweets 6 likes
  16. Retweeted
    4 hours ago

    Particularly interesting is the display of the Hashd al-Shaabi flag. The Hashd contains militias entirely run by Iran's Qods Force, but it has been formally absorbed into Iraqi state institutions starting in 2016.

    IRGC is now straight up embarrassing their proxies and militias that spent years convincing us they are not Iranian proxies.…
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    2 replies 47 retweets 88 likes
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  17. Retweeted
    6 hours ago

    Ukraine investigators considering possibility missile brought down passenger plane over Tehran

    89 replies 348 retweets 445 likes
  18. Retweeted
    10 hours ago

    Five security sources told Reuters the initial assessment of Western intelligence agencies is that the Ukrainian airliner that crashed in Iran suffered a technical malfunction and was not brought down by a missile

    Technical problems behind plane crash in Iran: security sources - News
    51 replies 124 retweets 168 likes
  19. Retweeted
    18 hours ago

    The U.S. Congressional Research Service may have set some sort global speed-writing record by issuing a 22-page background briefing on the death of Qassem Soleimani, Iranian retaliation, and its regional consequences – yesterday. And it's really good, too.

    8 replies 97 retweets 192 likes
  20. Retweeted
    20 hours ago

    Rumor has it that if you dial Adel Abdul Mehdi, he won't answer with "Hello..how can I help you", but rather :"hello..where would you like to strike" Iraqi war humor.

    يگلك عادل عبد المهدي هسة اذا تخابره ما يگلك تفضل انت منو وشتريد.. رأسًا يجاوبك: ألو وين تريد تقصف؟
    14 replies 40 retweets 242 likes
  21. Retweeted
    11 hours ago

    TASS cites WaPo quoting senior official saying Iran specifically picked targets that wouldn't cause casualties and that they received Iraqi warnings of the attack several hours before it took place.

    Иран специально выверял удары, чтобы нанести минимум ущерба США, сообщила газета The Washington Post:
    1 reply 2 retweets 4 likes
  22. Retweeted
    12 hours ago

    Ismail Qaani, Iran’s new Quds Force leader, has spent time in , wrongly received as a “diplomat,” said the Afghan Foreign Ministry. Story:

    2 replies 23 retweets 64 likes
  23. 12 hours ago

    Esme Erat (Delal Nurhak) was killed in Qandil in September in a operation. She had been a member of the for thirty years and had been in Syria.

    2 likes
  24. 12 hours ago

    The former Deputy Head of the Northern Command in says that the presence in the region stabilises and buffers everything; without that presence, the slide to war with would be unavoidable within a few years.

    2 replies 6 retweets 10 likes
  25. Retweeted
    24 hours ago

    A summary of some of the European terror plots - one successful and some potential near misses - over the Christmas and New Year period.

    7 retweets 13 likes
  26. Retweeted
    14 hours ago

    Via live: Iran sent messages to White House via intermediaries like Swiss, saying it was finished w its retaliation for death of Soleimani, but (basically) it’s not responsible for what groups - I.e. its proxies - might do

    17 replies 96 retweets 184 likes
  27. Retweeted
    13 hours ago

    'The Police wrote that a group of kids aged 12-15( TWELVE TO FIFTEEN WTAF) called the man a number times “Jew” and “two of the perpetrators grabbed the man between his legs.'

    2 retweets 3 likes
  28. Retweeted
    14 hours ago

    word on this. Seen their faces a lot this week in my mind, clearer than ever before.

    “Nearly a decade at war left me with many dead friends and, when tallying up how they died, I can trace more of their deaths to the barrel of an Iranian-supported Shia militiaman, or an Iranian-developed armor piercing IED, than to card-carrying members of al-Qaeda.” …
    1 reply 5 retweets 18 likes
  29. 15 hours ago

    Thread on the contradictory evidence and official statements about what actually did last night, and what it intended to do.

    US: 16 missiles from 3 locations in Iran, 11 hit Ayn Al-Assad, 1 near Erbil, 4 failed Milley: 1-2K lbs warheads, intended to kill personnel/ vehicles…
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    1 retweet 2 likes
  30. 15 hours ago

    This is mostly "lol words", but on this point of allies, Obama alienated Britain, France, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Syria's opposition, Turkey, and dozens of others - states, non-state actors, values allies, strategic partners: you name it, Obama antagonised them. Except Iran.

    1:00
    Susan Rice: Trump now has no leverage with Iran because “we are the ones who have precipitated this cycle of escalation unfortunately and we treat our allies under President Trump like trash."
    6 replies 14 retweets 53 likes
  31. Retweeted
    17 hours ago

    Defense Sec. Esper, answering question in senators briefing today, said voting to curb authority & having public fight over Iran strike could demonstrate division to Iran and a "division of purpose" to troops. Durbin then said he disagreed. Sen. Lee says exchange infuriated him.

    118 replies 500 retweets 1,662 likes
  32. Retweeted
    Jan 8

    One thing I've noticed is how mean the press was to Obama compared to Trump.

    The press grilled Obama over the most obscure provisions of the Iran Deal. I don’t think they’ve ever even asked Trump if he knows what’s in it.
    379 replies 1,264 retweets 7,918 likes
  33. Retweeted
    16 hours ago

    Always happy to be informative. Also, given the crisis, the map now has a special section on events leading up to the recent Suleimami events. I'll be updating it.

    The Shia Militia Mapping Project - The Washington Institute for Near East Policy excellent interactive map produced by ⁦⁩ ... Thank you Sir!
    1 reply 15 retweets 28 likes
  34. Retweeted
    18 hours ago

    A message from the White Helmet Obada from inside the central hospital of , the last hospital in the southern countryside of , which went out of service after being targeted by artillery shells by the regime forces midnight yesterday.

    8 replies 168 retweets 185 likes
  35. 16 hours ago

    This entire saga has been one of the weirdest subplots of the new year. Not sure who's idea it was to introduce it between the Iran standoff, the earthquake, and the Indonesia-China war, but it just makes no sense from start to finish.

    2 replies 1 retweet 12 likes
  36. Retweeted
    19 hours ago

    Guys, I meant to tweet this yesterday but got sidetracked. The executive director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch retweeted the propaganda hit piece on Masih Alinejad. 💔

    14 replies 71 retweets 175 likes
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  37. Retweeted
    21 hours ago

    I’m not an Iran expert. But I am a military analyst. When I see the impact points of Iran’s strike on Asad air base, I don’t see purely symbolic strikes designed to avoid casualties, as some have speculated. The strikes appear to target the base’s military capability.

    177 replies 1,314 retweets 2,934 likes
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  38. 16 hours ago

    "The circumstances around [the killing of Sulaymani and Abu Mahdi], inc the accuracy of the attack and its reliance on intelligence, has left leaders of the [Hashd] factions with a strong feeling that the US has penetrated their ranks and will now terminate them, one by one."

    3 retweets 13 likes
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  39. 16 hours ago

    Hashd commanders and Shia politicos in Baghdad tell that the loss of Qassem Sulaymani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandas simultaneously has paralysed the -controlled Iraqi militias whose devotion to wilayat al-faqih means they require orders.

    1 reply 6 retweets 13 likes
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  40. Retweeted
    17 hours ago

    Over 2,500 firefighters in the field, prepare for worsening conditions Fri. Currently 122 bush & grass fires, half uncontained. Take 5mins to discuss your bush fire survival plan. When will you leave, what will you take, where will you go?

    10 replies 216 retweets 262 likes
  41. 18 hours ago

    Have you by any chance heard of the Doctor's Plot?

    To defeat antisemitism, we must defeat capitalism.
    1 reply 2 retweets 13 likes