American and Israeli officers captured by Syrian army in East Aleppo bunker

The original report was provided by Damascus-based Syrian journalist Said Hilal Alcharifi. According to Alcharifi, captured Coalition officers were from a number of member states including the US, France, Germany and Turkey, as well as Israel. His statement has been translated from French:

“As a result of information received, Syrian authorities discovered the headquarters of high ranking western/NATO officers in the basement of an area in East Aleppo and have captured them alive. Some names have already been given to Syrian journalists, myself included. The nationalities are US, French, British, German, Israeli, Turkish, Saudi, Moroccan, Qatari etc. In light of their nationalities and their rank, I assure you that the Syrian government has made a very important capture, which should enable them to conduct direct negotiations with the countries that have tried to destroy them.”

Fares Shehabi, a prominent Syrian Parliamentarian and head of Aleppo’s Chamber of Commerce, published the names of the captured Coalition officers on his Facebook page on Thursday.

Mutaz Kanoğlu – Turkey
David Scott Winer – USA
David Shlomo Aram – Israel
Muhamad Tamimi – Qatar
Muhamad Ahmad Assabian – Saudi
Abd-el-Menham Fahd al Harij – Saudi
Islam Salam Ezzahran Al Hajlan – Saudi
Ahmed Ben Naoufel Al Darij – Saudi
Muhamad Hassan Al Sabihi – Saudi
Hamad Fahad Al Dousri – Saudi
Amjad Qassem Al Tiraoui – Jordan
Qassem Saad Al Shamry – Saudi
Ayman Qassem Al Thahalbi – Saudi
Mohamed Ech-Chafihi El Idrissi – Moroccan

Although the individuals in question are described as NATO officers, it’s unlikely that they could have been identified as such whilst on a covert operation.

The Security Council sat in private on Friday, December 16, 2016 at 5:00 pm, after the capture of NATO officers, according to voltairenet.org.

On Monday, a NATO-Russia summit will be held, after the officers were alledgedly taken prisoner in Aleppo just before the weekend. As in the case of Tripoli in August 2011, and contrary to Article 9 of NATO’s Statutes, the Atlantic Council would not have been consulted in what appears to have been a covert operation.

On Tuesday, December 27, 2016, Russia and Iran will receive a Turkish delegation in Moscow after Turkish officers were allegedly taken prisoner in Aleppo in a NATO bunker, voltairenet.org reported.

21WIRE received unconfirmed reports over the weekend that militants had fired a missile into Ramousa area and then tried, unsuccessfully, to get cars out of East Aleppo. It’s possible this incident could be related to reports of captured western operatives.

The Syrian Arab News Agency SANA reporter said that the terrorist groups have breached the agreement as they smuggled heavy weapons, including TOW missiles, heavy machineguns and kidnapped people via the buses and cars transporting terrorists and their families towards the southwestern countryside of Aleppo city. The reporter added that the terrorist groups fired shells and sniper bullets on the buses and ambulances carrying civilians at al-Ramousseh crossing, noting that the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) which are supervising the evacuation process had to withdraw all buses and cars from the crossing.

Coalition special forces or “contractors” have been working with militants inside Syria, as numerous reports filed of British soldiers assigned to fighting groups to help with training, strategy and logistics, shows.

In September, The Times of Israel reported on a Field Operations Room in the Aleppo region run by intelligence personnel, that was targeted by a Russian missile attack on September 20. This “semi-secret” facility was operated by US, British, Israeli, Turkish, Saudi and Qatari intelligence personnel”, according to the newspaper.

This report was neither admitted, nor was it denied by US Coalition sources at the time.

In June 2016, The Telegraph admitted that British special forces were helping one militant group, “… with logistics, like building defences to make the bunkers safe,” said one “rebel” fighter.

If the reports about the captured officers are confirmed, then it would mean that both the Syrian and Russian governments have gained additional leverage in bilateral negotiations with the US-led Coalition for the return of captured operatives in exchange for other concessions.