Posted on 10/01/2015 9:29:07 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Syrian military weakness, painfully exposed over the last few months, is the main reason for direct Russian intervention in the war – whether its goal is to strike at Islamic State or, more likely, to take on any rebel force fighting Bashar al-Assad in order to shore up his position and stave off demands that he step down.
Officials and analysts say Moscow decided to deepen its involvement after the fall of the northern towns of Idlib and nearby Jisr al-Shughour in May served as a “wake-up call” about the parlous state of the Syrian army. Both were taken by the Jaysh al-Fateh (the Victory Army), a coalition of Islamist rebels.
Russia’s move was prompted in part by Assad’s other main ally, Iran, which plays a powerful though discreet role in Syria but is usually reluctant to commit its own forces. “The Iranians told the Russians bluntly: if you don’t intervene, Bashar al-Assad will fall, and we are not in a position to keep propping him up,” said a Damascus-based diplomat.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
The Syrian Air Force was basically out of bombs. The barrel bombs were improvised. Seeing fresh new fighters and weapons pouring in, and seeing jihadi areas being blasted hard will be amazing for Syrian Army morale.
They might turn the corner here!
Yep but the problem is that 1/3 of 250,000 Alawites of fighting age were killed.
Manpower on the rebel jihadi side is about to take a serious hit. And itll be hard for jihadis to recruit if they think they’ll be hit from the air.
Reports are that the first Russian airstrikes were don’t from a very high altitude, and that everyone was freaking out in the target area because things just started exploding.
Very cool development.
“Fatigue, desertions and losses have taken heavy toll on Syrian army, estimated to be down from 300,000 to as little as 80,000”
Not a good situation for Basher. Every Muslim and his brother around the world is running to Syria to help ISIS in its quest for Jihad...eventually Basher would simply run out of manpower. Nice to see the Russians helping to prevent the terrorists from taking over, though - regardless of whether Carly wants to start WW3 over it.
“Reports are that the first Russian airstrikes were done from a very high altitude, and that everyone was freaking out in the target area because things just started exploding.
Very cool development.”
I read that also. Sounds like the Russians did an excellent job of upgrading their weapons while we were trying to figure out how to pay for condoms for Sandra Fluke.
Amazing. Freerepublic filled with genocidal Assad supporters
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Imagine, supporting their ally. What's wrong with Russia. Sad that our President's mindset regarding supporting allies mad this unforeseeable.
Yes, anything that helps Putin seems to bring out the fans of mass murder, pro-tyranny clique.
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