Posted on 10/06/2015 12:47:12 AM PDT by 100American
Russia has sent its crack special troops into Syria to back up President Bashar al-Assad’s bid to wipe out his opposition.
Vladimir Putin’s feared Spetsnaz unit and a covert para battalion ghosted into the war-torn country and are preparing for an all-out assault on rebels fighting the regime – including moderate units such as the western-backed Free Syrian Army.
A military source said: “Putin’s marines are there to guard the airbases they are using against sabotage by rebels.
"But Spetsnaz and air-assault troops are not there to provide security to static objects, they are extremely aggressive and highly trained.
“They are there to mop up after air strikes, call in air strikes, go on extremely covert missions against rebels and ultimately wipe them out.
“And they will not be as accountable as British or US special forces. They are there for one reason, to wipe out anyone threatening Assad. By any means.
"And by doing that they will be consolidating Russia’s position on the Med and in the Middle East.”
Putin claims the mission is to defeat IS – but his warplanes have been helping Assad by smashing rebel positions.
Most of the targets in Northern Syria have been al-Qaeda affiliates or less extreme rebel groups opposed to the leader, some of which are CIA-trained and MI6-backed.
Spetsnaz – Special Purpose Soldiers – have been joined by the 7th Air Assault Mountain Division.
They are among Russia’s toughest and most shadowy troops, many of whom have fought dirty wars in Chechnya where they built up a deep hatred of jihadists.
They went on bloody revenge missions against local jihad units to punish them for atrocities against Russian troops and civilians.
(Excerpt) Read more at mirror.co.uk ...
Your ____ is “pro-ISIS”.
You have posted this same article cite in two threads now, with a very misleading excerpt from what is a very long, involved and detailed article. While it is “technically correct” that certain elements of the Russian FSB seem to have been facilitating a “pipeline” to funnel jihadis out of Russia into Syria, your spin that they’ve done this because Putin actually supports ISIS is not an accurate depiction of the sense of the article.
I won’t go so far as to accuse you of dishonesty - merely that you failed to fully comprehend the article’s point. Others who bother to read the full article will have to make their own judgment. It’s a very good investigative piece, and I recommend they do.
The bottom line is that the Russians’ reasons for doing this appear to have been mainly to divert their Chechen jihadis from committing terrorist activities in Russia, and thus lessen their domestic problems, while simultaneously dumping them on the US and its allies. In other words, a “pressure relief valve” type of policy. Better to bleed us and let us expend our resources fighting them while saving their own.
In fact, as the article states, there is no proof that this policy, while it may be short-sighted and ultimately stupid, with negative blow-back on Russia, actually originated with Putin. Some of the reporter’s sources attribute it to local/regional FSB officials as a way of using the resulting drop in domestic terrorist activity in Russia in their areas as a way of burnishing their own departmental terrorist/crime-fighting statistics and furthering their own careers. Also, as the article points out, this type of “exporting” problems problems has been a long-standing policy meme of Russian governments since Czarist times.
Now that Putin has decided to directly intervene militarily in Syria, we’ll have an opportunity to see if his forces start killing ISIS directly as well. That will be the determinant as to whether Putin actually “supports” ISIS, or has merely been using them as a tool or pawn to weaken the West and advance his global agenda.
The Soviets had a pattern of promoting terrorists all over the world to bleed the US and destabilize governments friendly to us. To say or even imply, however, that Putin supports ISIS, and by extension their Islamist agenda, is not the conclusion of this article.
I’m guessing coordination requires the rank and file ISIS not run to the hills... nonetheless, an interesting perspective.
>> Not if ISIS were a Russian invention used to create instability in the region
Please provide brief references (without the fire hose.) Not questioning, just curious.
I won’t go so far as to accuse you of dishonesty - merely that you failed to fully comprehend the article’s point. Others who bother to read the full article will have to make their own judgment.
The part of the article that addresses WHY Russia is sending in fighters to fight on BOTH sides is merely the author's 'interpretation', or 'best guess', why. Fact appears to be they ARE doing it. WHY is still unknown. But if you know anything about KGB/FSB tactics, you would know that this would be something you should not automatically dismiss.
Apparently ISIS is composed of every low life thug every state intelligence agency in the world could round up and steer into the abyss. The ultimate proxy army. Chechens, Turks, Eurotrash and even some sympathetic US jihadis and lefties. Time for them to meet their maker. The only people crying are the intelligence agencies from Europe, the US and the Gulf States. Apparently they thought they could get some productive work out of the thugs.
Actually, I didn't catch the part first time around where you said "send [their OWN] troops" to fight both sides. Because the piece I linked to claims Russia has been sending actual Jihadis into Syria to fight for ISIS.
______________________________________
“Russian special services have controlled” the flow of jihadists into Syria, where they have lately joined up not only with ISIS but other radical Islamist factions.
In other words, Russian officials are adding to the ranks of terrorists which the Russian government has deemed a collective threat to the security and longevity of its dictatorial ally on the Mediterranean, Bashar al-Assad."
Too bad we have a total pussy for a leader.
Amen.
Russia's Spetsnaz special forces went on bloody revenge missions against local (Muslim) jihad units.....to punish them for atrocities against Russian troops and civilians.
Putin is consistent----he backed Egyptian president al Sisi in throwing the Muslim Brotherhood out of Egyptian politics.
Putin also backed al Sisi when the Egyptian president vowed to rebuild the churches and businesses destroyed by the Muslim savages.
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We've got a feckless ding-a-ling in the WH, an idiot who has turned the US into a dumping ground....the jerk is intent on resettling Muslim fanatics bent on killing Christians as our neighbors.
The ding-a-ling needs to be escorted out of office ASAP before we all get killed.
Go Russia!
You nailed it.
We need to reconsider the geopolitical equation here. It's worth contemplating that the "Assad is a Bogeyman" stuff came from the ding-a-ling in the WH.
It's impossible to put any credence in what he puts out there......especially considering the airheads he's surrounded by.
Bunch of know-nothings....Susan Rice, Marie Harf....even O's campaign driver Tommy The Dude Vietor got ntl security clearance.
These lamebrains never lifted a finger to oust ISIS. On the contrary, they allowed these savages to prosper....and are now busily resettling them into the US.
I'm not dismissing it at all. I thought I was quite clear that I accepted that the Russians were probably doing it. As to the question of the author's putative 'interpretation', or 'best guess', well of course that's so, just as I'm giving my opinions and you are too, as well. That's what Free Republic discussions are all about.
That said, your pounding the 'fact' drum is a bit amusing. You yourself stated 'Fact appears to be they ARE doing it'. In other words, not fact at all, merely a contention of such in an article, albeit a very convincing argument. There's no such thing as absolute 'proof' here, however, and you need to accept and acknowledge that you're no different than everyone else here in that you're putting out interesting information and offering your opinions on it, nothing more.
To put things more succinctly, the problem with focusing solely on assumed "fact" is that fact devoid of context and valid reasoned argument is mostly useless. And in the truly complicated and convoluted MENA region, context is critical.
Where did I claim it was an absolute fact? I wrote when I posted the excerpt: "According to the following, the Russians are sending in fighters on BOTH sides."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3345191/posts?page=10#10
while I enjoy dead mussie as much as the next guy I have concerns about the Russians in the ME
ISIS are no match for a real army. They are wicked, they know their terrain, but their victories have been against demoralized opposition. If they fought the Turks or Iranians, they would be destroyed. Against the Ruskies, we won’t have enough pieces to fit into a bucket
Isn’t it sad that we now look to Putin as a better force for good than the American President?
Makes an interesting, if not scary chess match. Would appear that we are in a,war zone, fighting against Russia. A very bad idea. Every time we upset a middle eastern dictator the worst possible scenario occurs. We should not be there in the first place.
They send theirs. There is OUTRAGE.
We send ours and they are “helping.”
Am I the only one that thinks being there is bad in the first place. What economic or national interest do we have in Syria?
Russkies are running the old Assad playbook. Bomb everybody except ISIS. Then let the choice be Assad or ISIS.
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