Posted on 12/21/2011 2:36:39 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Assad losing control as 10,000 soldiers desert Syrian military
Scores killed in Tuesday's clashes, including 14 troops ambushed by opposition.
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel Tags: Bashar Assad Syria Arab Spring
More than 10,000 soldiers have deserted the Syrian army, sources say, with as many as half the conscripts not reporting in the last three call-ups.
According to Western intelligence agencies, even though the top brass is still loyal to President Bashar Assad, lower-level officers are deserting in large numbers, and in some cases, whole units have deserted en masse.
The army is considered the main factor safeguarding Assad's regime, after mass protests began in the south in March and spread throughout the country, inspired by the demonstrations elsewhere in the Arab world.
On Tuesday, at least 73 people were killed in Syria in clashes between the army and opposition, most of them in Homs in the west and Idlib in the northwest. The 73 dead added to the 100 who were killed on Monday, among them 14 soldiers ambushed by opposition forces, human rights groups said.
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretz.com ...
True, but the little bastard has that ruthless look in his eye, I wouldn’t be surprised if he is already planning a pre-emptive housecleaning to keep the rest of them in line.
he’s fighting for his own and his clans’ lives.
there is no retirement plan at his employer.
propably getting ready to pull the trigger on a nice villa
in Cuber..
Yes,
Syria has a standing army of 220,000, with another 280,000 reservists. Thus, the approximately 15,000 deserters and the Syrian Free Army, under the leadership of Col. Riad Assad, is no real challenge to the Syrian military. Moreover, the deserters have neither tanks nor helicopters that would allow them to fight a regular battle against the army.
The deserters are using guerilla tactics that cause the army heavy losses but also give the army a pretext to use greater force against civilians. Major disagreements have erupted between the Syrian Free Army and the civil opposition, which continues to call for nonviolent protest.
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/arab-league-mission-to-syria-has-nothing-to-do-with-saving-lives-1.402830
Granted that the number of deserters is large but tiny by comparison with the standing army/reservists. But the end will come for Assad faster than it did in for Gaddafy in Libya, even without the air strikes.
And that’s just so far.
As the Iraqis resume their violent struggle against their mortal enemies — other Iraqis — Zero will have to act, and Syria is just the place he can do it, although there’s been some hints that the Iranian mullahcracy is next on the to-do list.
The Turks can’t let the situation unravel any further. They’ve already met with the Israelis about coordinating their air forces to avoid any accidental shoot-downs, and that doesn’t bode well for Assad’s immediate future. If the Turks were doing this with the expectation that Israel will be launching air strikes, it means that they plan to sit back and let it happen.
But it’s more likely that they just don’t want any trouble from the Israelis when they move on Syria. Which they will. The Turks can’t have Iraq up in flames (aided and abetted by their none-too-friendly friends in Iran) while Syria continues to slide into similar chaos.
Sidebar — The French had better A) evacuate their troops from Lebanon (UNIFIL) or B) beef up those forces, now.
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