Iran would appear to be a basket case militarily. It’s pretty amazing that they are sending the dregs to fight in Syria. Uncle Sam sent the Green Berets to train the ARVN, followed by the cream of the Army and the Marines to fight the Vietcong. Any career military man who wanted to fast-track his career needed a Vietnam ticket punch. Meanwhile, Iran is sending in people who aren’t even Iranians. You’d think they’d send their elite formations to get blooded, and to get the job done quickly. We are fortunate that the Iranian leadership are retards. Cyrus would be rolling over in his grave if he knew the depths to which his successors had sunk.
Perhaps, but Iran’s main problem is public relations — there’s been a large opposition to Iran’s rather large involvement (19,000 troops / thugs were sent in sometime in the first year of the conflict) and the related body-bag syndrome. Iran’s proxy thugs in Lebanon were ordered into the fight, and it was in their best interests to comply, as the fall of Assad would damage their position. They’re being bled dry. Israel will clean out their missile bunkers with busters at the best possible time; Assad’s best routes of retreat (along with the remaining Alawite core of his armed forces) are to the Med, into Jordan, or to the Hizzie areas. I don’t think Israel would let them take either southern route.
The Iranian army is no joke, apart from their skeletal and ancient airforce. Motivating them to fight other than in defense of an attack on Iran is problematical. Also, if memory serves, the internal security thugs are all foreign-born, mostly “Palestinian” and other Arab detritus, and not all of them Shiite by any means. Using a foreign internal security force has big advantages — they don’t speak much of the local language(s), are seen as a threatening enemy which makes them cohesive, and are ruthless since they don’t have to answer for the ways they help keep on the lid.
Opinion: Morons and Traitors [Nasrallah of Hezbollah losing his grip]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3293180/posts
Syrian General Killed in Damascus Bomb Attack
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3293182/posts
Iran got its nose bloodied by Saddam’s military during the decade along Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s.
The greatest challenge of the Islamic regime is Kurdish uprisings in the northwest of the country.
Add to that the fact the dominant Persians are around half the population and you’re looking at an explosive cocktail.
Cannon Fodder. Also a good way to get rid of marginal elements. The Russians and the Germans both used prisoner or punishment brigades during WW-2 to clear or wear down tough objectives saving the better brigades for mopping up