Posted on 12/07/2024 8:38:39 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad flew out of Damascus for an unknown destination on Sunday, as rebels said they had infiltrated the capital with no sign of army deployments.
Syrian army units abandoned their positions on the outskirts of Damascus on Saturday night, fleeing the advance of rebel forces.
The military said it was “reinforcing” defensive lines around the capital, which appeared to have collapsed.
Mohammed al-Rahmoun, the Syrian interior minister, earlier said there was a “very strong security cordon on the outskirts of Damascus and no one can break it”. But the Syrian opposition fighters early on Sunday disproved this, as they reached the capital for the first time since 2018.
The Syrian regime fell back from the cities of Aleppo, Hama and Homs in quick succession since the rebel offensive began less than two weeks ago.
In the civil war of 2011 to 2016, the Assad regime turned the tide against opposition forces with the aid of Russian airstrikes and Hezbollah troops.
Both Moscow and Iran, Hezbollah’s key sponsor, have their attention elsewhere on conflicts elsewhere.
It has left the Syrian army without much support in the face of the lightning rebel offensive led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham (HTS) group.
Analysts told The Telegraph that low pay and morale as well as little experience were hampering the effectiveness of the army.
“The Syrian army has never been very good – it ruled by fear and terror, bolstered and backed up by Russians since 2015 who provided firepower and direction. Most of the officers were selected because they were close to Assad,” said Hamish de Bretton Gordon, a retired British army colonel and a chemical weapons adviser to NGOs working in Syria and Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
Islam Rulz?
They don’t support Assad either.
They are still loyal to Syria but Assad is not Syria.
Their statements were along the lines that they will make peace with the various rebel coalitions and move forward together in an Assad-less Syria.
Doomsayers (mainly Putin freaks) are saying no it’s Isis all over.
Probably, but now the massive infighting begins. Tons of people hated Pencilneck, but they hate each other only a little less and since they’re all reasonably well armed at current... well, we know what usually happens next.
Conversion to Christianity seems to be the only solution.
Barbarians need to be Smote.
Well gee now that there’s peace in Syria, maybe all those refugees in Europe can finally return home.
All turban no camel
Conversion at sword point is the Islamist/Jihadist way.
A not-so-great-commission.
Why bother? A better idea is to let them kill each other off and just keep the chaos contained.
Besides, some of the factions are actually Christians - not many factions - and they all hate each other too. This is another issue like the fall of Yugoslavia.
You win this thread!
Can it get worse?
We shall see.
Has the walking vegetable even made a comment on the Syria situation yet?
No. It's the weekend. He'll make a statement first thing Monday morning.
I like how you frame the situation.
Thank you.
Assad's Syria is not a cohesive country.
It's a Sunni Muslim country being propped up by Russia and Shiite Muslim Iran against a Sunni Muslim Brotherhood ISIS supported by Turkey and the Gulf Oil States that want control of Syria so they can run oil and gas pipelines to Turkey and the EU.
There is no center to hold in Syria and Assad is getting what he deserves for his use of Syria as a safe haven and staging ground for Islamic Jihadists waging the insurgency in Iraq.
This is most likely going to really destabilize the Middle East.
A look at the US military mission in Syria and its dangers https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2023/03/26/a-look-at-the-us-military-mission-in-syria-and-its-dangers/
Why did they collapse so fast? Look at the campaigns of Arab armies in the past century. They all get off to a great start but eventually lose heart and fall apart. Iraq vs the British in 1941. All of them vs Israel in ‘48, ‘56, ‘67, and ‘73. Iraq vs Iran in the’80s. Iraq in both Gulf wars.
This is exactly the sort of British media crap that has served as international reporting the past 4 years and Tulsi is going to put a stop to this via pics or it didn’t happen.
Satellite photos will show things or they will not show things and that will be the definitive input to any reports about what is going on. Not narrative, not preference, and most assuredly not anything from the UK.
This is a quarter century old but still holds today.
Why Arabs Lose Wars
https://www.meforum.org/middle-east-quarterly/why-arabs-lose-wars
Further, I think that there is absolutely no call for us to attempt to stabilize the wreckage or peacekeep or anything, aside from perhaps preventing the oil wells from falling into others’ hands (which we are already doing) until the Syrians work out what they want to do as a whole... which could take years. In the meantime, they will likely start killing each other off and having that happen is *actually* in the US’ interest, especially as it is to the detriment of the EU. Nobody is going to profit from Syria until then.
There are very telling parallels in re the taking of Mosul vs this campaign. The ISIS column of no more than 1500 lightly armed men (mostly travelling in pickup trucks) encountered something like 5000 Iraqi troops (claims of larger numbers are likely overstated by corruption and ass-covering, Iraqi politics). The Iraqi soldiers and security personnel mostly immediately broke and fled, they were terrified of ISIS before they had even seen any. In some cases large groups of armed Shiite conscripts simply surrendered without firing a shot. The ISIS fighters then slaughtered their prisoners like sheep, no doubt adding to the terror.
Iraqi leadership was horrible in every way, and their mens morale was nonexistent even before having participated in any fighting. A single US Marine or Army company probably could have “stiffened” them through a positive example and the simple knowledge that highly regarded, well led men were around. Such is the group dynamics of war.
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