[donozark]

Well, perhaps. But they do not seem to be doing very well. Heavy casualties. Town after town destroyed. Parts of major cities likewise. Iran has access via sea as well as rat lines to Syria. Constant resupply of forces. Supplies. One FSA officer (Syrian army defector) stated "no Syrian soldier could shoot like that." Implying of course, that Iranian snipers were being employed. And this was weeks ago.

FSA did manage to drop a Syrian Army helicopter the other day. But these can be replaced quickly. I see much more blood shed ahead. Death toll rising to 30K soon...

[buwaya]

Bloodshed and infrastructure destruction tend to help the insurgents. The more the economy is disrupted, the more the organization of government fails, and leaves the field to the insurgents to organize in their place and control the population.

That the government can march into a town and flatten it is less important than whether they can stay in it. If they then need to pull out the fire brigade and go elsewhere to put out the next center of insurgency, it will just result in losing the ground they won.

Resupply of government ammunition is not the critical point. Its whether the government can control the population, and maintain an economy. Iran can’t pay for a war in Syria for very long. I doubt the Syrian state is collecting much in the way of taxes at the moment.

The Saudis and Gulf states however can pay for an insurgency forever.