Posted on 06/04/2015 7:16:38 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
Iran has sent 15,000 fighters to Syria to reverse recent battlefield setbacks for Syrian government troops and wants to achieve results by the end of the month, a Lebanese political source has told The Daily Star.
The militia force, made up of Iranians, Iraqis and Afghanis, the source said, have arrived in the Damascus region and in the coastal province of Latakia.
The source said the fighters are expected to spearhead an effort to seize areas of Idlib province, where the regime has suffered a string of defeats at the hands of a rebel-jihadi coalition.
Gen. Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s elite Quds force, was in Latakia this week to shore up preparations for the campaign, the source said.
(Excerpt) Read more at albawaba.com ...
No. Alawites are a sub-group of Shi'ite Muslims.
Wow, I’m completely confused now. What do the Syran Christians call themselves?
They call themselves enemies of the U.S.A. and Israel amongst themselves and their fellow Muslim countrymen, much like those in Lebanon. They claim to be friendlies when talking in this direction, but they’re not.
...A number of Syrian Christians are also officers in the armed forces of Syria. They have preferred to mix in with Muslims rather than form all-Christian units and brigades, and fought alongside their Muslim compatriots against Israeli forces in the various Arab-Israeli conflicts of the 20th century.
"The ship is sinking and all of us, the Lebanese, should stick together and work together to stop the Israeli aggression," Amin Gemayel, a Maronite Christian who served as president from 1982 to 1988, told the Arabic-language TV station Al-Jazeera . . . Michel Aoun, a one-time commander in Lebanon's 15-year civil war who now serves in parliament, said . . . "I don't think that Israel has the capability to destroy Hezbollah militarily because Hezbollah is not a group of armed men," Aoun said. "Hezbollah is a major part of the Lebanese social fabric."
Lebanon Turns to the Vatican to Halt Israeli Offensive
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1668754/posts
Vatican Condemns Israel for Attacks on Lebanon
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1665678/posts
On the Syrian-Lebanese-Iranian alliance.
Lebanon Is NOT Innocent (David Horowitz Slams The Lebanon “Innocent Bystander” Myth Alert)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1671142/posts
Ground to a Halt (Research shows: Suicide-bombers Communists, not Islamists
New York Times ^ | August 3, 2006 | ROBERT PAPE
Posted on Wed Aug 9 01:23:46 2006 by GodGunsGuts
...
In writing my book on suicide attackers, I had researchers scour Lebanese sources to collect martyr videos, pictures and testimonials and the biographies of the Hezbollah bombers. Of the 41, we identified the names, birth places and other personal data for 38. Shockingly, only eight were Islamic fundamentalists. Twenty-seven were from leftist political groups like the Lebanese Communist Party and the Arab Socialist Union. Three were Christians, including a female high-school teacher with a college degree. All were born in Lebanon.
...
Robert A. Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, is the author of “Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism.”
Persia is sending soldiers to fight religious zealots in Syria. Sounds like 1500 BC.
Syrian Christians make up 10% of the population in Syria and many of them belong to Eastern Orthodox Church.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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Presumably transported thru Iraq. If they're successful against Isis, and with Russian support no reason they won't be, you'll have a permanent Iranian presence in Syria, Lebanon and likely Iraq. Not a receipe for regional stability. Perhaps this year will be the Persian spring. A presence in Syria, in Iraq, and a legal nuclear capability.
Islam is a perpetual mob turf war, always has been, always will be. The only difference is the Mafia Boss demands respect, Islamic Godfathers demands worship too.
“...they could be looking at low birth rates.”
The Arab world is heading toward a demographic cliff. Birth rates have roughly dropped in half over the last 50 years. Women are marrying in the late 20’s on average, instead of the late teens. The traditional family size has dropped from 7-8 kids, down into the 2-4 range. Those trends are continuing downward, rather than leveling off, as society modernizes.
Although there is a relatively large percentage of young folks (especially in Egypt in Yemen), there is a big bubble coming down the pipeline.
Except for a few Asian Muslim Countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, Muslim reproduction in general now lags the human average. In some areas, especially the wealthier and more urban, the bubble of lower numbers of young graduates entering the workforce (or military age, if that is what we are looking at) is already starting to hit.
China, with its one child policy, is just now starting to head over their demograghic cliff. It will be a drag on their economy and society for decades.
What is pretty different about the Middle East though, is immigration - many (most) educated people would like to leave, and the “Arab Spring” has set off the largest refugee movement since WWII.
The actual killing of the men has for the most part, not risen to the scale of making a dramatic impact, as WWII did in Russia (except for targeted minorities like Christians and Yazidis). Women are the more significant factor. The killing will be a drag on the population, but many more people are fleeing than are being killed. The demographic outlook for Arabs is not good.
If oil and gas prices stabilize in the “Shale band” of $45-$65 per barrel, the Arab world could be facing a Lost Generation of economic doldrums - especially if they first reduce their cities and infrastructure to rubble in war.
Popcorn?
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