Posted on 01/23/2018 7:12:16 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
Where Is Assad Getting His Fighters From? (It's Not Just Lebanon and Iraq)
Colin P. ClarkePhillip Smyth
January 2, 2018
In early December, senior Trump administration officials suggested that approximately 80 percent of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s defense against insurgents in the country’s ongoing civil war is being provided by forces imported from outside of the country. The lion’s share of these fighters is being trained and equipped by Iran, the Assad regime’s most ardent supporter.
Interestingly, however, these foreign fighters, almost of all which are Shia Muslims, are not merely comprised of Lebanese and Iraqis, but include significant numbers of militants from South Asia—mainly Afghanistan and Pakistan—which adds an entirely new dimension to Syria’s ongoing civil war, now entering its seventh year.
As the civil war in Syria drags on, the Assad regime has been plagued by casualties and desertions. Many of its fighters have been killed or injured on the battlefield and to make up for these manpower shortages, the regime has looked to Iran to help recruit new fighters. Iran has been able to leverage the sectarian nature of the conflict in Syria to help rally Afghans living in Iran as refugees, of which there are approximately three million.
The Afghan fighters belong to a division known as Liwa Fatemiyoun, which is under the command and control of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and according to official Iranian sources, numbers between 10,000 to 12,000 fighters. Many of these militants have experienced major combat action in Syria in Aleppo, Deraa, Damascus, Latakia and the Qalamoun region. Some reports indicate that hundreds have already died fighting in Syria.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalinterest.org ...
Almost every statement about Syria by US government officials since the war started has been a lie.
Obviously, way more than 20% of the pro-government forces are Syrians.
The Afghan fighters trained by Iran were terrible BTW, even by the standards of Muslim irregulars.
I was being.
I still stand by the assessment I made then.
As to my detractors at the time, well, I looked at the numb nuts assertion many of those same folks had made regarding the possibility of accomplishing anything in Iraq without an implacable and brutal supression of sharia law and dismissed them.
Well, hat’s off to you for standing your ground FRiend
https://www.voanews.com/a/xinjiang-to-create-a-border-to-keep-away-militants/4219797.html
“China’s violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang will build a “Great Wall” around its borders to prevent the infiltration of militants from outside the country... Hundreds of people have been killed in Xinjiang in the past few years in violence between Uighurs, a mostly Muslim people who speak a Turkic language, and ethnic majority Han Chinese, especially in the heavily Uighur southern part of Xinjiang.
China blames the violence in Xinjiang on Islamist extremists and separatists, some of whom it says have links to groups outside the country.”
“Welcome to the party”, China.
Assad has an agreement with the Kurds. Basically he lets them keep Rojava while he concentrates on main Syria - the coastal and city region from Damascus to Aleppo. He will destroy the jihadis in the north and west and leave the desert areas to the east of Palmyra to the Sunnis.
Alawites are actually crypto-Christians in origin. They celebrate a form of mass, believe in a Trinity and have other beliefs that indicate they must have originated as Christians who tried to hide their beliefs under the Fatimids and took on the exterior look of Muslims. Later they associated with Shias as Shia allow a lot of flexibility in beliefs — REALLY! Shia Iran is a lot more flexible than Sunni Saudia or Pakistan or other Sunni places
Shia Iran is not flexible about sustaining control. They will never share power. They will never allow Democracy to exist.
They may allow the illusion of freedom, but will never actually tolerate it.
They allow a lot more democracy than the Saudis do.
Agree on Saudi’s, but there are signs of that changing somewhat.
In reality, old alliances like with Turkey or Saudi Arabia have a value, but only until they outlive that value by the cost of association. (not just financial, but also cultural and religious).
With Turkey it has turned sour since Erdogan
I'm not proposing an alliance with Iran - keep the same pressure on them, what I am proposing is an end to any dalliance with the Sauds. No more American troops protecting Saudia interests.
And as for Turkey, time to cut them off from NATO.
Largely agree.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.