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Page added on February 8, 2012
Iran deploys 15,000 troops to help Syria’s Assad
Prominent Syrian lawmaker says the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force has recently arrived in the country to help manage Assad’s regime brutal suppression of a 11-month-long popular unrest.
A top Iranian military official is activily aiding the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad in suppressing popular unrest throughout the country, a top member of the National Syrian Council said on Monday.
According to the Syrian official, Kassam Salimani, commander of the Quds Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard special forces unit, has arrived in Syria recently and has taken up a spot in the war room which manages army maneuvers against opposition forces.
The war room is also reportedly populated by Assad himself, as well as his brother Maher, brother-in-law Assaf Shaukat and cousin Rami Makhlouf, with the Syrian chief of staff’s authority reportedly restricted and divided up between other military commanders.
The Quds Force includes 15,000 elite soldiers who operated, among other locations, in Iraq during the war, and the specialty of which is engaging in unconventional warfare on foreign soil. Among other duties, the Quds Force is in charge of traning and funding Hezbollah.
Salimani’s presence in Syria serves as an indication of the kind of battle that Assad is planning against opposition forces, with the Syrian army reportedly planning to wage all out war against the rebel city of Homs.
According to the report, the Syrian president’s goal is to gain ground ahead of a planned visit by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who will be arriving in the country along with a military delegation which includes the head of Russian intelligence.
Assad’s aim, sources say, is to display his control of the situation and his ability to suppress the unrest, with the determining battles to be staged in Homs and in the reoccupation of the town of Zabadani, which fell to Free Syria Army forces.
An Al-Arabiya report indicated that the battle over Zabadani has already begun, with Syrian soldiers defecting to the opposition along with eight tanks, and that Homs has been placed under a siege which has included the cutting of electricity and water supplies.
The report also claimed that the Syrian army for the first time has been using rockets in order to target houses as well as mortars to hit populated areas. So far, 60 people were reportedly killed and hundreds wounded in this battle, as well as reports of the demolition of seven houses, residents and all.
Syrian opposition organizations that are active internationally are currently trying to gain a political front bypassing the UN Security Council, where a resolution underwritten by the Arab League failed due to Russian and Chinese vetoes on Saturday.
At this stage, opposition leaders are trying to find a way forward, as it is clear that Turkey and the Arab states oppose military action against the Assad regime, and the imposing of economic sanctions will not stop Assad.
Facing Russia and Chinese opposition, and the Iranian threat to open a new front, there is doubt whether a western coalition will agree to act directly against Syria. The question is whether the Free Syrian Army will be able to get additional military assistance, and to arm itself with heavy artillery, tanks and shells so that it will be able to pose a real challenge to the Syrian army, and change the civilian resistance into a real military struggle, much like the rebel forces in Libya.
Along with the Syria Free Army’s attempts to increase the number of defectors from the Syrian military, the opposition is also considering offering the minority Alawite elite guarantees of their safety in exchange for ordering Alawites to leave the regime and join the civilian resistance.
Along with the Syria Free Army’s attempts to increase the number of defectors from the Syrian military, the opposition is also considering offering the minority Alawite elite guarantees of their safety in exchange for ordering Alawites to leave the regime and join the civilian resistance.
Parallel to these efforts, however, the opposition seems to be facing a new and violent civilian group that is comprised mainly of Syria’s Kurdish minority. This group is working as strongmen for the regime, both in Damascus and in Kurdish population centers.
15 Comments on "Iran deploys 15,000 troops to help Syria’s Assad"
Anvil on Wed, 8th Feb 2012 5:13 am
Syria Free Army’s is a puppet of the USA.
BillT on Wed, 8th Feb 2012 6:20 am
It appears that the Empire is losing…
Consider what it would be like if the Catholics went to war with the Protestants in the US. The Israelis sided with the Protestants and The Pope sent troops and weapons to support the Catholics. Same difference…
Arthur on Wed, 8th Feb 2012 8:41 pm
From this map the Iranian threat immediately becomes apparent:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/105359.html
BillT on Thu, 9th Feb 2012 1:30 am
Arthur…shhh…you’ll upset the warmongers. Yes, Iran is a terrible danger to…American Bankers. They have the audacity to sell oil for…..gasp! ….gold, yen, yuan, etc. They refuse to join the Western banking system that controls all of the other banks. Libya made the same mistake, but was not big enough to hold off the banksters. Nor was Iraq’s Saddam. All of them threatened the Western banking cartel.
Isaiah on Thu, 9th Feb 2012 2:53 am
Do you think the US will ultimately attack Iran?
Isaiah on Thu, 9th Feb 2012 2:54 am
Why or why not?
BillT on Thu, 9th Feb 2012 5:59 am
Isaiah, I hope not, but I’m afraid that we will. Probably caused by Israel attacking and making a mess that we will be dragged into by our Israeli Masters in DC. If it does happen, the world economy will collapse. That will end the Empire and the West and severely cripple the rest of the world.
Iran has the means to stop all oil from leaving the Gulf for many years by destroying the facilities that make it possible. Does anyone remember the pictures of the oil fields afire not too many years ago? If the economies of the many dictatorships in the GCC fail, the revolts will have the area in flames for a long time. Most of those people are starving, They have nothing to lose if their governments are not able to feed them like they do today.
If, and it is a big little word, IF Iran were to see that an attack is imminent and decide to strike first, most of the US Navy could be severely damaged or destroyed that are in the Gulf. At the same time, rockets could be taking out the oil facilities in the neighboring countries and ‘terrorist’ groups in Western countries could touch off all kinds of damage to create panic.
If you think that there are not any ‘sleeper’ groups in the US, you are not well informed. Consider that the US has over 8 million Muslim Citizens alone. More in European countries. In fact, the estimated 1.3 billion Muslims are scattered in every one of the 195 countries of the world except for 5.
Again, I hope it does not happen, but, I would not bet all I had that it will not happen. We are doing to Iran what we did to force Japan to attack us. It worked then and will likely work again now.
Isaiah on Thu, 9th Feb 2012 8:08 am
I just don’t get why the US would want to attack Iran, knowing the economic carnage that would ensue if such an attack were executed. And why does Israel want to launch a preemptive strike against Iran? It doesn’t make any sense to me. Could someone please explain.
Arthur on Thu, 9th Feb 2012 10:35 am
@Isaiah (=name of illustrious Hebrew prophet)… I have been predicting a ‘Clean Break-ing’ attack against Iran by US/Israel for seven years now, which has become somewhat detrimental to my status of would-be prophet, since not much has happened on that front so far. I have to economize on my predictions anyway since I am getting on the nerves of my loved-ones and friends with my Cassandra statements regarding peakoil, Iran and the ethnic composition of the American power structure. Lately I suggested that maybe we should move away from the city to the Dutch province of Drente, Friesland or Zeeland and acquire some cheap land there. That had a similar negative effect of suggesting to a New Yorker that he has to move to Tennessee. Anyway, the only way of how I can explain my way out of this mess is that the elite in Washington can think of the same reasons not to attack as Bill has stated earlier in this thread, namely that it could go awfully wrong for said elite. What happened in Iraq (and soon in Afghanistan) was not exactly a Saigon/grab-that-helicopter-style goodbye, but it was close. Nevertheless, I am afraid that in the end they cannot resist the temptation and will press ahead anyway, will setup a Tonkin/Liberty sort of false flag operation, involving an old carrier, to be decommissioned next year anyway, and an Israeli submarine.
BillT on Thu, 9th Feb 2012 11:26 am
Arthur, I can relate to your problem of advice falling on deaf ears. I have been urging my family to become more self-reliant since 2001. A few have taken my advice, but most have not. I occasionally send them a web article to remind them that I am not alone in my thoughts. I myself am now single and living in the Philippines. I am preparing to live in the country on a small farm and to try to be self-sufficient in the necessities. I have 67 years of experience doing many things for myself, so it should not be too difficult. And here in the 3rd world, most have not forgotten how to live off the land. Many still do.
Arthur on Thu, 9th Feb 2012 1:01 pm
@Bill – I am a peakoiler of really the first moment: in 1972 when “Limits to Growth” came out it made a huge impact in Holland and on me. A few years later I went to college, designed windturbines and produced solar cells in a lab. Then Carter went, it became ‘morning in America’, Meathead/Archie Bunker out, Dukes of Hazzard in. Funding for alternative energy dried up, many became a yuppie, including me.
Then the internet came in 1995 and explosion of the blog-o-sphere a few months after 9/11 (because of which the perps of 9/11 are now trapped, but that is a different story). Then the peak-oilers started to raise their voices, I remember ordering via amazon “Hubbert’s Peak” by Deffeyes in, I think 2003. I am now in my fifties and the Swedish prime-minister already suggested a pension-age of 75(!), while here in Holland the government is still dreaming of raising the pension age to merely 67. The reality is, in a decade or so time there will be no pensions left. Yeah, that’s me, that party pooper on a stretcher near the hotel pool, reading his kindle loaded to the hilt with the completed works of Heinberg and Kunstler, while the rest is having fun.lol Ah well, I will have my sweet ‘told ye so’ moment.
Have been thinking a lot about relocating. Not sure if it is wise to move to an area inhabited by people ethnically very different than yourself. I am thinking of north-east Netherlands, maybe bordering north-west Germany or Denmark. Diversity only can work in times of abundance and these days will soon be over.
BillT on Thu, 9th Feb 2012 2:29 pm
@Arthur. Well, they all speak English here, which is one reason I moved to the Philippines. Also, most of them still treat older people with respect. Yes, when things get tight, the going will get bumpier, but is a farm in the wilds of the Philippines worse than the countryside in a country of Couch Potatoes that have lived like kings for the last 100 years, are all armed, have popped uppers and downers to get through their boring lives and don’t know how to fix anything or grow their own food, any better? I think not. That is an accurate description of most of the US today.
Good luck in your quest for security. As for the retirement age changing. They want to raise it when the economy will not even support someone until they are past 55 in most instances. No jobs for the young, let alone the older generation. Retirement is for the wealthy now. Not us commoners.
jaime on Fri, 10th Feb 2012 12:50 am
no worries.you’re under estimating the opponent.
Arthur on Fri, 10th Feb 2012 11:29 am
@Bill – In Russia old people of 80 have their datcha’s and a bit of soil to grow some cabbage amd carrots + chickens and rabbits. That’s all you need to survive. Pensions are for sissies.lol
In a world were nukes are a sad reality, big megacities have no future anyway from the moment on that the first one will blow up due to state sponsored terrorism. The future is for medium sized communities of a few thousand that can defend themselves post-collapse against groups of bandits. Sort of wild-west all over again. Read Kunstler’s ‘world made by hand’ to get an impression of what is coming.
Arthur on Fri, 10th Feb 2012 11:50 am
@jaime – the neo-Trotskyites running the political show in the US are trying to subjugate the entire world in their projected NWO, just like the Reds tried to do with their USSR. That’s what Trotskyites do for a living, go for world revolution. But in a world where hundreds of millions of computers are interconnected this is a suicidal strategy, since large numbers of people around the globe know what is going on. The end effect will be that the whole world will turn against the US if the US population will not rise up before that becomes reality. Making Ron Paul president would be a cheap escape route. Although that is possible it is not likely. Likely is that a war against Iran will take place, and that as a consequence fuel from the Golf will stop flowing indefinitely and that Germany will be forced to make a deal with Russia and China to rearrange matters in Eurasia in exchange for fuel from Russia. Meaning Germany (and the EU) will abandon NATO and the Western alliance. The dollar will lose it’s reserve currency status. That’s what is going to happen if Iran is going to be attacked.