Thursday, October 1, 2015
Syrian Moderate Rebels Once Again Caught in the Middle
Russia wasted no time asserting itself militarily in Syria. An hour after a Russian general appeared at the US Embassy in Baghdad yesterday, President Putin unleashed air strikes against Syrian targets. The question is whether the strikes hit the common enemy, ISIS, or a moderate rebel area supported by the US-led coalition, as the US and France say. Russia said it hit ISIS targets in response to an al-Assad request, an assertion rebuffed by America. The Russian defense ministry said it carried out 20 flights in Syria, hitting eight ISIS targets, and destroying an ISIS command post and an operations center in a mountainous area, according to Russian news agencies. But, Syrians in moderate rebel-held areas of Homs province said the Russian air force unleashed devastation on their towns, flying at high altitudes to drop silent bombs, killing 36 civilians, including children. Homs is crucial to al-Assad's control of western Syria because rebel control of Homs would bisect the Assad-held west, separating Damascus from the coastal cities of Latakia and Tartous, where Russia has a naval facility. Russian jets struck after the Russian parliament gave Putin unanimous backing for strikes, acting on a request for military assistance from al-Assad. The last time the Russian parliament gave Putin an okay to use military force abroad, required under Russian law, he seized Crimea from Ukraine, where Russia is still active militarily, so that a Russian presence in Syria could stretch resources. But, Putin says Russia's military involvement in the Middle East will involve only its air force and will be temporary...?? ~~~~~ Defense Secretary Carter said he has directed US military officials to meet with their Russian counterparts "as soon as possible" to discuss ways to make sure they don't come into conflict. Carter said : "It does appear that they were in areas where there probably were not ISIS forces, and that is precisely one of the problems with this whole approach." Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov and US Secretary of State Kerry said the meeting may occur this week. ~~~~~ The State Department said the Russian general in Baghdad also warned American aircraft engaged in daily bombings against ISIS positions to avoid Syrian airspace. Kerry said the warning was ignored and US air strikes continue. He added that if Russia is genuinely committed to fighting ISIS : "we are prepared to welcome those efforts and to find a way to deconflict our operations and thereby multiply the military pressure on ISIL and affiliated groups." ~~~~~ Russia's intervention turns the Syria conflict from a proxy war, with outside powers arming and training Syrians to fight each other, into an international conflict in which the world’s main military powers -- Russia, the US, its Arab allies, Turkey, France, Iran, Israel, and Britain if it gets parliamentary approval -- are directly involved in fighting - with no coordination. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit to the US : 'I'm especially concerned because there has been no real effort by the Russian side to deconflict the Russian air strikes in Syria with the ongoing US-led coalition fighting in Syria." ~~~~~ Dear readers, nature abhors a vacuum, and the vacuum created by President Obama's posturing while Syria burned was finally filled by President Putin. Obama's speeches at the UN did nothing to change the course of events in Syria - and we can bet, soon in Iraq - because Putin knows Obama is all words and no action. In 2009, Obama challenged the Middle East to toss out the old elite leaders. The Arab Spring followed...Obama did nothing. The Moslem Brotherhood took over Egypt...nothing...the Egyptians finally acted. Al Qaida became ISIS...Obama did nothing. Libya collapsed...nothing. Al-Assad used chemical weapons...nothing. ISIS took northern Iraq...no weapons for the Kurds...only an air strike coalition. Henry Kissinger said : "To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it." My guess : Obama knows nothing about the Middle East or Putin.
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Russian, EU, and American political leaderships has a severe ‘understanding’ problem when addressing the Middle East as a whole, and particularly Iran, Syria, Iraq.
ReplyDeleteWe don’t understand the Muslim thought process, their honesty reckoning, or their end game wants. We don’t seem to grasp that the players when fighting against each other are very definable, yet when addressing the Western Infidels they are as united as can be.
We are fighting a “ghost war” in Syria. We can’t morally run the risk of bombing civilian territories – but all the territories are civilian, they are all also military terrorist territories. Their Mosque are all Churches and all are meeting grounds to plan next week’s car bombings. Their religious leaders have more political power than the elected puppets. We don’t know the players, we have no trusted relationships with either the terrorists or the ‘rebels’.
The rebels if not involved in a civil war would be the strength of the jihad, the terrorists, all against the western Infidels – US.
We either get our hands dirty or we get out.
Less than his normal eloquent manner Dr. Kissinger is dead right.
ReplyDeleteSyria is an exploding powder kag, the fuse has been lite and no one seems to have the sen e to just pull the fuse out of the keg.
ReplyDeleteInstead everyone is trying to solve a problem they don't understand and therefore won't recognize a solution if it sits down beside them
For everything that is wrong in the world today – Syria, Iran, World’s economies failing, world employment is still deteriorating still further, jobs are not being created, Greece, illegal migration into Europe, monumental immigration problems from the southern border of the United States, France, Russia, NATO, ISIS, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd just how does the Obama White House spend the day? –focusing (via a White House investigation panel) on a group of social misfits that comprise less than 1/10th of 1% of the United States population – TRANSGENDERS and their plight over public rest rooms.
Obama has no idea – none about the importance of anything.