- Sep 28, 2024
- 1,304
- 139
- Origin
- Residence
- Axis Group
bechaari Susli
- Thread starter Saif
- Start date
- Replies 37
- Views 140
Syrian Defense Forum
Entirely predictable fall of yet another Iranian proxy is more proof of the failed Iranian strategy. Still more to come, of course.
- Sep 28, 2024
- 1,304
- 139
- Origin
- Residence
- Axis Group
- Sep 28, 2024
- 1,304
- 139
- Origin
- Residence
- Axis Group
Iran ? @Lulldapull
Who's next ?
Somebody will soon win this game of "do stupid things, win stupid prizes" championship, Middle East edition.
- Sep 28, 2024
- 1,304
- 139
- Origin
- Residence
- Axis Group
That lot gone full loco, it's absolutely nuts.
Allah Khair kare, rehem karein
Alas, even so, it would be all too late.
My real fear is the Jew will nuke the Mullah.... pretext toh mil hi jayega, those long
not for nuffin' y'know ?*reads Gayatri mantra to ward off fear 🕉
🕉Lulldapull
Senior Member
- Jan 26, 2024
- 2,292
- 593
- Origin
- Residence
- Axis Group
Nothing is going on now. Sub tthandda purr gya hae.
Now reports coming out bhai k SAA main mutiny hoee thee. The Syrian army turned on the regime.
Must've been a pretty fat ass bribe no? Billions must've been paid out with retirement and passports to Dubai or Doha god knows.
Iran realized this chutiappa is not worth it anymore.
View attachment 11523
That lot gone full loco, it's absolutely nuts.
Allah Khair kare, rehem karein
Alas, even so, it would be all too late.
My real fear is the Jew will nuke the Mullah.... pretext toh mil hi jayega, those long
*reads Gayatri mantra to ward off fear 🕉
No need for nukes by any side. The mullahs' own deeds have laid the foundation for their own downfall, and their own people will only be too glad to help achieve this when the time comes. And it comes closer day by day.
- Sep 28, 2024
- 1,304
- 139
- Origin
- Residence
- Axis Group
Apna dekho, yaar.
Iran would have taken a wise decision if they walk back their regional ambitions.
Sit back and watch the rest of em kill each other... aap hookah pio, sip on Chai coffee
Iran would have taken a wise decision if they walk back their regional ambitions.
Sit back and watch the rest of em kill each other... aap hookah pio, sip on Chai coffee
- Sep 28, 2024
- 1,304
- 139
- Origin
- Residence
- Axis Group
Yup, proper panic stations mashuras rn in Tehran I imagine.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall.
- Copy to clipboard
- Thread starter
- #26
2 wars changed Syria’s fortune
In every crisis lies opportunity, and in every opportunity lurks crisis.
2 wars changed Syria’s fortune
Syrian Kurds stand next to the destroyed statue of Basel al-Assad, the late elder brother of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad as they celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters, in the city of Qamishli, Syria yesterday. PHOTO: AFP
In every crisis lies opportunity, and in every opportunity lurks crisis.
The startling advance of Syria's opposition in a week is the unintended consequence of two other conflicts, one near and one far. It leaves several key US allies with a new and largely unknown Islamist-led force, governing swathes of their strategic neighbor – if not most of it, given the pace of events, by the time you read this.
Syria has absorbed so much diplomatic oxygen in the past 20 years, it is fitting this week of sweeping change popped up as if from a vacuum. Since the invasion of Iraq, the US has struggled to find a policy for Syria that could accommodate the vastly different needs of its allies Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and its sometime partners Iraq and Lebanon.
Without the physical crutches of Russia's air force and Iran's Hezbollah, Assad toppled when finally pushed
Syria has always been the wing-nut of the region: linking Iraq's oil to the Mediterranean, the Shia of Iraq and Iran to Lebanon, and Nato's southern underbelly Turkey to Jordan's deserts. George W Bush put it in his Axis of Evil; Obama didn't want to touch it much in case he broke it further; Donald Trump bombed it once, very quickly.
It has been in the grip of a horrifically brutal dictatorship for decades.
The swiftly changing fate of Bashar al-Assad was not really made in Syria, but in southern Beirut and Donetsk. Without the physical crutches of Russia's air force and Iran's proxy muscle Hezbollah, he toppled when finally pushed.
Israel's brutal yet effective two-month war on Hezbollah probably did not pay much mind to Assad's fate. But it may have decided it.
Likewise, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 34 months ago, likely considered little how few jets or troops it might leave Moscow to uphold its Middle Eastern allies with. But the war of attrition has left Russia "incapable" of assisting Assad, even President-elect Donald Trump noted on Saturday.
And indeed Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cut a weakened figure this weekend, saying: "What is the forecast? I cannot guess. We are not in the business of guessing." These are not the words of a steadfast and capable guarantor, rather those of a regional power seeing its spinning plates hit the floor.
Iran has been wildly hamstrung in the past six months, as its war with Israel, usually in the shadows or deniable, evolved into high-stakes and largely ineffective long-range missile attacks.
Demonstrators trample a carpet with a design showing president Bashar al-Assad during a protest outside the Syrian consulate in Istanbul. PHOTO: AFP
Its main proxy, Hezbollah, was crippled by a pager attack on its hierarchy, and then by weeks of vicious airstrikes. Tehran's pledges of support have done little so far but result in a joint statement with Syria and Iraq on "a need for collective action to confront" the rebels.
The Middle East is reeling because ideas taken as a given – like pervasive Iranian strength, and Russian solidity as an ally – are crumbling as they meet new realities.
Assad prevailed as the leader of a blood-drenched minority, not through guile or grit, but because Iran murdered for him and Moscow bombed for him.
Now these two allies are wildly over-stretched elsewhere, the imbalance that kept Assad and his ruling Alawite minority at the helm is also gone.
Syrian Kurds stand next to the destroyed statue of Basel al-Assad, the late elder brother of Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad as they celebrate the fall of capital Damascus to anti-government fighters, in the city of Qamishli, Syria yesterday. PHOTO: AFP
In every crisis lies opportunity, and in every opportunity lurks crisis.
The startling advance of Syria's opposition in a week is the unintended consequence of two other conflicts, one near and one far. It leaves several key US allies with a new and largely unknown Islamist-led force, governing swathes of their strategic neighbor – if not most of it, given the pace of events, by the time you read this.
Syria has absorbed so much diplomatic oxygen in the past 20 years, it is fitting this week of sweeping change popped up as if from a vacuum. Since the invasion of Iraq, the US has struggled to find a policy for Syria that could accommodate the vastly different needs of its allies Israel, Jordan, Turkey, and its sometime partners Iraq and Lebanon.
Without the physical crutches of Russia's air force and Iran's Hezbollah, Assad toppled when finally pushed
Syria has always been the wing-nut of the region: linking Iraq's oil to the Mediterranean, the Shia of Iraq and Iran to Lebanon, and Nato's southern underbelly Turkey to Jordan's deserts. George W Bush put it in his Axis of Evil; Obama didn't want to touch it much in case he broke it further; Donald Trump bombed it once, very quickly.
It has been in the grip of a horrifically brutal dictatorship for decades.
The swiftly changing fate of Bashar al-Assad was not really made in Syria, but in southern Beirut and Donetsk. Without the physical crutches of Russia's air force and Iran's proxy muscle Hezbollah, he toppled when finally pushed.
Israel's brutal yet effective two-month war on Hezbollah probably did not pay much mind to Assad's fate. But it may have decided it.
Likewise, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, 34 months ago, likely considered little how few jets or troops it might leave Moscow to uphold its Middle Eastern allies with. But the war of attrition has left Russia "incapable" of assisting Assad, even President-elect Donald Trump noted on Saturday.
And indeed Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cut a weakened figure this weekend, saying: "What is the forecast? I cannot guess. We are not in the business of guessing." These are not the words of a steadfast and capable guarantor, rather those of a regional power seeing its spinning plates hit the floor.
Iran has been wildly hamstrung in the past six months, as its war with Israel, usually in the shadows or deniable, evolved into high-stakes and largely ineffective long-range missile attacks.
Demonstrators trample a carpet with a design showing president Bashar al-Assad during a protest outside the Syrian consulate in Istanbul. PHOTO: AFP
Its main proxy, Hezbollah, was crippled by a pager attack on its hierarchy, and then by weeks of vicious airstrikes. Tehran's pledges of support have done little so far but result in a joint statement with Syria and Iraq on "a need for collective action to confront" the rebels.
The Middle East is reeling because ideas taken as a given – like pervasive Iranian strength, and Russian solidity as an ally – are crumbling as they meet new realities.
Assad prevailed as the leader of a blood-drenched minority, not through guile or grit, but because Iran murdered for him and Moscow bombed for him.
Now these two allies are wildly over-stretched elsewhere, the imbalance that kept Assad and his ruling Alawite minority at the helm is also gone.
- Copy to clipboard
- Thread starter
- #27
Israel bombs Syria chemical weapons sites
Israel has struck suspected chemical weapons sites and long-range rockets in Syria in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile actors, the foreign minister said yesterday.
Israel bombs Syria chemical weapons sites
Aims to prevent rebel groups seizing advanced weaponry; Kremlin says Putin authorised Assad’s asylum
Israel has struck suspected chemical weapons sites and long-range rockets in Syria in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile actors, the foreign minister said yesterday.
Syrian rebels reached Damascus over the weekend and overthrew president Bashar Assad's government following nearly 14 years of civil war, raising hopes for a more peaceful future but also concerns about a potential security vacuum in the country, which is still split among armed groups.
In a separate development, the Kremlin said Russia has granted political asylum to Assad, a decision it said was taken by President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Assad's specific whereabouts and said Putin was not planning to meet with him, reports AP.
Kremlin also said that it was too early to say what the future would hold for Russia's military bases in Syria, adding that it would be the subject of discussion with the new rulers in Damascus.
Israelis have welcomed the fall of Assad, who was a key ally of Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah group, while expressing concern over what comes next.
Israel says its forces temporarily seized a buffer zone inside Syria dating back to a 1974 agreement after Syrian troops withdrew in the chaos. The military published photos of Israeli commandos in the Syrian Mount Hermon area. Saar said the troop presence was strictly limited.
Meanwhile, Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups took control of the northern Syrian town of Manbij from US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces (SDF), a Turkish security source said yesterday.
The SDF had been holding the town in recent days amid intense fighting with the Syrian National Army (SNA) and other Turkey-backed groups, reports Reuters.
President Joe Biden said later on Sunday that the sudden collapse of the Syrian government under Assad is a "fundamental act of justice" after decades of repression, but it was "a moment of risk and uncertainty" for the Middle East.
The outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump were working to make sense of new threats and opportunities across the Middle East.
Aims to prevent rebel groups seizing advanced weaponry; Kremlin says Putin authorised Assad’s asylum
Israel has struck suspected chemical weapons sites and long-range rockets in Syria in order to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile actors, the foreign minister said yesterday.
Syrian rebels reached Damascus over the weekend and overthrew president Bashar Assad's government following nearly 14 years of civil war, raising hopes for a more peaceful future but also concerns about a potential security vacuum in the country, which is still split among armed groups.
In a separate development, the Kremlin said Russia has granted political asylum to Assad, a decision it said was taken by President Vladimir Putin. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Assad's specific whereabouts and said Putin was not planning to meet with him, reports AP.
Kremlin also said that it was too early to say what the future would hold for Russia's military bases in Syria, adding that it would be the subject of discussion with the new rulers in Damascus.
Israelis have welcomed the fall of Assad, who was a key ally of Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah group, while expressing concern over what comes next.
Israel says its forces temporarily seized a buffer zone inside Syria dating back to a 1974 agreement after Syrian troops withdrew in the chaos. The military published photos of Israeli commandos in the Syrian Mount Hermon area. Saar said the troop presence was strictly limited.
Meanwhile, Turkey-backed Syrian opposition groups took control of the northern Syrian town of Manbij from US-backed Syrian Kurdish forces (SDF), a Turkish security source said yesterday.
The SDF had been holding the town in recent days amid intense fighting with the Syrian National Army (SNA) and other Turkey-backed groups, reports Reuters.
President Joe Biden said later on Sunday that the sudden collapse of the Syrian government under Assad is a "fundamental act of justice" after decades of repression, but it was "a moment of risk and uncertainty" for the Middle East.
The outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Donald Trump were working to make sense of new threats and opportunities across the Middle East.
- Copy to clipboard
- Thread starter
- #28
Israel says it will destroy Syria's heavy strategic weaponry
REUTERS
Published :
Dec 09, 2024 21:36
Updated :
Dec 09, 2024 21:36
Israeli soldiers gather near the ceasefire line between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, December 9, 2024. Photo : REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israel will step up airstrikes on Syrian stores of advanced weaponry, Israeli officials said on Monday, and keep a 'limited' troop presence on the ground, hoping to head off any threat that could emerge in the fallout of president Bashar al-Assad's overthrow.
Israel has watched the upheaval in Syria with a mixture of hope and concern as it weighs the consequences of one of the most significant strategic shifts in the Middle East in years.
While Assad's fall wiped out a bastion from which Israel's arch-foe Iran had exercised influence in the region, the lightning advance of a disparate group of rebel forces with roots in the Islamist ideology of Al Qaeda poses risks.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military would "destroy heavy strategic weapons throughout Syria, including surface-to-air missiles, air defence systems, surface-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles, long-range rockets, and coastal missiles".
A senior Israeli official said airstrikes would persist in the coming days, while Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had no interest in interfering in internal Syrian affairs and was concerned only with defending its citizens.
"That's why we attack strategic weapons systems like, for example, remaining chemical weapons or long-range missiles and rockets in order that they will not fall into the hands of extremists," Saar told reporters in Jerusalem.
Still reeling from the Palestinian militant group Hamas' attack in October 2023, Israel is also looking to head off any future threat from its neighbour.
Israeli forces had already cleared landmines and established new barriers on the frontier between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and a demilitarised strip bordering Syria in October.
Early on Sunday, the military said it had sent ground forces into the demilitarised zone, a 400-sq-km (155-sq-mile) buffer created by a 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement and overseen by the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
The military on Monday published photos of Israeli commandos in the Syrian Mount Hermon area.
Saar said the troop presence was strictly limited. "It's basically near our borders, sometimes a few hundred metres, sometimes one mile or two miles," he said. "It is a very limited and temporary step we took for security reasons."
REUTERS
Published :
Dec 09, 2024 21:36
Updated :
Dec 09, 2024 21:36
Israeli soldiers gather near the ceasefire line between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, December 9, 2024. Photo : REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israel will step up airstrikes on Syrian stores of advanced weaponry, Israeli officials said on Monday, and keep a 'limited' troop presence on the ground, hoping to head off any threat that could emerge in the fallout of president Bashar al-Assad's overthrow.
Israel has watched the upheaval in Syria with a mixture of hope and concern as it weighs the consequences of one of the most significant strategic shifts in the Middle East in years.
While Assad's fall wiped out a bastion from which Israel's arch-foe Iran had exercised influence in the region, the lightning advance of a disparate group of rebel forces with roots in the Islamist ideology of Al Qaeda poses risks.
Defence Minister Israel Katz said the military would "destroy heavy strategic weapons throughout Syria, including surface-to-air missiles, air defence systems, surface-to-surface missiles, cruise missiles, long-range rockets, and coastal missiles".
A senior Israeli official said airstrikes would persist in the coming days, while Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel had no interest in interfering in internal Syrian affairs and was concerned only with defending its citizens.
"That's why we attack strategic weapons systems like, for example, remaining chemical weapons or long-range missiles and rockets in order that they will not fall into the hands of extremists," Saar told reporters in Jerusalem.
Still reeling from the Palestinian militant group Hamas' attack in October 2023, Israel is also looking to head off any future threat from its neighbour.
Israeli forces had already cleared landmines and established new barriers on the frontier between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and a demilitarised strip bordering Syria in October.
Early on Sunday, the military said it had sent ground forces into the demilitarised zone, a 400-sq-km (155-sq-mile) buffer created by a 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement and overseen by the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF).
The military on Monday published photos of Israeli commandos in the Syrian Mount Hermon area.
Saar said the troop presence was strictly limited. "It's basically near our borders, sometimes a few hundred metres, sometimes one mile or two miles," he said. "It is a very limited and temporary step we took for security reasons."
- Copy to clipboard
- Thread starter
- #29
Dramatic turn of events in Syria
SYED FATTAHUL ALIM
Published :
Dec 09, 2024 23:29
Updated :
Dec 09, 2024 23:29
More than half a century long dynastic rule of Syria by the Assad family is over with the rebels taking control of Damascus on Sunday (December 8). The fate of Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad as the president of Syria in 2000 after the latter's death, was shrouded in mystery after the rebels stormed Damascus. However, CNN reports that Assad has flown to Moscow and Russia has granted him and his family political asylum.
The rebels comprise a complex group of militants including mainly the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led by Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, an al-Qaeda breakaway, and the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), a coalition of Syrian opposition forces created during the Syrian civil war that started in 2011 as president Assad cracked down on the pro-democracy agitators in the wake of the Arab Spring. The situation in Syria is still in a state of flux and it is too early to say who is in real control and how it is going to end up. Many among those observing the developments in Syria have been taken by surprise at the dramatic change of events leading to the collapse of the Assad regime in a matter of days. In fact, it started on November 27 when a HTS-led coalition of anti-government forces launched a major offensive against the government-controlled Aleppo from the neighbouring opposition-held city of Idlib. And in three days, the rebel fighters occupied Aleppo. The fall of Aleppo created a domino effect leading to the collapse of one city after another and it was all over with the fall of Damascus on December 6.
Is it purely a coincidence that the rebels rose to prominence after a long slumber and then drove the Assad regime out of power when the Lebanese Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah was reaching a peace deal with Israel? Notably, Hezbollah played a key role in turning the tide of Syrian civil war following its active participation (in the war) in 2012-13. The November 27, 2024's Hezbollah-Israel's two-month-ceasefire is to some observer the indication of a war-weary and weakened Hezbollah. So, have the Syrian rebels taken advantage of this situation to start the lightning offensive against the government forces? Even so, their stunning success in the offensive raises another big question. Which big power is backing them? Obviously, it is not Russia or Iran, for they have been the main backers of the Assad regime. Of course, the regional power Turkey has a role to play as it openly condemned the way president Assad ruthlessly crushed the country's pro-democracy movement in 2011 and supported the rebels from the very beginning of the civil war. Then what is the position of the US in Assad's ouster from power? The outgoing US president Joe Biden has been rather cautious in his administration's response as he said they were monitoring the developments in Syria, while the president-elect Donald Trump's reaction as expressed on the social media was rather noncommittal as he said that Syria's was not a US problem.
So, it cannot be said with certainty if what has happened to Syria is an act of regime change by any particular world power. In fact, the rebels who toppled Assad regime are regarded with suspicion by the big powers. The leading group, HTS, for instance, was considered a terrorist outfit by the US. Moreover, the loose coalition of rebel forces now calling the shots in Syria may fall apart any time resulting in a fresh round of infighting among the contenders of power. In that case, the resulting chaos may spill over into neighbouriing countries destabilising the entire Middle East. Such an eventuality can be avoided if only the regional and global powers behave responsibly to stop further bloodshed in Syria.
SYED FATTAHUL ALIM
Published :
Dec 09, 2024 23:29
Updated :
Dec 09, 2024 23:29
More than half a century long dynastic rule of Syria by the Assad family is over with the rebels taking control of Damascus on Sunday (December 8). The fate of Bashar al-Assad, who succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad as the president of Syria in 2000 after the latter's death, was shrouded in mystery after the rebels stormed Damascus. However, CNN reports that Assad has flown to Moscow and Russia has granted him and his family political asylum.
The rebels comprise a complex group of militants including mainly the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led by Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani, an al-Qaeda breakaway, and the Turkey-backed Syrian National Army (SNA), a coalition of Syrian opposition forces created during the Syrian civil war that started in 2011 as president Assad cracked down on the pro-democracy agitators in the wake of the Arab Spring. The situation in Syria is still in a state of flux and it is too early to say who is in real control and how it is going to end up. Many among those observing the developments in Syria have been taken by surprise at the dramatic change of events leading to the collapse of the Assad regime in a matter of days. In fact, it started on November 27 when a HTS-led coalition of anti-government forces launched a major offensive against the government-controlled Aleppo from the neighbouring opposition-held city of Idlib. And in three days, the rebel fighters occupied Aleppo. The fall of Aleppo created a domino effect leading to the collapse of one city after another and it was all over with the fall of Damascus on December 6.
Is it purely a coincidence that the rebels rose to prominence after a long slumber and then drove the Assad regime out of power when the Lebanese Shiite Islamist group Hezbollah was reaching a peace deal with Israel? Notably, Hezbollah played a key role in turning the tide of Syrian civil war following its active participation (in the war) in 2012-13. The November 27, 2024's Hezbollah-Israel's two-month-ceasefire is to some observer the indication of a war-weary and weakened Hezbollah. So, have the Syrian rebels taken advantage of this situation to start the lightning offensive against the government forces? Even so, their stunning success in the offensive raises another big question. Which big power is backing them? Obviously, it is not Russia or Iran, for they have been the main backers of the Assad regime. Of course, the regional power Turkey has a role to play as it openly condemned the way president Assad ruthlessly crushed the country's pro-democracy movement in 2011 and supported the rebels from the very beginning of the civil war. Then what is the position of the US in Assad's ouster from power? The outgoing US president Joe Biden has been rather cautious in his administration's response as he said they were monitoring the developments in Syria, while the president-elect Donald Trump's reaction as expressed on the social media was rather noncommittal as he said that Syria's was not a US problem.
So, it cannot be said with certainty if what has happened to Syria is an act of regime change by any particular world power. In fact, the rebels who toppled Assad regime are regarded with suspicion by the big powers. The leading group, HTS, for instance, was considered a terrorist outfit by the US. Moreover, the loose coalition of rebel forces now calling the shots in Syria may fall apart any time resulting in a fresh round of infighting among the contenders of power. In that case, the resulting chaos may spill over into neighbouriing countries destabilising the entire Middle East. Such an eventuality can be avoided if only the regional and global powers behave responsibly to stop further bloodshed in Syria.
Lulldapull
Senior Member
- Jan 26, 2024
- 2,292
- 593
- Origin
- Residence
- Axis Group
Syria is finished guys. The day Assad sahb told Khamenei that his army's defected to the IDF and Al-Turkiya, is the day Khamenei decided to cut him loose. This happened a month ago!
Syria will balkanize soon.
Iran can't hemorrhage millions every week on a failed venture like Syria anymore.
Syria will balkanize soon.
Iran can't hemorrhage millions every week on a failed venture like Syria anymore.
