Syria Crisis: Iraq sends military forces to help Assad

[kirkuki]

from archives

Iraqi government have sent on last Friday and Saturday a large military forces to Syria to serve Bashar Assad’s regime, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Free Syrian Army Malek Abdul Halim Kurdy told Bas newspaper in a telephone conversation.

Bas in its today’s journal reported that according to the information they received Iraqi government have send on Friday and Saturday (August 31th and September 1th) near 1000 militants to help Bashar Assad in Syrian.

“On last Friday and Saturday a large number of militants about 1000 were crossed border from Iraq to Syria in order to save Assad”, the source said.

“During the transition, Iraqi government closed the border areas and stopped traveling among the border-villages for about 24 hours.” the same source added.

Earlier, foreign media have reported on Baghdad backing Iranian government to save its best ally (Syria), by allowing the transition of Iranian forces and troops for Assad’s regime using Iraq’s land.

Gulan-media

 

[waltky]

Is the Assad regime in the process of falling?...

He's on a boat! Bashar al Assad allegedly living on a Russian warship
January 15th, 2013 - The Syrian president is reportedly living on a warship in the Mediterranean, with security provided by Russia, intelligence sources tell a Saudi newspaper.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad [2] and his family have been living on a warship, with security provided by Russia, intelligence sources told a Saudi newspaper. An Al-Watan report Monday says the family and Assad aides are residing on the ship in the Mediterranean Sea and that he travels to Syria by helicopter to attend official meetings and receptions. Otherwise, he stays on the warship, the sources told the Arabic language newspaper.

When he flies to his embattled country, the president lands at undisclosed locations and is transported to the presidential palace under heavy guard, the sources said. The Russian-guarded warship provides a safe environment for Assad, who has lost confidence in his own security detail, the report said.

Assad's presence on the warship suggests he has been granted political asylum by Russia but there has been no official comment from Moscow, the newspaper said. The circumstances reinforce Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov [3]'s comment Sunday that Assad's removal from power is "impossible to implement," the newspaper said.

Assad's presence on the ship could be a sign of looming negotiations on the conflict in Syria [4], the report said. "It is necessary to make everybody, including the opposition, which is still categorically denying any dialogue, to sit down at the negotiating table, Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty quoted Lavrov as saying during a visit to the Ukraine.

He's on a boat! Bashar al Assad allegedly living on a Russian warship

 

[waltky]

Mother Russia sees the handwriting on the wall...

Russia Sends Aircraft to Evacuate Citizens from Syria
January 21, 2013 — Russia is sending two planes to Lebanon on Tuesday to evacuate more than 100 of its citizens from Syria, the Emergencies Ministry said, in the clearest sign yet that Moscow may be preparing for President Bashar al-Assad's possible defeat.

Russia has been Assad's main foreign protector during a 22-month uprising against his rule, but a diplomat conceded last month the government had lost territory and the rebels fighting Assad could win the war. Moscow is also carrying out what has been called the largest naval exercises since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union in the Mediterranean and Black Sea, including off Syria's coast, which analysts say are meant to underscore its interest in the region. "On orders from the leadership of the Russian Federation, the Emergencies Ministry is sending two airplanes to Beirut so that all Russians who want can leave Syria,'' ministry spokeswoman Irina Rossius said. "It is planned that more that 100 Russians will leave Syria [on these planes],'' she told Interfax news agency.

It was unclear whether the flights were the beginning of a longer evacuation operation. Preparing to fly out its citizens is the clearest signal yet that Moscow believes Assad's fall may be possible, though it has made no indication that it will abandon its position that Assad's exit must not be a precondition for a peace deal. Moscow leases a naval maintenance and supply facility at the Syrian port of Tartous and has had a large presence of employees from Rosoboronexport, Russia's state arms exporting monopoly. A number of citizens from Russian companies that also have a presence in Syria still live there too. Russian officials say there are tens of thousands of Russian citizens in Syria, many of them also Russian women married to Syrian men.

Naval excercise

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, the Kremlin's envoy for Middle East affairs, said in December the rebels could win the war against Assad and Russia was working on plans to evacuate its citizens, if necessary. "The regime and government in Syria is losing control of more and more territory,'' state-run Russian news agency RIA quoted him as saying at the time. Unfortunately, a victory of the Syrian opposition cannot be ruled out.'' Russia's Foreign Ministry said after Bogdanov's remarks that it had not changed its policy on Syria and that he was speaking in a personal capacity. Russia has protected Assad from three consecutive U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed at putting pressure on him to end violence from the side of the government. More than 60,000 people have been killed in Syria since March 2011. The Emergency Ministry told Reuters the planes were scheduled to take off on Tuesday, but that they would leave as soon as they got orders.

Sergei Markov, a political analyst and former lawmaker with President Vladimir Putin's party, said Russia believed Assad will fall and ``may believe it is time to start gradually pulling its citizens out''. "Russia is preparing for the collapse of the central government,'' said Markov, vice- rector of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. Markov also said that naval ships off the coast of Syria could be used in evacuation efforts, echoing the comments of military officials reported by Russian agencies. At least eight warships from Russia's Northern, Baltic and Black Sea fleets were taking part in the manoeuvres. Russia delivered Assad delivered nearly $1 billion in arms to Syria in 2011. CAST, a Moscow-based defence think tank, said Russia had been due to send half a billion dollars' worth last year.

Source

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Bread queues lengthen in Damascus
19 January 2013 - Driving around Damascus, you see the vestiges of times past. Dip Dip Cafe, Mocha and More, luxury clothing shops which change their gleaming window displays with every new season of fashion.

If you can afford it, you can still sit in wrought-iron chairs and order steaming cappuccino with sprinkles of chocolate in a stylish Italian cup, or still sit in elegant parks where young couples flirt and savour the sweet smell of jasmine. This is graceful Damascus, Damascus of Old. This is the Syria that two years ago prided itself on being an Arab state sufficient in food and fuel, a middle-income country with soaring highways and decent health care. No more. "I'd never thought I'd see this," lamented a Syrian woman working with an international agency. "I never thought I'd see the day when we'd be discussing the distribution of high-energy biscuits." Those are the biscuits flown to impoverished countries facing famine, nations wracked by war unable to feed their people. That is not Syria, not yet, but cracks are emerging.

Squeezed bubble

A punishing war that has left vast swathes of this country in ruin is now steadily encroaching on the capital. There is still what is called the Damascus bubble - a place where civil servants dutifully go to work on public transport, and children sit their exams. But that bubble is slowly, steadily, being squeezed. On this trip to Syria, we saw queues for petrol that snake around the block. And Damascenes wait for hours just to buy their daily bread - standing outside government bakeries in the cold, then hurrying away with towering piles of flatbread. Some people even fill up the boot of their cars. At government bakeries, bread is still cheap - 10 cents for 10 pieces. Buy it from a private bakery - it is a lot more. No-one is starving, one Western aid official told me. But they have already started monitoring for malnutrition.

Bread queues are getting longer and longer

But who will come to Syria's help? This is a country isolated by the West, under a growing list of sanctions, but also deeply suspicious of foreign aid. The biggest relief effort by far is traditional Syrian solidarity. Extended families are now living together, sometimes 30, 50 people to a house. Neighbours are opening their homes and hearts to each other, and sometimes to strangers fleeing homes in the suburbs or other cities flattened by ferocious government assault, overtaken by rebel forces. But even this rock-solid sense of solidarity is showing strain as the war drags on, and savings run out.

And in a deeply divided land, even sympathy is suspect. Families who offer a room to homeless people can get a knock on the door from intelligence agencies. "We can't even rent our rooms," moaned one woman who needs the extra income. "How can we face desperate people who come to us in need? What can we say?" Even a proud, defiant government is starting to admit to the scale of this crisis. For months, it rejected recognised terms like displaced people, using euphemisms like "mutanaqaleen", which just means "people who are moving". And they are, in every direction, as soon as they can.

West's 'zero' pledge

Related:

Sexual Violence A Factor in Syrian Refugee Crisis
January 21, 2013 WASHINGTON, DC — Rape is becoming increasingly widespread in Syria, where a civil war has been underway for almost two years, and recent studies indicate much of it is being carried out by troops and militias loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

One new study by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) reports that rape has become so prevalent it is a factor in driving thousands of Syrian families into exile—either inside Syria or into neighboring countries. Another group investigating the prevalence of rape in Syria since the civil war started 21 months ago is Women Under Siege (WUS), part of the Women’s Media Center, which documents conflict-related sexual violence. “What we are seeing in Syria is extraordinary prevalence, geographically widespread,” said Lauren Wolfe, director of WUS.

Wolfe and others, however, say exact figures on the number of rapes taking place are nearly impossible to achieve because of the ongoing civil war and because many rape victim are reluctant to talk about their experience. The WUS website maps more than 130 reports in Syria that Wolfe says could involve thousands of women. Though WUS encourages Syrian victims to report sexual violence directly to the website, Wolfe says the majority of the reports come from other sources on the ground, i.e., human rights groups, the United Nations and the international media.

“We were all tied up in the town main square…We were afraid and asking for mercy. I was shaking. There were 30 of them with firearms and knives…They took the older women and children away and kept us, the younger women, in the square. They started with me…I eventually stopped moving. I felt paralyzed. I felt like I was suffocating. They smelled rotten, like death. They shouted, ‘You want freedom? This is freedom, freedom, freedom.’

“Ten beasts took turns raping me. When I looked around I saw my mom dead on the ground, covered with blood with all the rest. They killed them, even the children…One of them wanted to cut my neck, but his friend said, ‘She is dying anyway. Look how she is breathing.’ I was barely taking any breaths. Most of my ribs were broken. They dragged me and threw me in a garbage container.” – Testimony of a young girl documented by WUS.

Civilian-directed

 

[mememe]

waltky

Russia did NOT send aircraft or anything else to evacuate its citizens.

Please, don't post crap. Check information first.

 

[Caroljo]

waltky

Russia did NOT send aircraft or anything else to evacuate its citizens.

Please, don't post crap. Check information first.

This is the link Waltky posted....did you even look at it?

Russia Sends Aircraft to Evacuate Citizens from Syria

So do you have a link to prove this really isn't happening??

 

[waltky]

mememe: Granny says ya need to keep up on things so's ya know what's goin' on...

Russians starts evacuating nationals from Syria
Jan 22,`13 -- Key Syrian ally Russia began evacuating its citizens from the country on Tuesday as the civil war gathered momentum in the capital Damascus with intense fighting around the international airport.

The evacuation was the strongest sign yet of Moscow's waning confidence in the ability of its ally President Bashar Assad to hold onto power. The U.N. chief said Tuesday that a diplomatic conclusion to the war seems unlikely. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the Russian evacuations indicate "the continued deterioration of the security situation and the violence that Assad is leading against his own people." Four buses carrying about 80 people, mostly women and children, crossed out of the country over land into neighboring Lebanon in the early afternoon. They were bound for the Lebanese capital Beirut to fly home in two planes that Russia sent. They apparently were not flown directly home out of Damascus because of the fighting around the airport there.

Russian announced the beginning of the evacuations on Monday, saying it would take out 100 nationals. The Russian Foreign Ministry says there are tens of thousands of Russians living in Syria. Many of them are Russian women married to Syrian men. The officials said thousands more evacuations could follow - possibly by both air and sea. Russia has been Assad's main ally since the Syrian uprising began in March 2011, selling arms, providing technical support and, along with China, using its veto power in the U.N. Security Council to shield Damascus from international sanctions over the Syrian regime's brutal crackdown on dissent.

But in recent months, Russia has started distancing itself from Assad. President Vladimir Putin said last month that he understands Syria needs change and that he was not protecting the Syrian ruler. The Russians entered Lebanon at the Masnaa border crossing, where an official from their embassy in Beirut was waiting for them. Some inside the buses closed the curtains so they would not be seen by journalists waiting at the border. Most refused to comment and those who did speak said only they were going home to visit relatives.

Jodie, an 8-year-old girl traveling from Damascus with her sister and her Syrian father said she was going to Moscow to see her mother, who is Russian. Jodie and her 4-year-old sister Nadine spoke briefly to reporters when they got off the bus to get their passports stamped at the border. "I used to hear the shelling, but I was not scared," said Nadine. "I would close my eyes." Officials at the Russian Embassy in Damascus said they have several thousand citizens registered as living in Syria. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said some of the people who were being evacuated Tuesday have lost their houses and need Russian government assistance to leave.

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Russians flee Syrian conflict on planes from Beirut
22 January 2013 - Most of those on their way back to Russia were women and children

Scores of Russians are being flown home after fleeing the violence in Syria - though Russia insists it is not the start of a mass evacuation. Two planes carrying about 80 Russians, mainly women and children, left Beirut late on Tuesday. The Russians earlier travelled from Syria to Lebanon by bus. Many international airlines have halted flights from Damascus. Moscow has been one of President Bashar al-Assad's closest allies during the conflict in Syria. Russia has not renounced its support for Mr Assad, but has acknowledged he may not win.

It has admitted making contingency plans for a possible future evacuation. There are thought to be thousands of Russian citizens living and working in Syria. The conflict continued to exact a heavy toll on Tuesday, with the UK-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights saying a preliminary count put the dead at about 60. That included 23 civilians, among them five children. There were also reports of a further seven children being killed, the group said. Seventeen rebels, a soldier who had defected and 18 regular soldiers also died, it added. The Observatory's reports cannot be independently verified.

'Not an evacuation'

The flights carrying the Russian citizens to Moscow were provided by Russia's emergencies ministry, and Russian media said there would be doctors and psychologists aboard. A Russian diplomat told the AFP news agency: "This is not an evacuation. There is no pressure at all on Russians in Syria to leave the country, because there are many areas in Damascus which are completely safe and free from violence or any clashes. "We are simply helping people who have gone to the Russian consulate in Damascus requesting assistance," the unnamed diplomat said. He said, however, that the planes scheduled to leave on Tuesday and Wednesday would probably not be the last. "It will be an ongoing operation. Whenever enough people request assistance at the consulate in Damascus, we will organise for new planes."

Aleksey Malashenko, a member of the research council at the Moscow Carnegie Centre, said Russia was trying to protect its citizens who might be the victim of revenge attacks if the anti-Assad opposition prevails in the war. "Assad's regime is tottering, and those who intend to take his place are far from being angels," he said. "Russia's reputation among the opposition is bad since we officially support Damascus. So, Moscow is showing commendable forward-thinking by evacuating Russians."

Separately, a team of emergency directors of UN agencies left Syria on Tuesday after spending four days there. The head of the team, John Ging, said the extent of the destruction was appalling. "The impression that all of us were left with was that it is a country being systematically destroyed, by its own people," he said. "I didn't realise till I was in the country and moving around, just how much has been destroyed already, and we faced so many mothers on the issue of what this has already done in terms of the trauma suffered by their children." The UN is appealing for more than $500m (£315m) to finance its humanitarian relief efforts this year, and is hoping to attract new commitments at a donors' conference in Kuwait next week.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21140041

 

[waltky]

Not waiting till the rebels come close to victory to send in the planes...

Russia's Syria evacuation reflects doubts on Assad
January 22, 2013 -- The Kremlin's evacuation of Russians from Syria on Tuesday marks a turning point in its view of the civil war, representing increasing doubts about Bashar Assad's hold on power and a sober understanding that it has to start rescue efforts before it becomes too late.

The operation has been relatively small-scale, involving under 100 people, mostly women and children - but it marks the beginning of what could soon turn into a risky and challenging operation. Analysts warn that rescuing tens of thousands of Russians from the war-stricken country could quickly become daunting as the opposition makes new advances in the battle against the Syrian president. "It's a sign of distrust in Assad, who seems unlikely to hold on to power," said Alexei Malashenko, a Middle East expert with the Carnegie Endowment's Moscow office. Russia has been Assad's main ally, pooling together with China at the United Nations to block international sanctions against his regime. But it has increasingly distanced itself from the Syrian ruler, signaling it is resigned to the prospect of him losing power.

On Tuesday, four buses carrying about 80 Russians crossed into Syria, the first evacuation organized by Moscow since the start of the conflict nearly two years ago. Russia said a day earlier that about 100 of its citizens in Syria would be taken to Lebanon and flown home. The land route was presumably chosen because of renewed fighting near the Damascus airport. Malashenko said that the evacuation reflected a strong concern in Moscow that Assad's fall would put Russians in grave danger. "There is a strong likelihood that Assad's foes could unleash a massacre of those whom they see as his supporters," he said.

In addition to tens of thousands Russians permanently living in Syria, most of whom are Russian women married to Syrian men and their children, there is also an unspecified number of diplomats and military advisers along with their families. The evacuees were permanent residents not connected to the embassy. Georgy Mirsky, the top Middle East expert with the Institute for World Economy and International Relations, a government-funded think-tank, warned that Russians in Syria are facing growing risks. "Many are reluctant to leave, hoping that the situation could somehow stabilize," he said. "But Aleppo is already half-ruined, and it will soon come to that in Damascus too. Sooner or later, Assad is going to lose."

Russia could rely on Assad to provide a military escort for caravans of refugees, but such protection may not be reliable enough with the Syrian army's resources drained by the need to battle rebels all around the country. Refugee convoys could make an easy target for the rebels when they try to move to neighboring Lebanon for a flight home. Direct Russian flights to Syrian airfields also would be a risky option with rebels possessing portable anti-aircraft missiles. "That's why they sent the planes now without waiting until the eleventh hour when rebels come close to victory," Mirsky said.

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Russia organizing airlift for citizens to flee Syrian conflict
Wed, Jan 23, 2013 - Up to 150 Russians are preparing to flee Syria over the next two days on board two planes sent to Beirut from Moscow, a Russian diplomat said yesterday.

The diplomat insisted that the airlift was not the start of an operation to evacuate Russian nationals from Syria. “There are thousands of Russian citizens in Syria. The issue is that the Russian airline is no longer flying to Damascus, so we are helping some 100, maximum 150 people to leave Syria via Beirut, which is very close,” the diplomat said on the condition of anonymity. “We are simply helping people who have gone to the Russian consulate in Damascus requesting assistance.” The diplomat downplayed earlier reports that Moscow was evacuating its citizens from Syria. “This is not an evacuation. There is no pressure at all on Russians in Syria to leave the country, because there are many areas in Damascus which are completely safe and free from violence or any clashes,” the diplomat said.

However, he said that the planes scheduled to leave yesterday and today would not be the last to help Russians flee the strife-torn country. “It will be an ongoing operation. Whenever enough people request assistance at the consulate in Damascus, we will organize for new planes,” the diplomat added. His comments came a day after a suicide car bombing in central Syria killed at least 30 people and the Arab League said UN efforts to end the conflict had failed to bring even a “glimmer” of hope. The suicide bombing that targeted a building used by pro-regime militiamen in Salmiyeh, a town in the central province of Hama, killed more than 30 people, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

State news agency SANA also reported the blast, saying that “a terrorist suicide car bomb was detonated in the heart of Salmiyeh, leaving a number of people killed and others wounded.” The blast came as Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said the mission of the international peace envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, had so far not even “yielded a glimmer of hope.” The head of the 22-member bloc urged the Arab leaders to call “the UN Security Council for an immediate meeting and to issue a resolution enforcing a ceasefire to stop the bloodbath.”

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2013/01/23/2003553248

 

[mememe]

waltky

Currently in Syria there live around 70 000 Russian citizens. Many of them became victims of war and terrorism.

The two planes you keep talking about are NOT for EVACUATION of the Russian citizens, but for those who would like to leave the war zone. It's HUMANITARIAN HELP. Not "evacuation".

 

[Rct_Tsoul]

I said it before and I will say it again, this man Assad must be instructed that he is a leader of an entire country, and if he behaves like a bitch, he will die like a bitch. This living on a warship out of harms way is very bitch-like, and will most definitely be seen by his own detail that he must go, nobody will follow a bitch, its time to go Assad.

 

[waltky]

Russian evacuation from Syria continues...

Russia steps up Syria evacuation efforts
Wed, Feb 20, 2013 - NO EXEMPTIONS: EU foreign ministers agreed to keep current sanctions against Syria, rejecting suggestions to alter an embargo so that arms could be funneled to rebels

Russia yesterday sent two planes to Syria to pick up Russians wanting to leave the conflict-torn country, as the navy dispatched four warships to the Mediterranean reportedly for a possible larger evacuation. Two emergencies ministry planes carrying humanitarian aid for Syria took off from Moscow for the port city of Latakia and would take any Russians wanting to leave on their flight back, the ministry said. Meanwhile, the defense ministry said Russia was sending four more warships to the Mediterranean Sea to join an escort ship and smaller vessels that were already on duty in the region.

Observers are watching for any hints of Russia planning a full-scale evacuation of its citizens, which would be seen as a tacit admission from Moscow that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is doomed in its fight against rebels. The ministry said in a statement to Russian news agencies that the ships would be on “military service,” but gave no further details. However, a military source quoted by RIA Novosti said their main task could be taking part in a possible evacuation of Russian citizens from Syria. “Even though the tasks of the warships has not been announced, it can be assumed that given the development of the situation in the region, their main job will be taking part in a possible evacuation of Russian citizens from Syria,” the source said.

The Russian emergencies ministry Ilyushin-62 and Ilyushin-76 planes were carrying more than 40 tonnes of humanitarian aid and would be ready to evacuate any Russians wanting to leave the country, a ministry statement said. “Citizens of Russia and the [ex-Soviet grouping] CIS wanting to leave can leave Syria on these planes,” the ministry said, adding that the departure from Latakia back to Moscow was planned for later yesterday. The Interfax news agency quoted sources in the Russian community in Syria as saying that 150 Russians and other ex-Soviet citizens could be flown out on the planes.

The voluntary evacuation would be the second such operation organized by Russia after it took out 77 people fleeing Syria on two planes flying from Beirut in neighboring Lebanon last month. However, it would be the first directly from Syria itself. Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers announced on Monday that they were keeping current sanctions against Syria in place for three months, rejecting attempts to alter an embargo on the country so that arms could be funneled to rebels fighting al-Assad. However, in an apparent nod to the UK, which had argued that the rebels should be exempted from the embargo, the ministers adopted a non-specific amendment “so as to provide greater non-lethal support and technical assistance for the protection of civilians.”

More Russia steps up Syria evacuation efforts - Taipei Times

See also:

Jihadists and Islamists Clash in Syria
February 19, 2013 — The gunmen came for Syrian Islamist rebel commander Thaer al-Waqqas riding in a battered white car. As they arrived, he was shouting orders at a food supply depot in the town of Sermin, a few kilometers from the border with Turkey. He had no time to defend himself as the gunmen got out of the car and riddled him with bullets.

The killing of the northern commander of one of Syria’s largest rebel groups wasn’t carried out by gunmen loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, but by men supposedly on the rebel side in the nearly two-year-long Syrian civil war. No one has taken responsibility for the Waqqas’ killing on January 9, but the men of al-Farouq Brigade, the rebel group he led, have no doubt that the gunmen were fighters from Jabhat al-Nusra. This is the Jihadist group that has grown rapidly since its formation a year ago and is now one of the most effective rebel forces fighting to oust Assad.

War within a war

The killing underscores not only the worsening divisions between rebel groups, say diplomats and Middle East experts. It also foreshadows a civil war within the civil war and highlights the growing rift in the region between Islamists and Jihadists. The fear is that the fighting among the rival rebel factions will get worse. Western media often do not distinguish between Islamists and Jihadists, seeing them as interchangeable. Both groups subscribe to political Islam, believing that Islam should guide social and political as well as personal life. In the past, Islamists and Jihadists have often made common cause, drawn together to defend what they see as the interests of their religion against their own rulers and the largely secular West.

They both adhere to strict interpretations of the Koran and tend to be Salafist – Muslims who stress the importance of following the examples set by the Prophet Mohamed and the earliest Muslims. Michael Rubin, a former Bush administration official and now a scholar at the Washington D.C.-based think tank, the American Enterprise Institute, says Islamists and Jihadists were aligned most strongly before the so-called Arab Spring uprisings began two years ago. They united against those they considered despots and other, more secular rulers such as Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak and Tunisia’s Ben Ali, all of whom turned their backs on Islamic fundamentalism.

Jostling for power

 

[waltky]

Syrian army startin' to show attrition...

Syrian army eroded by defections, battle deaths
Mar 12,`13 -- A top Syrian cleric's appeal to young men to join the army raised the question of whether President Bashar Assad is running out of soldiers, prompting a pro-government newspaper to reassure readers Tuesday that the military can keep fighting insurgents for years to come.

Syria's civil war, with its large-scale defections, thousands of soldiers killed and multiple fronts, has eroded one of the Arab world's biggest armies, with pro-Assad militias increasingly filling in for troops. But while the rebels have scored military and diplomatic gains, the regime is far from its breaking point. Assad appears to have stopped trying to retake all of the rebel-held areas, lacking the manpower to do so. But his forces have pinned down opposition fighters with artillery and airstrikes, while repelling rebel assaults on the capital of Damascus and other regime strongholds.

In this scenario, the regime can hang on for months, said Joseph Holliday, a Syria analyst at the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War. "The opposition is definitely ascendant, and Bashar is going down, (but) it's a question of time," he said. Syria's troop strength moved into the spotlight with a call for a general mobilization by Grand Mufti Ahmad Badreddine Hassoun, the country's top state-appointed Sunni Muslim cleric and Assad loyalist. He told state TV on Sunday that Syrians must rally to defend their country against a "global conspiracy."

On Tuesday, the pro-government al-Watan newspaper dismissed speculation that the mufti's appeal was a sign of attrition among the troops. The army is "fine" and troops "have been waging since for the past two years with unprecedented valor and courage," the newspaper said in a commentary. The army can keep fighting for years, it asserted. Experts say precise figures on rebel and regime troop strengths are difficult to come by. The Syrian military does not release detailed information and last year stopped publishing data on soldiers killed. Rebel groups often operate locally, with considerable autonomy, despite attempts by Syria's main opposition group to introduce a centralized military command.

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