Syria, Obama and the Nature of Wars.

 

"The long-awaited Aleppo offensive recently took a backseat to the much needed Palmyra-Deir Ezzor assault after the Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) threatened to retake the ancient city of Palmyra (Tadmur) just two weeks after it was liberated by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). However, the High Command of the Syrian Armed Forces has once again reverted their attention to the large-scale Aleppo offensive after the recent failure of the Geneva Peace Talks and the collapsing nationwide ceasefire. On Saturday night, an Al-Masdar correspondent in Damascus confirmed that the Syrian Arab Army’s plans for the Aleppo offensive have been once again green-lighted by their Russian and Iranian military advisers in southeast Aleppo."  AMN

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/hezbollah-syrian-army-renew-plans-aleppo-offensive/ | Al-Masdar News

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"President Barack Obama has ruled out deploying US ground troops in Syria and says military efforts alone cannot solve the country's problems.

"It would be a mistake for the United States, or Great Britain... to send in ground troops and overthrow the [Bashar al-] Assad regime," he told the BBC.

He also said he did not think so-called Islamic State would be defeated in his last nine months of office.

But he said: "We can slowly shrink the environment in which they operate."" 

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-36121135

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Obama's mania for regime change in Syria continues to be on full display.  This is matched by a belief that he evidently treasures that wars cannot be resolved on the battlefield.  This must have the character of "religious" belief for him because history demonstrates in every era that wars usually end in defeat for one or more contestants and that history is shaped by that military outcome.

He also persists in believing that he can gnaw at the level of Syrian government confidence and public support in that country until it collapses leading to a republic of liberal government, etc.  This is nonsense.  the collapse of the present government will IMO lead inevitably to a jihadi state following a continuation of the civil war absent the present Syrian state. 

Nevertheless, Obama seems resolved to forbid the introduction of major American ground maneuver units in Syria.  Good!  Can we hope that President Clinton would share that resolve?  I doubt it.

With regard to the City of Aleppo, I await with anticipation some indication that the R+6 has actually decided what their major emphasis should be in continuing the war needed to demonstrate the wrongheadedness of Obama's dictum that wars cannot be won.  pl 

 

Comments

[turcopolier]

richardstevenhack

"Israel is not ready to attack Iran until Syria and Hizballah in Lebanon are degraded enough to be effective actors in an Iran war," I agree that Israel's interest in Syria is caused by a desire to degrade Iran's power, but there is a basic problem with the idea of weakening Hizbullah through attrition in Syria. The problem is that the rocket and missile troops with which Hizbullah holds Israel at risk are completely separate from the Hizbullah combined arms force fighting in Syria, and the number of Iranian troops involved thus far is trivial. pl

[Babak Makkinejad]

I think NATO states and their allies have been unable to "Win the Peace" either in the four countries that you have mentioned - Libya, Syria, Ukraine, and lastly Yemen.

Israel may want many of those things that you have enumerated; they are welcome to try - up to and including attacking Iran.

[Babak Makkinejad]

Iran has a deep bench.

[Liza]

LeaNder:

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http://www.nasdaq.com/symbol/gne/ownership-summary