"In war men are nothing. The Man is everything" Bonaparte

 

"Another prominent Syrian Arab Army (SAA) commander has received a promotion this week as the military’s high command looks to finalize roles for next year.

According to a military source, Major General Zaid Saleh has been named the Deputy Director/Vice President of the Syrian Republican Guard, effective immediately.

Major General Saleh was previously the commander of the Republican Guard’s 30th Division that was leading operations in the Aleppo Governorate; he will now oversee operations all over northern Syria.  AMN

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Bonaparte in his Maxims made the statement quoted in the title.   You may not want to believe that but what would the Grande Armee have been without him personally,?  What would the Afrika Korps or later Panzer Armee Afrika have been without Erwin Rommel?  The Army of Northern Virginia without Lee, indeed the IXth Legion Hispana without Caesar?  They would have been good troops but not at the level to which they reached.

The SAA has survived a horrendous war.  In the process New Men were summoned up out of Syria's brown earth. Clausewitz spoke for the ages in Vom Kriege in predicting that this process is inevitable in a army that survives a long, hard war.

Suheil Hassan of the Tiger Forces, and the late Issam Zahreddine  are the best known of the New Men, but there are surely others.

There is been  certain amount of talk here of which petite ordure of  a civilian politician will succeed Bashar Assad when the Russians, Americans, Turks and Iranians combine to force him from office.  What a joke! Bashar will not go willingly.

Look at this Man, Zaid Saleh.  Look at him!  Look at the eyes.  Bashar and his government are restructuring for the coming campaigning season.

This man's assignment is to restore the government's authority in Idlib and in the Turkish occupied areas.  There will be blood and fire in the NW.  pl  

https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/syrian-army-promotions-continue-prominent-commander-given-new-role/

Comments

[Cortes]

Thanks, Colonel.

But how sad is it that your advice seems to be unheard inside the Beltway!

[turcopolier]

Cortes

Thank you . I needed a reminder of SST's uselessness. But as the French climber says to Eastwood on the Eiger, "we will continue with style." pl

[Peter AU]

Far from useless.

[Bill H]

turcopolier
Useless? I think not. How many know and can quote the words of the "still small voice, crying in the wilderness" today, twenty centuries later?

[JohnB]

Col

I do hope you are correct, as the ideology behind 9/11 & 7/7 in the UK has been allowed to blossom in Idlib and will be poke like a dagger at the heart of Europe until destroyed.

[jld]

IMHO Zaid Saleh doesn't look any better than the head choppers/liver eaters, he just happens to be "on the side fo the law".

[turcopolier]

ked

He is probably an Alawi and may not like liver. I didn't say he looked like a choir boy. pl

[Annem]

I do not know whether he likes liver, but I can say that he is likely Alawi as he is from a region on the outskirts of Ladikia.

[LeaNder]

curious, ...
I hated liver before it was recommended to me. In the end I was able to eat it like a cat, raw.

What's the exact genesis of 'liver eater'. If we stay with Popeye and spinach, he may have been created for some type of educational reason. But why liver eater to denote evil?

All starting with Zeus and the eagle he sends to eat Prometheus liver at night?

Concerning looks, eyes, pictures never give us anything about time, setting, mood, photographer, like or dislike of the person to be photographed:

https://tinyurl.com/y8tnmxm7

Situations room:
https://syria.liveuamap.com/pics/2016/10/25/21356114_0.jpg

[Barish]

And what is the key criterion for that equivalency then, his bold nose or stern eyes?

Do recall the one, boyish member of the Harakat az-Zinki gang beheaded a boy in July 2016 - even though the act itself is visually censored in the following snippet, the sound is not:

https://twitter.com/Souria4Syrians/status/755385708924329988

That this lot requires a stern hand is an understatement. Independent of whether this particular individual was KIA or not as some reports have stated, his fellows who cheered him on still roam free. Going just by looks, Mr Salah looks up to the job of crushing their deranged dreams of califate.

[Account Deleted]

If looks determined fighting ability our armies would be a sorry band indeed.

To be made a Man, in the sense the Colonel uses, it is true that one has to have the good fortune to be on the winning side - or at least to survive. The prospects for the miscellany of jihadis in the Idlib DZ are not good.

[Cortes]

My wording was poor. Apologies.

[ashpool]

As someone following these events I did not see this reported elsewhere.

The Major General is going to be kept busy..

[Amir]

You were a reference source in, when I started my letter writing campaign to inform the Amy local-, state- & federal representatives (From Virginia’s State Secretary for Econimic to Veterans to my member of Congress or Virginia senators. ) and to avert the U.S. from becoming DHESH‘s Air Force. I’m not sure How effective it was but sorry how effective it was but surely not zero. Above that, I did receive two letters from the European Union parliament as well as the Belgian parliament in response to my petitioning, for which I can use you as a Source and a reference.

[turcopolier]

Barbara Ann

You don't get it. Not "a Man," "THE Man." This is not about masculinity. This is about highly successful military leadership produced in the flame of extended warfare. pl

[mike]

He is from Jableh on the coast. His son Ja'far was killed in a car-bombing in Jableh on the 5th of January, along with ten or so others killed and 30 to 40 wounded. That was only three weeks after General Saleh's victory in Eastern Aleppo.

https://syria.liveuamap.com/en/2017/5-january-1st-lieutenant-jafar-zaid-saleh-son-of-major-general

http://www.dw.com/en/deadly-explosion-in-syrian-government-stronghold-jableh/a-37022961

The suitcases under his eyes look like he needs a good nights sleep.

I'm not enthusiastic about Carlyle's 'great man theory'. Lee undoubtedly was a great man, but he got there due to the moxie and fortitude of the typical Confederate soldier. Same for Bonaparte, Rommel and Caesar. They all stood on the shoulders of their troops. Put them in lesser armies and they would have been good generals but not great ones.

[mike]

LeaNder -

In this country we build statues to liver-eaters:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liver-Eating_Johnson

But I believe current usage in Syria dates back to a 2013 video of Abu Sakkar cutting out a dead SAA soldier's organs and eating them.

[turcopolier]

mike

Without great leaders, great troops are not great. The USMC battle for Peleliu is something you and I have discussed. The 1st Marine Division was full of great, highly experienced soldiers, but Rupertus and Puller did everything in their power to screw the troops. pl

[Account Deleted]

I understand the distinction Colonel. I was simply stating that @jld is right that Saleh had the good fortune to be on the right side. The crucible of the Syrian war doubtless created successful military leaders among the ranks of Daesh too, but increasingly few remain the right side of Paradise to be capable of putting those skills to use.

[mike]

Colonel -

We can agree on Rupertus. I never understood your animus against Puller, a fellow Virginian of yours, a fellow VMI student, a great American, and a great general, a man who is even to this day admired and revered by all Marines and in particular by alumni of the 1st Marine Division.

Puller led from the front like Zahredinne and that Russian general that recently was kia in Syria. The only subordinates I know of who spoke out against Puller were one or two of his staff officers who resented being at the front lines with him instead of being in the rear which they thought was the proper place for a Regimental HQ.

[turcopolier]

mike

Puller was a bulldog. You marines like that. He destroyed the 1st Marine Regiment at Peleliu. pl

[mike]

Colonel -

With all due respect, you are dead wrong on that call. But I suppose it was something taught at the Point. Perhaps a residue of Dougout Doug's claims to greatness?

[turcopolier]

mike

As you know, I was not a student at West Point. Puller was a great front line commander. "Doug out Doug." How amusing. I guess you are unfamiliar with his record in WW1. Seems to me he did have the MoH. pl

[mike]

Colonel -

I am aware of MacArthur's WW1 record. He was certainly NOT hiding in a dugout or in a chateau. He went over the top with his men and good on him.

The Dugout Doug nickname as you know came from his time during the Battle of Corregidor. Can't say I blame him much with a young wife and child. I probably would have stayed in tunnel systems there also, and not contested orders to evacuate to Down Under. But what really drove the nickname was that he was awarded the Medal of Honor for Bataan & Corregidor, not for his heroic service in WW1. That IMHO was a definite miscarriage of the word 'honor'.

[different clue]

jld,

The head choppers and liver eaters did it for pure pleasure. Whatever Zaid Saleh does or causes to be done to those people will be " nothing personal, just bussiness." He may well view it as cleaning up a Superfund Site. He certainly won't view it as a wild weekend party on the beach, the way the jihadists do.