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Title: How Iranian general plotted out Syrian assault in Moscow
Source:
Yahoo News
URL Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iranian-gener ... -assault-moscow-172251295.html
Published: Oct 8, 2015
Author: Laila Bassam and Tom Perry
Post Date: 2015-10-08 10:09:39 by nativist nationalist
Keywords: None
Views: 2632
Comments: 41
BEIRUT (Reuters) - At a meeting in Moscow in July, a top Iranian general unfurled a map of Syria to explain to his Russian hosts how a series of defeats for President Bashar al-Assad could be turned into victory - with Russia's help. Major General Qassem Soleimani's visit to Moscow was the first step in planning for a Russian military intervention that has reshaped the Syrian war and forged a new Iranian-Russian alliance in support of Assad. As Russian warplanes bomb rebels from above, the arrival of Iranian special forces for ground operations underscores several months of planning between Assad's two most important allies, driven by panic at rapid insurgent gains. Soleimani is the commander of the Quds Force, the elite extra-territorial special forces arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, and reports directly to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Senior regional sources say he has already been overseeing ground operations against insurgents in Syria and is now at the heart of planning for the new Russian- and Iranian-backed offensive. That expands his regional role as the battlefield commander who has also steered the fight in neighboring Iraq by Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia against Islamic State. His Moscow meeting outlined the deteriorating situation in Syria, where rebel advances toward the coast were posing a danger to the heartland of Assad's Alawite sect, where Russia maintains its only Mediterranean naval base in Tartous. "Soleimani put the map of Syria on the table. The Russians were very alarmed, and felt matters were in steep decline and that there were real dangers to the regime. The Iranians assured them there is still the possibility to reclaim the initiative," a senior regional official said. "At that time, Soleimani played a role in assuring them that we haven't lost all the cards." "SEND SOLEIMANI" Three senior officials in the region say Soleimani's July trip was preceded by high-level Russian-Iranian contacts that produced political agreement on the need to pump in new support for Assad as his losses accelerated. Their accounts suggest planning for the intervention began to germinate several months earlier. It means Tehran and Moscow had been discussing ways to prop up Assad by force even as Western officials were describing what they believed was new flexibility in Moscow's stance on his future. Before the latest moves, Iran had aided Assad militarily by mobilizing Shi'ite militias to fight alongside the Syrian army, and dispatching Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps officers as advisors. A number of them have been killed. Russia, an ally of Damascus since the Cold War, had supplied weapons to the Syrian army and shielded Damascus diplomatically from Western attempts to sanction Assad at the United Nations. Their support did not prevent rebels - some of them backed by Assad's regional foes - from reducing Assad's control of Syria to around one fifth of its territory in a four-year-long war estimated to have killed 250,000 people. The decision for a joint Iranian-Russian military effort in Syria was taken at a meeting between Russia's foreign minister and Khamenei a few months ago, said a senior official of a country in the region, involved in security matters. "Soleimani, assigned by Khamenei to run the Iranian side of the operation, traveled to Moscow to discuss details. And he also traveled to Syria several times since then," the official said. The Russian government says its Syria deployment came as the result of a formal request from Assad, who himself laid out the problems facing the Syrian military in stark terms in July, saying it faced a manpower problem. Khamenei also sent a senior envoy to Moscow to meet President Vladimir Putin, another senior regional official said. "Putin told him 'Okay we will intervene. Send Qassem Soleimani'. He went to explain the map of the theater." RESIDENT IN DAMASCUS Russian warplanes, deployed at an airfield in Latakia, began mounting air strikes against rebels in Syria last week. Moscow says it is targeting Islamic State, but many of Russia's air strikes have hit other insurgents, including groups backed by Assad's foreign enemies, notably in the northwest where rebels seized strategically important towns including Jisr al-Shughour earlier this year. In the biggest deployment of Iranian forces yet, sources told Reuters last week that hundreds of troops have arrived since late September to take part in a major ground offensive planned in the west and northwest. Around 3,000 fighters from the Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah have also mobilized for the battle, along with Syrian army troops, said one of the senior regional sources. The military intervention in Syria is set out in an agreement between Moscow and Tehran that says Russian air strikes will support ground operations by Iranian, Syrian and Lebanese Hezbollah forces, said one of the senior regional sources. The agreement also included the provision of more sophisticated Russian weapons to the Syrian army, and the establishment of joint operations rooms that would bring those allies together, along with the government of Iraq, which is allied both to Iran and the United States. One of the operations rooms is in Damascus and another is in Baghdad. "Soleimani is almost resident in Damascus, or let's say he goes there a lot and you can find him between meetings with President Assad and visits to the theater of operations like any other soldier," said one of the senior regional officials. Syria's foreign minister said on Monday that the Russian air strikes had been planned for months.
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#6. To: nativist nationalist, redleghunter, misterwhite, Too Conservative (#0)
That would be the Soleimani who travelled to Russia despite an international travel ban because of links to terrorism . It is pretty clear that the emperor knew of the coming Russian intervention ,and did not disclose that information to Congress or the American people prior to the Congressional vote on the Iran Nuke deal. The buildup of Russian military forces in Syria began in July through late September .It was all spotted by satellite imagery and open sources so there is no doubt about the emperor's and JFKerry's knowlege of coming intervention. Yet Kerry made a number of appearances ,and testified to relevent Congressional committees about the Iran deal without ever mentioning the Russian plan. The deal frees up Iranian assets that are frozen and gives them an immediate infusion of major $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ;just in time to provide the ground troops needed for the offensive.
We've had years of the GOPe telling us the people crossing borders is illegally is a good thing, and now all of the sudden you're against it! If Soleimani traveled to America illegally it would be good, but if he travels to Russia illegally it is bad. Perhaps Putin wanted to pay him $50 an hour to pick lettuce?
Come now don't be silly. Tomder is not an open borders GOPe.
In his own words: This is the same "nuanced" crap I've been hearing from the GOPe types since the FR days. They do not want to get rid of the the illegals. Stone can see him for what he is. The GOPe types are sneaky, they know what they're peddling is not popular with "the masses," (being ethnically cleansed from your own country never is); so they must be dishonest, in their words they adopt a "nuanced position."
This proposal to gather them up and deport them ,although good red meat for the masses ,sound undoable to me . But hey ,it's as sound as Romney's 'self deportation' idea . So because I think that mass deportations is not realistic ,that makes me an open border advocate ? You are silly.
You are certainly open border. It is cheaper to deport then to pay welfare for the leaches. It is asinine to pretend you are not open border new world order supporter. Pretty much across the board. You're a McArthy John Boehner Mitch Mcconnel type Republican.
Wrong again. However I am in favor of LEGAL immigration . And therein lies the real difference between us . You are a know-nothing nativist xenophobe. I on the other hand recognize the value in hiring legal immigrants . I advertise for manufacturing jobs all the time that pay much more than the service jobs most young American workers settle for . But it's been years since I've had a white American apply for the jobs. If we did not have legal immigration I would not be able to staff my plant . Btw ;I don't know what being a 'New World Order supporter' means. I think you are mistaking that with free trade which I am indeed in favor of.
You support NAFTA and GATT so called free trade. Those are components of the new world order.
so called free trade NWO supporter = Mitt Romney voter (or Barack Obama - same thing) That's the key point. Globalist D&R scum like to pretend that their rigged game is "free trade", but it's crony capitalism, aka fascism. Pray that the REAL Republicans can now refrain from voting for a baby killing, gay marriage signing, gun grabbing, illegal alien loving, global world police warmonger, like Mitt. Or will they vote for Jeb!(R)? Then they wonder why the candidates are so bad. Best wishes, and get well soon.
That's the key point. Globalist D&R scum like to pretend that their rigged game is "free trade", but it's crony capitalism, aka fascism. Pray that the REAL Republicans can now refrain from voting for a baby killing, gay marriage signing, gun grabbing, illegal alien loving, global world police warmonger, like Mitt. Or will they vote for Jeb!(R)? Then they wonder why the candidates are so bad. you are all over the map . If you did not vote for Romney then you voted for all the above because you essentially voted FOR the emperor ,and we have paid for it with a government that has brought us more radical socialists policies than Wilson and FDR combined. Great Job !!!!!!!!
You GOP zombie bots have to learn your lesson somehow, or just get pushed out of the game altogether by the R wing of the party dying off. If the a$$holes you vote for get elected, that's the go ahead for more of the same, and ramp up the destruction of America. If you lose a lot there's some slight chance that candidates might improve in the future. Either way losing is the cure for globalist dummkopfs like you. Stupid, evil, or both, you, Hillary, McCain, Kerry, and Jeb! have got to go!
There are no replies to Comment # 35. End Trace Mode for Comment # 35.
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#8. To: tomder55 (#6)
That would be the Soleimani who travelled to Russia despite an international travel ban because of links to terrorism.
#11. To: nativist nationalist (#8)
We've had years of the GOPe telling us the people crossing borders is illegally is a good thing, and now all of the sudden you're against it! If Soleimani traveled to America illegally it would be good, but if he travels to Russia illegally it is bad. Perhaps Putin wanted to pay him $50 an hour to pick lettuce?
#12. To: redleghunter (#11)
#14. To: nativist nationalist redleghunter (#12)
To: redleghunter In his own words:
#15. To: tomder55 (#14)
So because I think that mass deportations is not realistic ,that makes me an open border advocate ? You are silly.
#16. To: A K A Stone, redleghunter (#15)
You are certainly open border.
#21. To: tomder55, hondo68, bobceleste (#16)
Btw ;I don't know what being a 'New World Order supporter' means. I think you are mistaking that with free trade which I am indeed in favor of.
#27. To: A K A Stone, Romney Reconquistas, 50 dollar lettuce, tomder55, bobceleste, nativist nationalist, *The Two Parties ARE the Same* (#21)
'New World Order supporter'
#29. To: hondo68 (#27)
NWO supporter = Mitt Romney voter (or Barack Obama - same thing)
#35. To: tomder55, GOP zombies, stupid, evil, one party nation (#29)
you essentially voted FOR the emperor
Replies to Comment # 35.
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