Should the West support the rebels in Syria?
Yesterday, I started a 1- question poll reference the continually evolving situation in Syria.
Should the U.S. and Europe openly support the Syrian resistance?
What do you think? Vote here at this link if interested:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZRS5JDG
I'll post the results of all responses here later in the week.
What do the pictures & film prove? MANPADS
I've seen the limited MSM news clips of regime aircraft being fired upon, so it was interesting to find this blogsite with an array of film clips and links to commentaries:http://brown-moses.blogspot.co.uk/20...sa-7-anti.html
Plus the always valuable CJ Chivers:http://cjchivers.com/post/3061244157...o-air-capacity
Syria Conflict: The No-Fly Zone Deception
Paul Smyth, a SWC member, has written this piece for CNN and he concludes:
Quote:
Calls for a NFZ in Syria must not ignore reality. The inconvenient truth is that Syria is not Iraq, Kosovo or especially Libya. The considerable logistic, operational and command challenges faced must not be overlooked or dismissed.
These obstacles may not be insurmountable, but the limitations of a NFZ remain, especially as a means of protecting the Syrian people or bringing the rebels battlefield victory.
Link:http://news.sky.com/story/980758/syr...zone-deception
The reality of street fighting
Hat tip to CWOT via Twitter, a short photo sequence and clearly not a "level playing field" in Aleppo:http://www.globalpost.com/photo-gall...-aleppo-photos and a rather grim three minute video clip:http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/n...ren-death-toll
Syria: foreign intervention still debated, but distant
The latest IISS Strategic Comment, which ends with:
Quote:
While direct intervention in Syria remains remote, the issue will remain a burning one for Syrian opposition leaders and Western, Turkish and Arab policymakers as the toll increases. Without a legal UN mandate and solid Arab cover, the practical and strategic risks may well outweigh humanitarian considerations. Tragically, the longer they wait to intervene, the stronger the case for intervention will be - but the costs will also be greater.
I'd missed this aspect of a no-fly zone:
Quote:
Syrian coastal defences would need first to be nullified. (They boast, in particular, SS-C-5 Stooge (Bastion) supersonic anti-ship missile coastal defence missile batteries supplied by Russia within the last two years.)
Link:http://www.iiss.org/publications/str...d-but-distant/
Ambassador Crocker on Syria
Quote:
Syria, you know, I was ambassador to Syria for three fun-filled years. .. Bashar is like his father except worse—less flexible, more doctrinaire, less agile and aware that he doesn’t have his father’s support. So I think this is—it’s going to be a fight to the finish....nowhere, I am afraid, could it be more bitter than in Syria, where we’re already seeing the signs of sectarian divisions, tensions and hatreds surface, even with Bashar still in the palace. You know, again, the past isn’t past in Syria.
Link:http://carnegieendowment.org/files/0...t_crocker1.pdf
Having tea with the enemy on the Syrian border
An odd article on accommodation, culture and insurgency. What I found noteworthy was the location:
Quote:
Jibata al-Khashab, located on the Syrian border with the occupied Golan, has been under the control of FSA battalions for the past two months.
I don't recall the FSA being near the Golan.
Link:http://www.opendemocracy.net/rita-fr...-syrian-border
Iraq, Syria, and the Twelfth Imam
Iraq, Syria, and the Twelfth Imam
Entry Excerpt:
--------
Read the full post and make any comments at the SWJ Blog.
This forum is a feed only and is closed to user comments.
With the regime's soldiers
A different angle to the war in Syria, an account by an ITN reporter on meeting snipers and other fighters on the government's side in Homs - with additional commentary set in Damascus:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...s-in-Homs.html
I assume there was a TV film report, but nothing on ITN's website appears to match.