T, Belman. I do not believe there is any lovelost between Russia and Iran. Iran wants to conquer all of Syria but Russia doesn’t. She has has what she wants and would clearly prefer a relationship with the US.
I do not believe that Trump will accept Iranian dominance over all of Syria and Iraq, So I believe discussions are now taking place for their mutual benefit. Turkey may be forced to live with the Kurdish state.
… there is no chance Assad will be removed from power …
by Yochanan Visser, WESTERN JOURNALISM
Aleppo has finally fallen — as Western Journalism predicted in May — and it will be a turning point in the Syrian civil war that has raged for more than five years.
The second-largest Syrian city (called Halab in Arabic) had been the scene of very intense fighting and bombardment over the last two months.
On Wednesday, the Russian-led pro-Assad coalition forced the last remaining rebels in Eastern Aleppo into accepting a cease-fire deal that was meant to evacuate thousands of civilians and members of rebel groups.
The deal was subsequently held up by Iran, which said it was not consulted about the cease-fire and ordered the Shiite militias in the city to continue fighting.
The United Nations later reported the Shiite militias were committing atrocities against a large number of civilians, including women and children, in the predominantly Sunni city.
The Iranians demanded that two besieged Shiite villages in northwestern Syria would be included in the cease-fire agreement, according to Hezbollah’ affiliated media in Lebanon.
The parties finally reached a deal Saturday and 29 buses headed toward the Shiite villages Foua and Kfarya to evacuate 4,000 civilians. But it remained unclear if the evacuation of residents in eastern Aleppo had resumed and if the 4,000 Shiites in Foua and Kfarya were allowed to leave their villages.
The “liberation” of Aleppo by the pro-Assad coalition had been made possible by the Russian air force, Hezbollah in Lebanon that sent thousands of fighters to Syria, and by Shiite militias from as far afield as Afghanistan.
Assad’s victory is his biggest in the bloody civil war, but it won’t mean the fighting in Syria will end anytime soon.
What it does mean, however, is there is no chance Assad will be removed from power by the pro-dominantly Sunni Islamist rebel coalitions in Syria.
The victory in Aleppo will probably be followed by more offensives, and experts expect the pro-Assad coalition will now set its sights on the strategically important Idlib Province in northwest Syria and on the Deraa and Kuneitra Province in southern Syria.
Idlib is controlled by Sunni Islamist rebel groups of which Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham are the most powerful militias. Since Ahrar al-Sham is supported by Turkey, a direct confrontation between the pro-Assad coalition and the Turkish army is no longer imaginary.
The Kuneitra Province in southwest Syria borders on Israel and the Israeli government has repeatedly warned that the IDF will not allow the Iranian-dominated Shiite militias to set up camp in the vicinity of Israel’s northeastern border.
The Israeli concerns are known to President Putin of Russia. Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu said this week in an interview with CBS 60 Minutes that Putin understands this is a red line for the Israelis.
Israel might need American intervention to prevent Iran from further carrying out its imperial plans in Syria, however.
The Iranian leadership has made clear the offensive in Aleppo was only the beginning of a total victory in Syria and probably beyond.
“Aleppo was liberated thanks to a coalition between Iran, Syria, Russia and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Iran is on one side of this coalition, which is approaching victory and this has shown our strength,” Seyed Yahya Rahim-Safavi, Ayatollah Khamenei’s chief military aide, said last week.
The Iranian official also had something to say to President-elect Donald Trump.
“The new American president should take heed of the powers of Iran,” Rahim Safavi said.
Until now, Trump has indicated that he prefers to work with the Russians against Islamic State. But the Iranian comments make perfectly clear that Iran will use the united effort against ISIS to become the dominant force in Syria.
Whether Trump makes good on his promise to work with Putin against ISIS in Syria remains to be seen. However, the appointments of key national security officials such as Michael Flynn, John Kelly and Gen. James Mattis indicate that Iran-skeptics in the new administration will have the upper hand and they will push for American action against Iran’s aggressive ambitions in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East.
“…They prefer someone who hates Islam to an administration that loves Iran,” said one high ranking Mideast diplomat, in a less-diplomatic comment that was echoed by many at the Atlantic Dialogues (AtlanticDialogues.org) in Marrakech, here to debate the security of African, Mideast and European nations and their ties to the U.S. …”
[Under-reported meet in Marrakech: “Mideast diplomats: Trump is better than Obama”] by Kimberly Dozier 12 17 2016
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/12/17/mideast-diplomats-trump-is-better-than-obama.html
The USA has its tail between its legs in Afghanistan, has overthrown an elected Ukraine government, gave Iraq to Iran, and fed guns from Libya to rebel groups to overthrow Assad.
Obviously, our “elites” don’t have a clue and need to remove themselves from the Ummah and regroup for a few years. We need to apologize to Europe for the demographic “enrichment” in progress, too. Uncle Sam has earned an “F” in Moslem Studies 101. Our fools from Harvard, Yale and Columbia equate an “F” with a gentleman’s “B”, but the spilled blood precludes any applause for these psychopaths.