DEBKAfile’s exclusive military and intelligence sources have discovered a large-scale Iranian airlift is in progress for bringing thousands of Shiite fighters to the Syrian Mediterranean port of Latakia to reinforce the Syrian army forces falling back from the key city of Aleppo. Some of the flights are taking off from Baghdad airport. The Syrian rebels in heavy fighting Thursday and Friday, Feb. 19-20 repulsed a Hizballah-backed Syrian army offensive to recapture the town and took scores of Hizballah fighters prisoner.
The incoming reinforcements are being transferred directly to the Aleppo battle-front in an effort to stabilize it and reverse the Syrian army’s retreat.
The incoming reinforcements are made up of Iraqi, Afghan and Pakistani Shiite militiamen.The fact that Tehran was able to raise this force in less than 24 hours from the Syrian army’s defeat in Aleppo demonstrates Iran’s total military and strategic commitment to swift action for averting a Syrian-Hizballah retreat from a key front of the four-year old civil war.
The Iranian planes are taking two routes to Syria, starting out either in Baghdad or Tehran. In Baghdad, they touch down in the military section of the international airport and collect the Iraqi Shiite militiamen destined for the Syrian battlefield. This step necessitated the consent of the Iraqi government and Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi.
The Iranian operation therefore exposes two exceedingly disturbing developments which are causing Israel’s army chiefs to burn the midnight oil: The fall of the Abadi government under Tehran’s sway is one; and Iraq’s direct involvement for the first time in the military actions of the Syrian civil war.
DEBKAfile’s military experts extrapolate from Tehran’s immediate readiness to transfer thousands of foreign troops into Syria to save Assad’s army from retreat, that the same response is to be expected from a possible setback of the same alliance in South Syria – especially when Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers are leading a Syrian-Hizballah-Shiite drive to capture the Golan town of Quneitra across from Israel’s lines.
Our sources add that President Barack Obama was in a position, had he wished, to intervene with Baghdad and hold back the Iranian troop airlift to Syria. This has not happened. The administration’s inaction places it squarely behind Iran’s military steps in the Middle East and its direct intervention in key trouble spots
The gulf had 2 choices they were mullling when they deposed Morsi through Egypt. the first was to liquidate the MB egypt leadership and reconstitute the rank and file under their auspices thus keeping the existing network resources.. The other was to get rid of the entire structure and absorb the rank and file into the compliant salafi networks who have no problem with egypt gov. Up until now Qatar was kept in place as the Gulf puppet master to the MB and Hamas in the event of maintaining the MB. Perhaps the MB is about to be outlawed completely and the second option was chosen. In any case Qatar always operated for the GCC in spite of dramas meant to distract the foolish public.
On the other hand, IS comes up, drives out the Iraqi military… I expecct the sunnis will get to keep their areas and the IS will fade away into other theaters.
Gotta love it – moolsimes killing each other. I’ll bet the non-hexbollah Lebanese are also welcoming it.
Now might be a good time to activate the internal destabilization of Lebanon and Iran.
Iran and hezbullah spread out in lebanon, syria, and Iraq. The sunnis must be drooling in hope for Israel to enter the war so they can cannabilise their enemy. Israel avoidance to enter shows great discipline by forgoing the obvious pleasure of seeing hexbullah terrorized by the sunni nutters. It looks like the iran, syria, hezbullah position is weaker, and that perhaps a slight push can turn them into a feast for the head choppers. It’s hard to resist such a lovely possibility. Seeing all those hezbullahs cut off from home might be too difficult for Israel to resist. Will Israel remain in restraint?
What do you think, Felix, what do you advise Israel to do now?
I am all ears 🙂
Felix….. are you there, did you get this memo? 😛
Hezbullah is in syria and Iraq…. less assets at home base is a vulnerability that can be exploited. I expect that if trouble should start that Israel is in a position to cut off hezbullah in foreign from their home under attack. In such a scenario I would expect that sunni elements in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq might take advantage of the opportunity at the same time.
Israel has always been under threat from all these same players but I believe this is the first time that Israel can benefit from the sunni shia war.