Shock! Hezbollah Now has a Full Mechanized Battalion in Syria
Marko Marjanovic
by Marko Marjanović (deputy editor and writer for Russia Insider. He has contributed to The Voluntaryist Reader, The Libertarian Liquidationist and published the Crappy Town blog. Check out his new project, Checkpoint Asia.)
World’s most powerful non-state military is no longer an infantry force only
On November 11th Hezbollah held a military parade in al-Qusayr — a Syrian town that is just across the border from the largely Shia northern Bekaa Valley and that was the scene of Hezbollah’s first major battle in the Syria, and its first major success.
Hezbollah holding a parade as part of its annual Marty’s Day celebrations, just outside its primary military base in Syria isn’t terribly shocking.
And yet plenty were shocked when days later photos from the parade showing dozens of armored vehicles started hitting Twitter.
The images are quite stunning indeed showing that Hezbollah now operates enough tanks, APCs and self-propelled guns to equip a credible mechanized battalion.
This is far more than anybody who isn’t on the ground would have estimated. For example four months ago the Israeli daily Haaretz ran a piece on how much better armed Hezbollah is in 2016 than it was in 2006. The piece even repeats the highly dubious claim the Shia militia now has Pantsir-1S air defense system but was nonetheless confident that “the terror organization doesn’t own planes and tanks”.
Oops!
The tanks in the pictures are mainly T-54s and T-62s, but also a few T-72s with reactive armor.
The APCs are almost exclusively the BMP-1 model, along a few US-made M113s armed with a Soviet-made double 14.5mm machinegun.
It was the M113s that got the parade into The Washington Post. The paper asked if these machines might not be from Lebanese army stocks. In fact they are almost certainly vehicles Hezbollah gained in the collapse of the Israeli-aligned South Lebanon Army in 2000.
Pictures also show at least three 2S1 Gvozdika 122mm self-propelled howitzers and two ZSU-57mm self-propelled anti-aircraft guns. There are is also a smattering of Soviet anti-aircraft guns, mainly mounted on flatbed trucks but also two or three installed on a GM-578 tracked vehicle chassis which originally carried the 2K12 Kub anti-air missiles.
In sum this is a makeshift, improvised battalion. All of the equipment is venerable, some of it positively ancient. That said old doesn’t necessarily equal ineffective.
ZSU-57 with its 57mm autocannons for example is a hugely popular and sought-after fire support platform in Syria. This despite the fact it dates back to 1950 and had already been retired from service with the Syrian army. (The idea of using the anti-aircraft platform for direct fire support hadn’t been conceived of.)
Fact is going into battle supported by old armor and old large-caliber weapons is immeasurably better than going into battle by foot alone. Besides these weapons aren’t really outdated in the sense that the enemy doesn’t have better equipment either — if anything the rebels are faced with an acute shortage of armor and artillery. The vehicles may be knocked out by guided anti-tank missiles which the rebels have an ample supply of easily enough — but this is true even of the heaviest and most modern tanks, there is enough footage of Saudi M1 Abrams tanks lighting up like a candle after a hit from a Kornet in Yemen to attest to that.
As said a few of the vehicles Hezbollah brought with it from Lebanon, a few more are likely trophies. Their sheer number however means that majority must have been handed over to it by the Syrian army. This is certainly going to benefit the overall war effort of the pro-government side as only the best Syrian units can match the professionalism and skill of Hezbollah. It certainly makes sense to distribute the best of your military capital among the most elite formations on your side — particularly if they’re not tied down to a specific locality but willing to participate in decisive battles across the theater.
What may have prevented the Syrians transferring these machines earlier was Hezbollah’s lack of experience with them. As someone who did a two year stint in heavy industry and went from a hopeless rookie to a half-useable machinist I can attest to the fact that when it comes to operating and maintaining giant machinery enthusiasm and even courage are extremely poor substitutes for knowledge and experience.
The most significant consequence of Hezbollah’s new mechanized battalion may very well be the experience the group gains. 50-year old tanks are nothing you would want to match against Israeli armor and jets but they can be enormously significant for the group in a different way.
Once the war is over and the armor is no longer needed at the front a dozen tanks is enough to train up hundreds of crews. What is now Hezbollah’s mechanized battalion in Syria may very well go on to become its tank training school in Qusayr. Should the Shia militia then ever go on to acquire more modern armor it will already have people three-quarters ready to jump into them.
The fact the militia held onto a few relatively puny M113s for fifteen years that were of no use to it in the conflict it actually fought in that time may very well be a sign it takes a very long-term view and values armor pieces for a lot more than their most immediate utility.
Hezbollah showed in 2006 that it is probably the most professional non-state warfighting organization in the world. Having acquired armor it is now also one of the best-equipped.
It is ironic but since the 2003 start of the half-assed and hare-brained US project to make the Middle East safe for Israel Iran, Israel’s only near peer competitor in the region, has been provided a useful ally in Iraq, and Hezbollah, the only credible fighting force on its borders, has been gifted the opportunity to develop an armored branch.
A further irony is that Hezbollah may not have even intended to shock the world in this manner, but would have been happy to keep its armor under wraps for a while longer. Firstly, the war-torn al-Qusayr is largely abandoned so the armored display there certainly wasn’t put up for the benefit of Syrians but for militia’s own morale.
Furthermore, any photos Hezbollah normally releases are carefully redacted, for example the faces of its fighters are blacked out — this is not the case with many of the images from the parade, implying these are private photos taken by the rank and file to show off to friends and family that ended up on the Internet. A rare slip up in the group’s discipline then, but one that Syria watchers will be grateful for.
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How did Hezbollah acquire US tanks which it paraded in big military display in Syria? – English Subs
Hezbollah give hope to the world. Even if we find ourselves living inside the enemy’s camp, we don’t have to suffer impotently. We can both defend ourselves, and provide social services to our people. In a Global world, Hezbollah-like statelets may pop up everywhere, especially if our governments continue to kneel to the Military Financial Complex. But in a re-internationalised world, the resurgent Nation may become a challenge to this budding flower of self-determination. In this case though, the Statelet is becoming more powerful that the State.
I have been worried about Lebanon these last few years, knowing the fault lines I thought it was going to too easy to ‘do a Syria’ on her. When Hezbollah joined the fray over the border, many were predicting that Lebanon and the Arab world would turn against it. All I can say is the Lebanese people, the non-Shia, must see the danger and are quietly, or by omission, supporting Hezbollah. They had the clear vision and firm resolve to see if Syria falls, so does Lebanon.
These lions! My hat is off to you brave freedom fighters, one of the greatest in history.
Hezbollah is really impressive, They must be flush with military gear from Russia now, I bet USA regrets flooding Georgia and her allies regret flooding Georgia with advance weapons, now Russia does the same with Hezbollah.
Yep, there is a difference though, Hezbollah are real fighters while Georgian soldiers proved to be good sprinters! (running away from the Russians).
The fact the militia held onto a few relatively puny M113s for fifteen years that were of no use to it in the conflict it actually fought in that time may very well be a sign it takes a very long-term view and values armor pieces for a lot more than their most immediate utility.
Forgive me if I’m pointing out the obvious, but if you lived next to the 4th largest arsenal in the world; you too would take the very long-term view and value every piece of armor that comes your way. One thing I admire about Israel’s victims; they have remarkable resilience and resourcefulness. It no doubt comes with the territory.
And as far as Hezbollah’s courage and calibre on the battlefield, they say necessity is the mother of invention; in this case survival is the best trainer. It’s not the same for Israelis; they hide their cowardice behind the most sophisticated weaponry in the world.
And one more note: Hezbollah’s going to need every bit of weaponry and training it can get because Trump is loading his cabinet with generals, and war hawks obsessed with invading Iran. So the mother of all wars is coming probably on two fronts; Lebanon and Iran, and hopefully Hezbollah will be ready to knock the sh…t out of Zionist scum who don’t hesitate to deliberately drop bombs on innocent children refuged in schools and the ill and maimed in hospitals.
Like what Putin & Assad are doing in Syria. Bombing women ,children and hospitals.
No,while the Israelis do that. The Syrians and Russians are guilty of that only in the perverted minds of the Western media. I’m hoping you aren’t buying there BS. If so,the pro-Western sites are where you need to visit. There is no one here buying that.
@Uncle Bob
“I’m hoping you aren’t buying there BS”
Absolutely not and I can only hope I don’t buy BS period.
I have “Yandexed – independent estimate of child deaths in Aleppo” and the only semi-interesting article in a small 5 pages of links is called “Good Deaths in Mosul, Bad Deaths in Aleppo” which I know you are very familiar with the hypocrisy of. Nevertheless, I could find nothing to support the assertion that, at the very least, “Russia & Syria” have much (or any) care for the Women & Children who die as a result of their operations. Is collateral damage acceptable – that is for your opinion and conscience only.
Of course it is not acceptable in my opinion at all since I consider the conflict as an obsecene “game”. While that position has an extremely low level of adherence to there is no way for either of us to know the truth – thankfully I have no interest in popularity contests:
http://thesaker.is/will-donald-trump-be-the-united-states-last-elected-president/comment-page-1/#comment-295839
It is like your Christian faith – it is an opinion but (this side of death) unknoweable exactly the same as Earthrise’s recent “Schrödinger’s cat / Life of Pi” example:
http://thesaker.is/moveable-feast-cafe-2016-11-18/comment-page-1/#comment-294784
PS: I am not the Anonymous you replied to but rather the Anonymous you recently referred to as a troll in the King George V discussion and unfortunately don’t get paid for what I think & write even though Boris Kazlov may imagine that to be so.
LOL. Some professional troll here. Pathetic.
Get used to those, they are paid to harass readers of independent alternative media by spewing their BS.
First: The truth is the first casualty of war.
Second: We need a new international law designating the following act a WAR CRIME: Any foreign country that sends operatives into another country to incite rebellion, riot, revolution, civil unrest and sabotage and coup commits a war crime against the government and people of the country infiltrated in this way for the purpose of regime change. Any foreign country or entity that trains, assists, arms terrorist organizations to incite riots, rebellion, revolution, sabotage, attempted coup or coup and civil unrest and conflict commits a war crime.
The U.S., Israel and Saudi Arabia are solely responsible for everything that happened and is happening in Syria.
In my opinion, war crimes were committed by those three players in Syria, and by the U.S. and NATO in Ukraine.
I know the U.S. is part of NATO, but I wanted to single it out, as the U.S. is basically the boss of the other subservient members of the alliance.
Its impressive gear and invaluable against any opponent without similar or better armaments. At the very least they can learn the basics of combined arms with armour and infantry, something the SAA itself was weak on until the Russians stepped in.
However citing M1 Abrams in Yemen get destroyed as proof even modern tanks are as vulnerable as antiques is not the same thing. For one, the Saudis are notorious for not knowing how to use their most modern equipment. Hezbollah seems a little more on the ball and a Hezbollah crew might be able to avoid the trouble a Saudi crew would roll into unthinking and poorly prepared.
Also, the Americans wouldn’t be selling the Saudis their best most top-secret stuff. The M1A2s the Saudis presently use are scheduled to be upgraded to M1A2S; ‘S’ stands for ‘Saudi configuration’.
http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articles-view/release/3/71875/saudi-arabia-to-rebuild,-upgrade-m1a2-tank-fleet-for-$2.9-bn.html
Their mechanised forces will be useless is a war with Israel, which for the foreseeable future will be defensive. As people are saying, the experience is invaluable. Who knows what the future of the region looks like under Russian leadership. Maybe Arab armour will see the view from the Golan Heights sooner than we thought.
I don’t think so. Israel has thermonuclear teeth including Tactical Nuclear Weapon.
The Israelis are well known cowards.
That is why they constantly pressure the US to disarm and weaken perceived opponents of the Zionist entity.
Killing underaged and unarmed Palestinians is its forte.
In 2006, when confronted by the warriors of Hezbollah they ran away and cried like babies.
Russia’s intervention in Syria is not a one off situation.
Israel had better get used to the idea that the Russians with all their sophisticated and superior weapons are here in the region for good.
I am afraid Uncle Sammy wont be able to gurantee any “qualitative edge” against the Russians.
And know this: any confrontation with Iran will have consequences way beyond the imagination of the Zionists.
contrast with this from 2015
ISIS Has $1B Worth Of US Humvee Armored Vehicles; One Was Used In Monday’s Suicide Bombing Near Baghdad
BY ANGELO YOUNG @ANGELOYOUNG_ ON 06/01/15 AT 10:42 AM”In the collapse of Mosul, we lost a lot of weapons,” Abbadi said an interview Sunday, as translated by Al-Jazeera. “We lost 2,300 Humvees in Mosul alone.”
The theft of a fleet of American-made military vehicles underscores the difficulty of ensuring that U.S. military aid doesn’t wind up in the hands of the enemy it’s aimed at defeating.
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The vehicles taken from Mosul would have been worth more than $1 billion if sold new. Late last year, the U.S. State Department approved a deal to sell Iraq 175 M1A1 Abrams tanks, worth $12.4 billion, and 1,000 military Humvees, valued at $579 million. Congress has yet to approve the sale, and some lawmakers have expressed concern about the hardware falling into enemy hands.
The High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), or military Humvee, is made by Indiana-based heavy vehicle manufacturer AM General. The Humvees stolen from Mosul probably were part of the large amount hardware the U.S. left behind in Iraq after U.S. forces began pulling out in 2009.
Militants like ISIS generally rely on civilian vehicles like Toyota’s Hilux and Land Cruiser trucks. These stolen Humvees are much sturdier and can be used as lead vehicles in attacks like the one that took place on Monday against Iraq security forces at a base near the capital. The attack involved three explosives-laden car bombs escorted by one of the stolen Humvees, according to the BBC.
http://www.ibtimes.com/isis-has-1b-worth-us-humvee-armored-vehicles-one-was-used-mondays-suicide-bombing-1946521
Hezbollah has probably already found a balance between mechanized armour and technicals.
Unlike Gaddafi, who made the same mistake twice. He got burned in the Toyota War (1987 v. Chad) then again in 2011 against the DAESH; only later in the war did Gadaffi adopt technicals and by then the added mobility was offset by NATO air power.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_War
Mobility and fuel efficiency are advantages an upgunned technical has over a tank or infantry fighting vehicle. Developing ways to combine these light and heavy mechanized units is the best direction for Hezbollah given its environment.
Other related military news:
Key Reason Why Russia’s Admiral Kuznetsov Does Not Take Part in Aleppo Operation
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201611211047659085-russia-admiral-kuznetsov-aleppo/
Includes specifics on the strikes carried out from the carrier group.
Russia May Build Naval Base in Syria Two Years After Agreement Signed – Lawmaker
https://sputniknews.com/military/201611211047659834-tartus-base-agreement/
Future Russian Base in Syria May Be Able to Host Aircraft Carriers, Nuclear Subs
https://sputniknews.com/military/201611211047660270-russia-base-syria-tartus/
Syrian Jets Kill Scores of Daesh Fighters East of Aleppo
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201611211047660567-syria-daesh-aleppo/
Russia to Create New Infrastructure at Hmeymim Airbase in Syria – Lawmaker
https://sputniknews.com/military/201611211047664063-hmeymim-base-infrastructure/
Sputnik’s Finian Cunningham also reports that the U.S./NATO may have extensive special operators in East Aleppo and can’t/won’t get them out. Its not just the Adm. Kuznetsov holding back; Russia and Syria have been treating the city of Aleppo and particularly East Aleppo with kid gloves for weeks now.
https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201610191046508616-nato-aleppo-west-worry/
This explains the histrionics of the U.S. during the early phases of the Aleppo assault and Russia’s attempts since then to allow for ‘civilian’ evacuations and generally avoid pressing the assault.
Finian’s account makes sense up to a point. Its ridiculously careless to use official troops deep cover among DAESH, but mercenaries make sense. Normally mercenaries would be expendable, but not if they are valued operatives.
However, it wouldn’t make sense for the DAESH to just let them go either; these are great hostages if they’ve been identified. What if any Western ops are there and how willing are they to stay should be an interesting story if it ever comes out.
Chemical Terrorism on the Rise in Syria But OPCW ‘Hasn’t Sent Experts to Aleppo’
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201611211047667386-chemical-weapons-syria/
“Radical groups in Aleppo are using more chemical weapons against civilians and the Syrian Arab Army on a more frequent basis; however, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has still not sent its experts to the embattled city, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said.”
Of course they are not interested, the israelis insure they look the other way when it’s israelis or their proxies using chemical weapons.
One Finnish military historian have several times tried to confirmed younger generation folks too heavily fall in love with techno warfare hype. He suggested that successful warfare is still 80% based on moral and determined spirit to combat. Spirit fuels training and evolving tactics too. We should remember that Vietnam was not so much exceptional phenomena.
The tech is inspiring and morale boosting if one has it.
An added plus is that superior tech sanitizes wars of aggression and make it look doable, safe and fun as any bullying goes to peoples so inclined to bully.
50-year old tanks are nothing you would want to match against Israeli armor …
remember how the wire-guided, second-generation 9M14 Malyutka anti-tank missile destroyed the so called God’s tank the Merkavas and many Israeli armored vehicles. It is having a strategy and knowing what to do with what you have is just as important.
In any scenario likely in the near future, the Israelis will have air superiority so any tank will be useless. Hezbollah’s strength in 2006 was their superb command and control (including secure communications) and their ability to ambush from hidden locations. There was nothing for the Israeli air force to hit, except for civilian targets, which brought enough international condemnation to halt the war while Hezbollah were winning on the ground. Their ability to organise coordinated hit and run ambushes was key, any armour or fixed position would not last the Israeli war room’s attention.
Israel lost against Hezbollah/Lebanon 2006 because it spent its air power punishing Lebanese civilians and destroying civilian facilities around the Litani River, instead of performing close air support.
A properly planned combined arms assault more open about the real goal of the war, seizing the Litani, would probably would have succeeded for a time.
A.T.,
I think we agree that Israel’s muddy mission objectives were a factor in their defeat. The attack on civilian targets was a major war aim, the idea being to ‘punish’ the Lebanese people for acquiescing to Hezbollah’s existence. The hope was that the Lebanese people would blame Hezbollah for the destruction of their country, and eject them. Even Nasrallah acknowledged afterwards that the cross boarder raid which was the excuse for Israel’s assault was a mistake. And they haven’t done it again since.
I agree with you that the full force of the IOF would have fairly easily rolled up the defences to the Litani, but at a stiff cost. The Israelis are casualty-averse; they were threading a fine line between their own domestic opinion, and the patience of the International Community. They thought they were smart and powerful enough to beat Hezbollah with one hand tied behind their back, and they were wrong. In the end, the ceasefire saved Israel from greater losses, both to its forces in the field and to any reserves they would had to have pumped in to continue. Reports afterwards suggested that the cream of Hezbollah’s defences were behind the Litani, and that the irregulars that beat Israel in the field were second-rate. Not bad for your reserve team!
Supposedly all this bloodshed in Syria, besides Pipelinistan, is an attempt to outflank Hezbollah and cut off their LOC to Iran. All they have done is make Hezbollah more experienced, more professional, and even more dangerous to Israel’s future. Funny how we mere Humans always tend to make our worst fears come true. We are in the hands of Fate, whatever we do only seems to hasten her approach.
Israel also needs South Lebanon water, very badly. They don’t have to give up; they have nukes and can attack whenever they want without fear of real defeat by counter-invasion.
http://gurukul.ucc.american.edu/ted/ice/litani.htm
http://www.merip.org/mer/mer116/water-israels-occupation-strategy
The next assault would have to be from the sea and air, cutting a strip north of the Litani, bypassing Hezbollah’ Maginot Line preventing reinforcement of Hezbollah’s new Litani line built in the aftermath of the 2006 invasion.
Ground forces from Israel could then use air power to bomb their path to the Litani. Or have the Americans do it for them. In any case, proper use of air power reduces casualties to almost none. The Americans lose few soldiers invading; its occupying that inflicts the most casualties because of the need to avoid excessive civilian casualties. Although, that seems to be more and more just lip-service.
Had the barbarity of the DAESH triumphed in Syria, then Lebanon, then the problem of occupation is solved; there would be few if any ‘innocent’ civilians perceived to be in the way of a scorched earth Israeli cleansing of the lands.
Global climate change will move Israel’s arid zones northward and flood the coastline; they won’t give up on this or any other ‘greater Israel’ project. Further incentive is Lebanon’s offshore gas deposits.
What fate has in store is unclear, but Promised Land types seem obsessed with defying karma; if God does exist as a being of good, they wish only to spite the being.
The seaborne invasion might run into some snags after Hezbollah hit one of their ships last time. And having the Russian navy patrolling only miles away might change the equation. It looks like Israel could only attack Lebanon with Russian acquiescence; Russia controls Lebanon’s airspace too now. The only way the US would be directly involved is during a world war; that’s what Israel is for.
Water is a good point, more precious than oil in the ME.
I think you over-estimate the effectiveness of airpower. You are not going to win a war spending millions of dollars killing one man in a hole. Airpower works best against fixed positions and military hardware; light infantry popping out of holes behind your lines are largely immune. There will be no infantry concentrations for the Israeli war room to target. They will run out of target lists 48 hours in, then Hezbollah will unleash hell. Checkpoint bullies will be no match for real men.
Air power fanboy tells aside (air power being the coolest thing ever), air power works when applied correctly. Both the Americans and Russians have demonstrated this against formal and irregular opponents. Hiding in a hole will be less effective as thermal imaging and other detection techniques mature.
Air power also includes air mobile operations. Israel has been training extensively at the home of the Old Gods in Greece, Mt. Olympus.
http://battlegroundblog.com/2016/09/israeli-airforce-pilots-take-part-in-legendary-exercise-atop-mt-olympus/
The INS Ahi-Hanit incident was a lucky shot; the corvette’s missile defense system was shut off.
http://israelbehindthenews.com/an-analysis-of-the-hezbollah-anti-ship-missile-strike-the-attack-on-ins-ahi-hanit/4892/
It was a competent attack by Hezbollah, using two missiles, but they didn’t sink the ship. Also demonstrated were the limits of those missiles and the robustness of Israeli ships. Israel was then convinced to invest heavily in submarines; not exactly a plus for Hezbollah.
Israeli aversion to casualties does not mean they can’t fight let alone carry an arms race. Although Israel lost in 2006, its ‘lost’ in quotation marks. They failed to achieve their objectives; that’s it. They faced no consequences beyond a little embarrassment they could then use to spin as the Hezbollah threat.
Real ordinance does not distinguish between real men (and women), just who has the better protection and cover. When one has to fight a war, one has already lost avoiding having to fight in the first place.
As long as the Israel lobby continues to thrive abroad, secure in the United States and growing in influence in Asia, including China, there will not be peace or security for Arabs in the way of Greater Israel. Not even Russia can prevent unilateral Israeli action if Israel can force enough nations into accepting Israeli aggression.
It really doesn’t help when indigenous opponents to Israel fail to recognize the importance of building up their own legal civilian power bases in law, academia, and finance in other countries. Violent solutions will always favour Israel, since they have both diplomatic and military clout.
The Hezbollah mechanized units are fine in and of themselves. In the context of the greater struggle to be free of Western imperialism, they aren’t as useful as non-military the Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions movement as resistance and deterrence.
Loving this A.T.,
I’d agree with your assessment, until September last year. Russia has changed all calculations, I wonder what Putin and the Leper King talk about when he goes to Moscow? What is the deal they have struck? Talk is Russia gets West of the Euphrates, the US gets East. That would suggest Israel is moving into Russia’s orbit, and considering the large Russian expat community in Israel this might work. I still say that there will be no Israeli invasion of Lebanon now without Russian say-so. And why would they? Russia though can guarantee Israel’s northern border (minus the Golan). The US cannot offer that.
Probably too late a date to comment, but I was smiling as I read your back and forth comments of wishful thinking.
In the new and coming forth generation war in the Levant theatre regarding Israel, Lebanon, Syria and also Iraq(most likely Shia’s) and including Iran, the Israeli IDF( mostly made up of reservists and exchange students from Brooklyn, NY) are too soft and are no match for their opponents. Outside their Airforce, they are outmatched. Even the Yemeni Houthis will be a part of said conflict(just hear what they chant after making a kill, ‘Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse be upon the Jews, Long live Islam’). Unlike in 67′ or 73′ when the U.S. , Britain and France saved the Zionist experiment, it will be different this time. The now battle-hardened Arabs will roll up the acres all the way to Jerusalem.
Also, I had to laugh when you stated the ‘Israeli lobby in China is growing’…Do you really think the clever Chinese don’t know that the Israeli-Firster’s(neoconservatives) in the U.S. are not the ones pushing for the Asia pivot and dominance of the South China Seas issue? No, the ancient Chinese civilization know very well the Judeo-Zionist racist world view of full spectrum global dominance for their angry god Jahovah. So too does Putin and the Russian people including their church, whom suffered under the Jewish invention of communism resulting in the most brutal genocide in world history.
Even the American people(outside of the fanatical bible-thumpers) are waking up to the menace that is global Judaism.
Bizarre is the idea that Russia would somehow give the green-light to Israel to conquer or seize further Arab lands at the expense of its long standing Arab friends and allies.
Israel’s nuclear card is hopeless and useless when considered by a rational and sophisticated mind(too much to get into that here). Israel has a friend in India, but then again, India is hopelessly pinned between China and Pakistan and has bet on the wrong losing side.
[personal invective removed~mod] Shalom.
Coalition Jets Strike Raqqa Village, Kill at Least Ten Civilians – Reports
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201611211047680766-raqqa-us-coalition/
“According to SANA citing local sources, the US-led coalition targeted an area where a cotton processing factory is located.
Three factory workers, a resident of the al-Salehia village, as well as a family of six people, including children, have been killed in the strike.
The attack also left many civilians injured, SANA reported.
The infrastructure of the village and citizens’ property have also been damaged as the result of the strike.”
The zionazis are still terrorising civilians and destroying Syrian infrastructure needlessly to covertly damage the country, and pretend they are attacking their terrorist proxies.
“the terror organization doesn’t own planes and tanks”.
Well, what nonsense! Israel not only has planes and tanks, for goodness sake, it even has nuclear weapons.
Here here.
The biggest ‘terror’ entity on the planet is Israel, and it operates with full American political and financial support.
Obama just signed off on a $38B package for the criminals.
Meanwhile, UN Emergency Relief Co-ordinator Stephen O’Brien is tearing his hair out; he is “more or less at my wit’s end” over the situation in the divided city of Aleppo, where an estimated 275,000 people living under siege in rebel-held eastern districts face “annihilation”. ”
“People were being “isolated, starved, bombed and denied medical attention and humanitarian assistance in order to force them to submit or flee”, he said.
Mr O’Brien noted that the “deliberate tactic of cruelty” was mostly employed by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.”
But everything is fine in Mosul, right Mr. O’Brien?
Yet again, not a White Helmet in sight here. Very strange.
BBC calling! BBC calling!
Syria conflict: Almost one million living under siege – UN
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38056872
In the middle of a war, instead of parades and posturing, they should be focusing on killing as many of the foreign-backed jihadis as possible. As much time as possible should be focusing on ridding Syria of the rats.
Its been five years of bloody business now; Hezbollah and allied morale could probably use a boost.
The DAESH paraded all the time and reported so on social media. DAESH morale is undiminished and recruits continue to flood in from the Sunni world; parades and posturing work.
The SAA/Hezbollah/Iran have not been nearly as successful at recruiting enthusiastic new troops.
That Hezbollah has or is trying to develop a more sophisticated PR machine to rival DAESH is a strategically important event.
Great analysis A.T., that one is going into the bank.
The fakery practiced by israel-america’s “white helmets” terrorists I first noticed practiced in Georgia in 2008, where dramatic scenes of “Russian aggression” victims were staged, photographed and then carried by the zio-gay media. The Georgian op was an israeli run one and the photo ops and zio-media connections of the “white helmets” are identical to it.
Syria: White Helmets Caught in Mannequin Challenge-Mess Up
http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2016/11/syria-white-helmets-caught-in-mannequin.html?m=1
“The US-European funded “Syrian Civil Defence” also known as the “White Helmets,” have been incrementally exposed as perhaps one of the most extensive and elaborate deceptions in modern war propaganda. Posing as both “rescuers” of civilians trapped in alleged Syrian and Russian airstrikes, and “monitors” reporting alleged “atrocities” carried out against armed militants fighting the Syrian government, evidence has mounted that they are in fact accomplices with militant groups including listed terrorist organizations, as well as propagandists.
The “White Helmets” are perhaps the perfect embodiment of the entire Syrian “opposition.” A facade created by foreign interests to divide and destroy an entire nation, unhinge an entire region, all while posing as heroes of “freedom,” “democracy,” and “humanitarianism.” For other supposed nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide receiving funding from the US and EU, they should seriously consider the company they find themselves among – terrorists, liars, and actors preying on people’s good intentions while exploiting misery they themselves are directly involved in creating.”
“For other supposed nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide receiving funding from the US and EU, they should seriously consider the company they find themselves among – terrorists, liars, and actors preying on people’s good intentions while exploiting misery they themselves are directly involved in creating.”
Maybe they do — and heartily approve of it. Bribery breeds consent and cynicism. Keep up the “good work” and there will, eventually, be a Nobel Peace Prize for these scum (the philanthropists in Oslo opted for South America this time around).
Stupid of them to flash all this stuff. Now the Israel/US proxies will be ready for them.
UN chemical watchdog refused to send experts to Aleppo under Western pressure – Lavrov
https://www.rt.com/news/367797-lavrov-chemical-weapons-aleppo/
“The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons refuses to send its experts to Aleppo to check substances used by rebels in attacks. The move was “seemingly done under pressure from our Western colleagues,” Russia’s foreign minister said.
“Russian specialists found that militants in east Aleppo used ammunition with poisonous substances, with the ammo targeting west Aleppo. The collected samples leave no doubt that it’s a toxic agent,” Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference with his Belarusian counterpart in Minsk, as cited by Interfax.
However, when the Russian Ministry of Defense addressed the leadership of the UN watchdog OPCW “with the demand to urgently send its experts to Aleppo to participate in the sample analysis,” the organization “refused to carry out this simple task, citing security issues.”
The underlying reason behind this, Lavrov said, seemed to be “tremendous pressure from our Western colleagues,” because “our and Syrian sides guaranteed security [for the experts].”
Russia is now working on the possibility of delivering the samples for analysis to The Hague, Lavrov added.
“It will make it hard [for them] to back out,” the minister said, as quoted by TASS.”
The western colleagues being israeli puppets.
Hi Saker ! Thanks for publishing information about this most interesting army in the universe….
Its hysterical – the Zionist enemy – hahaha – its so funny that Israel has this extremely formidable army right on their border.
The Apaches got their hands on some Winchesters.
Ha ha yes, there are always unscrupulous arms traders looking to make a buck. Are you suggesting that Israel is about to pull a Custer?
More seriously though, what Israel really fears is not Custer’s Last Stand, but the Horns of Hattin. The first Crusader kingdom will be the last.
And not a moment too soon. Maybe it will be Hezbollah cavalry that swoop down after the archers (airpower/artillery) have done their dirty work. Pride before the fall.
Netanyahu is the Leper King, but who is Saladin?
Ugh. Moderater, the thread just got poisoned with a depression-inducing trigger disease word.
I’ve seen it before, the room-clearing bomb to end discussion.
A.T., maybe you missed the reference. The Leper King was one of the last Crusader kings before the fall of Jerusalem. I am actually giving Netanyahu too much credit, Baldwin the IV was a very good king. His successor Baldwin the V lost the kingdom in the Battle of Hattin.
And it will one of Netanyahu’s successors who loses the kingdom again.
The use of trigger words to alter the emotional context of a thread for the worse is and old and dirty psychological trick. Any regular forumer would recognize its usage.
Whereas cussing and swearing would be moderated out, the use of a serious disease word would have the same emotional effect but otherwise be completely ‘legal’.
For example, this thread was primarily the celebration of Hezbollah’s achievement. You’ve released the equivalent of a room-clearing fart at a wedding.
Also, associating someone with a horrible disease would hurt feelings in such a way as to be inexcusable, even if the person and audience lacked the empathy to understand.
Hopefully a moderater will delete this entire exchange between us, but I’m not hopeful. Its ironic that swear words would be moderated out, but faux-polite use of others, escape censure.
Well this is a disappointing end to a very good debate. You probably want to practice losing a little more graciously for next time.
While this fascinating topic is still up, I have a question for our ad-hoc Committee of Correspondence (thanks Col. Lang).
What have we learnt about 21st Century warfare from the Syrian Conflict?
There a distinct whiff of pants-wetting fear from the Israelis and Americans over Hisbollah’s developing capabilities.
It’s time to air-drop a massive shipment of adult diapers for the American/Israeli military high commands!
The Americans and Israelis are quite brave when bombing much weaker opponents (like wedding parties, Third World peasants, or Afghan/Iraqi/Libyan/Syrian civilians) but they will soil themselves when confronted with any armed resistance that can inflict some major pain on them.
That is why Americans and Israelis are chewing the rug over their impotent rage at Russia’s intervention in Syria in general.
It wouldn’t be a shock if military commanders in Washington DC and Tel Aviv are imitating this American vassal ruler in the infamous video below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZ02MlVRcMA