December 08, 2024

Syria Falls, Bad news for Iran and Russia


 The most important story in the world today is the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. You’d never know it by watching Sunday morning US TV news shows, where 99% of the reporting is on Trump, this and Trump that, along  with an update on the hunt for the guy who murdered the insurance executive.

The Bibi government in Israel Seems to be pretty happy with the  fall of Assad. I’m not sure that I would celebrate anytime soon. The largest part of the rebel force, HTS ( formally known as the Al Nusra front )  was once a part of Al-Qaeda. That is a pretty bad history.

The big losers this weekend are Russia and Iran, both of whom supported the Assad government.

Russia has a  Navy  base in Tartus, Syria, which they should lose now. If they do lose that base, they won’t have any naval facilities in the Mediterranean. And the Russian ships now in the Med will not be allowed to go into the Black Sea,  as Turkey  will not permit them to transit the Bosphorous. Those ships will be without a port, unless they travel all the way up to Saint Petersburg. 

Iran has projected power in The past years by Supporting Hamas, Hezbollah, and Assad. Now, Israel has broken the back of Hamas and Hezbollah, And  Assad is bye bye.

Iranian and Russian power looks to be much weaker in the region that it was even six months  ago. That is probably good news, but let’s see what Syria looks like a couple of months from now 


9 comments:

City Troll said...

Interesting perspective. Question, I thought the HST was actually supported by the US? You might have mistyped when you said the rebels were supported by Iran and Russia. Both of them supported Assad. Let me know if I'm wrong or you wrote this without a proofread Phantom....

The Russian Navy is screwed without that port for that region of the world. The Russians are also filing a complaint before the UN about Israel moving into the buffer zone between them and Syria.

Syria itself will be interesting to watch. There are several competing terrorist groups in the country, not to mention that Turkey is already making noise about claiming the sections of Syria that were once part of it before the region was divided into the borders of today.

The fall effects two major players on the board. We have a world wide shift of power taking place. The Russians and the Iranians are both involved in proxy wars with the US. Russia in Ukraine, and Iran with Israel.

The change of administration here ends the war in Ukraine and escalates the Israeli war. A victory for Russia a defeat for Iran. The dynamics over the next few months are going to be drastic.

The Phantom said...

Good catch, I mis typed, And I will fix it

The Phantom said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Phantom said...

Syria is even more complicated than most of the Middle East. I don’t believe that the US supported HST at all- Understandably, so, since this organization was once a part of Al-Qaeda. The US Still has a bounty head of the HST leader.

I’ve seen comment that the Russians will now seek to end the Ukraine war fairly soon, Because with the war ended, turkey would once more allow Russian ships to transit the Bosporus into the black sea. Trump will jump in front of the camera to claim credit for the end of the war, Even if the catalyst is the Assad And Turkey’s control of Black Sea access.

If new Syrian government is not a fanatic one, The events of this past week could go a long way to bring some real peace to the Middle East. But in any event, the power of Iran looks to be broken in the immediate region. And Israel deserves enormous credit for that.

Israel today has greater military supremacy than before. This is good. But how does Gaza get resolved? Or the West Bank?

City Troll said...

Gaza is a heartbreak, I don't know if you remember but I was supportive of Gaza as a test state for the the Pallies. It is the Riviera of the ME it's equal to AC, Ventnor, Longport, and Margate. They could have rivaled Dubai as a vacation resort. Instead they turned it into a terrorist camp. Then I was supportive of napalming the whole place. They made their choice. What happens in the future will totally depend on what happens with Iran. Same with the west bank. The west bank could be a tourist haven. Most of the early Jesus sites are in the WB. It's up to who leads the Islamists. Do they actually want peace.

Typical US confusion and hypocrisy: "The US supported Syrian rebels in Syria, including the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)2. The US State Department has offered a $10 million reward for the capture of HTS founder and leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani3. After a lightning 10-day offensive, rebel forces in Syria captured its capital, Damascus, and toppled the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad1."

City Troll said...

I didn't see your comments on my Gaetz piece, sorry. I see also ged closed the comments on it because of the trolls that were responding to you or I would have answered you there. My mom is in bad shape and I have been splitting my time between her house and mine.

I do disagree with your statement that the vax was Trumps greatest accomplishment. I believe his invigoration of our energy industry was and is. The key to our civilization and the worlds is energy. By the end of next year we should once again be energy independent and finally the sales and exporting will begin.

That is our nations future and stability.

The Phantom said...

US exports of both oil and natural gas increased significantly during the Biden era. Biden is not nearly as petroleum energy friendly as Trump, but US energy output increased during his time in office.

I disagree with his move to shut down the Keystone pipeline expansion, and I hope that Trump allows that pipeline to be completed in the shortest possible time.

It is weird though – that Trump used to brag about operation warp speed, But now he never talks about it. He has made a cynical decision to cultivate the anti-vaccine nuts, like Kennedy. Trump made the vaccine possible, and he and his family all took the vaccine themselves!!

God bless your mom, I hope she gets better.



City Troll said...

Thank you

City Troll said...

It wasn't just the Keystone. Huge projects and pipeline all over Pa were also mothballed. The project to build a huge LNG exporting facility in Marcus Hook (right outside philly) was also shuddered. Production and export of oil did rise as it continually does, but the development and completion of key fracking/drilling/refining was severely curtailed also which led to the doubling of fuel prices and the dominoe effect that has on our country has brough us to 22% inflation.

Yeah I agree on the his backing off on his vax bragging, and that Kennedy is a kook. However the fact that more and more information about the covid/Sars2 vaccine that is being released at a steady pace shows that the knew delivery design of this vax A) was not tested, and B) the suppression of information in regard to every aspect of it did major damage to the publics faith in our healthcare establishment. Resulting in feeding the anti-vaxer loons stance against all vaccines. Both my kids got all their childhood vaccines to not vaccinate your child with proven working vaccines to prevent them from things like polio/mumps/measles and the other basics is just stupid.