This Obama administration is just being humiliated by Putin and Assad, and now Iran has tossed their turban into the ring.
Hundreds of Iranian troops have arrived in Syria in the last 10 days and will soon join government forces and their Lebanese Hezbollah allies in a major ground offensive backed by Russian air strikes, two Lebanese sources told Reuters.
“The (Russian) air strikes will in the near future be accompanied by ground advances by the Syrian army and its allies,” said one of the sources familiar with political and military developments in the conflict.
“It is possible that the coming land operations will be focused in the Idlib and Hama countryside,” the source added.
The two sources said the operation would be aimed at recapturing territory lost by President Bashar al-Assad’s government to rebels.
It points to an emerging military alliance between Russia and Assad’s other main allies – Iran and Hezbollah – focused on recapturing areas of northwestern Syria that were seized by insurgents in rapid advances earlier this year.
“The vanguard of Iranian ground forces began arriving in Syria: soldiers and officers specifically to participate in this battle. They are not advisors … we mean hundreds with equipment and weapons. They will be followed by more,” the second source said. Iraqis would also take part in the operation, the source said.
Thus far, direct Iranian military support for Assad has come mostly in the form of military advisors. Iran has also mobilized Shi’ite militia fighters, including Iraqis and some Afghans, to fight alongside Syrian government forces.
I’m not even necessarily advocating that we attack anyone. But it’s clear that in the absence of American leadership that the totalitarian despots of the world are absolutely salivating at the opportunity to carve up more and more portions of the world.
Meanwhile, Obama’s administration is whining that Putin is acting irrationally. Well, he is if his goal is Obama’s rainbow unicorn utopian dream of peace. But it’s completely rational if he just wants to expand his power over the globe, regardless of whether it serves peace or not.