Voice of America: Russian-Backed Offensive Stalls in Syria
WASHINGTON - Russian intervention in Syria appears to have shored-up President Bashar al-Assad’s hold on power, but the latest U.S. assessment indicates slickly produced videos meant to show off Moscow’s military actually are covering up what might be difficulties both in the air and on the ground.
“While the front lines may move in favor of the regime in the near-term, retaining any newly re-gained territory will be a hard task,” a U.S. intelligence official told VOA on condition of anonymity.
So far, most of the gains from the Russian-backed ground offensive have come in the northwestern part of Syria, where Russian airpower has supported a mix of forces loyal to Assad along with some Shi'ite militiamen from Iraq and Iranian forces.
WNU Editor: This war has been going on for four years, a few thousand Russian soldiers and Iranian/Hezbollah fighters are not going to speed up the course of this conflict, and with Saudi Arabia now openly arming the rebels .... Saudi Arabia just replenished Syrian rebels with one of the most effective weapons against the Assad regime (Business Insider) .... this war is probably going to go on for a long time.
2 comments:
The Russian "offensive" has been going on only a short time. As such, I think it premature to suggest it is "stalling." This enemy is very, very tough. ISIS has captured and held territory faster, more effectively, and more efficiently than the United States ever could have. When this started, I estimated three to six months would be necessary for Russian backed forces to defeat ISIS and all Assad opposition forces.
As for "slickly produced videos," Russia is the best in the world at messaging and the United States in contrast is the world's worst at messaging so there could be a measure of this at work as well. With that said good messaging is an important part of any war effort.
Russia obviously intervened because the northern front was collapsing. And they may have only bought a little time. The regime manpower shortage is only getting worse exacerbated by the regime being squeezed on 3 fronts.
Why do you think Russia quickly set up a conference after only 3 weeks of intervention? They know time is almost up.
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