As The Battle For Mosul Begins, Thousands Of Iraqi Fighters Have Instead Poured Into Syria To Assist Assad

L.A. Times: Why thousands of Iraqi fighters have poured into Syria to aid Assad

The light was low and the music loud in the “Sun of the Countryside” nightclub. Suddenly, the DJ lowered the drumbeat to a whisper as the lounge singer brought the mic close to his lips. Around him a trio of pouty women in elaborate hairdos and bright colored gowns undulated.

“Let Syria remain under Bashar Assad,” he intoned, repeating his phrase of the Syrian president like a mantra. The dancers nodded their head to the rhythm of his words.

As civil war rages in Syria , its outcome has become of vital importance to Iraqis who see the fight there as another front in the battle they face at home. It has pushed some factions of the country’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMUs) — paramilitary groups embroiled in their own war against Islamic State — to fly supplies and thousands of men across the border to help battle the rebels fighting Assad.

“For us, the primary battle is in Syria. If it is not dealt with, then we will pay the price here,” said Aws Khafaji, head of the Iraqi subsidiary of the Abu Fadl Abbas Brigade, a Shiite faction that emerged in Syria in 2012 and whose membership is dominated by Iraqis.

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WNU Editor: Syria is where the next big battles against the Islamic State are going to occur .... but Syria is also a complicated war because of the numerous factions that are now engaged in that conflict.

Did Syria Transported Chemical Weapons To Iraq?

Report: Syria transported Chemical Weapons To Iraq -- Jerusalem Post

Lebanese daily says 20 trucks crossed into Iraq last week, bearing equipment and material used for manufacturing chemical weapons.

Syria has moved 20 trucks worth of equipment and material used for the manufacturing of chemical weapons into neighboring Iraq, the Lebanese daily Al-Mustaqbal reported on Sunday.

The government in Baghdad has denied allegations that it is helping the Syrian government conceal chemical stockpiles.

The report came just a day after the United States and Russia struck a deal stipulating that Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime would destroy its chemical arsenal to avert an American military assault.

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My Comment: I am skeptical of this report. Such a delivery would be noticed by many Sunnis in western Iraq who are loyal to the Syrian opposition .... they would create such a media storm that it would embarrass the Iraqi government and undermine the Assad regime in Syria.

Iraqis Express Their Concerns On The U.S. Military Buildup Against Syria

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, seen here at the first International Conference of Council for Arab and International Relations in Kuwait City in February 2013, is urging diplomatic steps in Syria. “I believe there are measures short of war that can take place, including a no-fly zone, and safe havens in various parts of Syria,” he said recently. “If it doesn’t work, then one can think of surgical military intervention.” Stephanie Mcgehee/Reuters/File

Iraqis Warily Watch US Move Syria Into Crosshairs -- Tom A. Peter, Christian Science Monitor

Iraq is still dealing with the long-term consequences of the US invasion, and Iraqis have doubts that a US intervention in Syria would have better results.

Iraqis, still picking up the pieces after a US invasion of their country, have watched with trepidation as the international community edges closer to what could be American-led intervention into Syria.

The White House said today that there was "little doubt" that the Syrian regime carried out a chemical attack on civilians, and the US military appears ready to strike Syria at a moment’s notice if US President Obama gives the order, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told the BBC on Tuesday. France, Britain, the Arab League, and others have now called for international action against the Syrian government.

With the memory of the American-led intervention in Iraq still fresh, many locals here hesitate to support the mounting international calls for action against Syria.

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My Comment: If there is a country in the Middle East that appreciates the horrific firepower of the U.S. military .... it is the Iraqis. They know only too well on the effectiveness of the American military machine, and why it should it be respected. But while it is easy for the Arab world to blame the U.S., the West, Israel, etc., for their problems .... the sad fact is that the history of the Middle East has always been (for centuries) one of war and conflict .... especially on a sectarian level. But I do concur with the general Iraqi opinion that any U.S. intervention in Syria will not solve it's deep problems .... everyone knows that any U.S. commitment will be limited, and that it will involve far too few resources to have any impact.

Iraqi Vice President: Iraq Is Assisting Iran In Supplying Weapons To The Syrian Regime

Iraqi Vice President: Iran Supplying Assad Through Ground Convoys -- The Cable/Foreign Policy

For several months, the U.S. government has been urging the Iraqi government to stop Iran from supplying arms to the Syrian regime through commercial flights over Iraqi airspace, but a larger amount of supplies is now crossing Iraq via convoys on the ground, Iraq's exiled Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi told The Cable.

Hashimi has been living in Turkey following his indictment and subsequent conviction in absentia by Iraqi government courts that he says are working with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. The Central Criminal Court of Iraq sentenced him to death last month for allegedly participating in acts of terrorism against his own political opponents,, charges widely seen as political in nature.

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My Comment: There is no love lost between this exiled Iraqi Vice President and Iraq Prime Minister al-Maliki. But his claims back-up recent U.S. claims that Iraq is turning a blind eye to Iranian efforts to re-supply the Syrian military.

Will Syria’s Conflict Spill Over Into Iraq?

Will Syria’s Conflict Spill Over Into War-Weary Iraq? -- Vivienne Walt, Time

As the violence in Syria spirals into an increasingly bloody maelstrom, Iraq's Foreign Minister voices his country's fears that the chaos is spilling across the border—and that Baghdad won't be able to contain it

For months, Syrian opposition groups have smuggled weapons and fighters into the country across the borders of Turkey and Lebanon. Now another of Syria’s influential neighbors—Iraq—says its territory is being used as a base for al-Qaeda attacks against the regime of President Bashar Assad. Speaking to a handful of reporters in Paris on Thursday morning, Iraq’s Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said both U.S. and Iraq believe that Al Qaeda operatives are sneaking into Syria across Iraq’s western border, despite the fact that the U.S. military during the Iraq War turned that remote desert area into the country’s best-secured frontier. “It is very, very difficult to control 680 kilometers of borders,” Zebari said, claiming that Al Qaeda’s infiltration into Syria was now “a fact.” For jihadis, he said, “Syria is a good environment, because of the lack of security, the lack of control of the government.”

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My Comment: For the moment I do not see a spillover effect .... the focus in the Middle East is on the Syrian civil war. But when the conflict is over .... that is when the problems are going to arise, especially if it is a radical Sunni-Islamist government that comes to power in Damascus.

Iraq's Assistance To Syria More Deeper Than What Has Been Disclosed

Iraq Lets Iran Fly Arms To Syria Despite U.S. Protests -- Washington Times

The Iraqi government has refused U.S. requests to stop Iranian cargo flights to Syria, despite being aware of credible intelligence that the planes are transporting up to 30 tons of weapons, according to a U.S. official.

The U.S. has made several requests in recent months to the Iraqi government, including directly to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, to either stop allowing Iran to use its airspace or allow the planes to be inspected in compliance with international law.

Iraq has refused, saying the planes are carrying only humanitarian aid.

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Previous Post: Has Iraq Decided To Aid President Bashar al-Assad's Syrian Regime?

Update #1: Report: Iran sends planeload of 'medical aid' to Syria -- YNet News
Update #2: Iraqi PM insists Iran flights to Syria carrying aid -- NOW Lebanon

My Comment: No one believs that these flights are just carrying "medical supplies". This is a conscious decision on the part of the Iraqi government to assist both Iran and Syria to repress the revolt that is happening right now against the Assad regime.

Where Did Those Missing Iraqi Weapons Go?

Assad’s Fall Could Solve Iraqi Weapons Mystery -- Washington Times

If Syria’s regime falls, the U.S. will be in a better position to answer one of the lingering questions from the long Iraq War: Did Baghdad ship weapons of mass destruction components to Syria before the 2003 American-led invasion?

An opposition leader tells The Washington Times that a new, secular democracy in Syria would allow outside inspectors to survey and ensure destruction of what is believed to be one of the largest stockpiles of chemical weapons in the Middle East.

Western and Israeli intelligence suspect that Bashar Assad’s regime in Syria also owns weaponized nerve agents.

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My Comment: I suggest that everyone stop counting their chickens before they are hatched. Assad is still in power, and by the looks of it, he is very determined to hold onto it.

Iraq Sends Aid To Syria

Iraq, Siding With Iran, Sends Essential Aid To Syria’s Assad -- Washington Post

More than six months after the start of the Syrian uprising, Iraq is offering key moral and financial support to the country’s embattled president, undermining a central U.S. policy objective and raising fresh concerns that Iraq is drifting further into the orbit of an American arch rival — Iran.

Iraq’s stance has dealt an embarrassing setback to the Obama administration, which has sought to enlist Muslim allies in its campaign to isolate Syrian autocrat Bashar al-Assad. While other Arab states have downgraded ties with Assad, Iraq has moved in the opposite direction, hosting official visits by Syrians, signing pacts to expand business ties and offering political support.

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My Comment: This move to assist Assad reveals Iraq's sectarian divide. The Iraqi Shiites are supporting their "fellow" Shiites in Syria, while the Kurds and Sunnis are in total disagreement.