Between one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand mercenary terrorist forces poured over the Syrian borders from Jordan, Turkey and Israel, the logistics being provided by Turkey, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and their master the USA, whose attempt to invade Syria when Assad was fighting back was thwarted by Moscow. How did President Assad win?
President Putin is a master of leadership and diplomacy, a policymaker of a class and professionalism that the world has rarely, if ever, seen and that is the reason why Russians vote for him time and time again in free and fair democratic elections. He stated from the very beginning Russia's objectives in the anti-terrorist operation in Syria, namely to stabilize the democratically elected Government forces and to beat back Takfiri terrorist elements from the main centers of population. Job done, Russia can scale back (but not entirely out) and watch the peace game unfold on the table, among the players on the ground.
Russia is betting on a diplomatic and peaceful, negotiated settlement, after five years of western interference wrought havoc in Syrian society and five months of clear-cut policy from Moscow ended the conflict and saved the majority of Syrians who voted for Moscow's ally, Assad, from a horrific outcome. This does not mean, however, that the units being removed today cannot be moved back within a few hours.
The first four and a half years saw the Syrian Arab Army stretched to the limits as Takfiri terrorists poured over the borders of its neighbors, opening four fronts: two in the West, one in the North and one in the East, each one fragmented into different theaters of action, and characterized by lightning terrorist strikes against Syrian Army and police headquarters and barracks, allegedly carried out by elements trained and equipped by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, while NATO satellite imagery was readily available to show the terrorists the layout on the ground.
The reason why the Syrian Arab Army did not collapse is because Russia and Iran stepped in, the latter with drones (Shahed-129) and the former with equipment and training courses, during which time the Syrian Government opted for a policy allowing the terrorists to roam around the countryside, while the main centers of population were protected. Gradually, state-of-the-art equipment was delivered, so that the Syrian Arab Army could out-gun the terrorist forces. Crucial among this equipment were nocturnal vision units, telescopic sights, grenade launchers, good assault rifles, body armor and good quality helmets.
However, the armed forces were still stretched. Ten per cent of the soldiers had been murdered by the Takfiri terrorists in the first years of the war and between 100,000 and 150,000 reservists fled the country, terrified they would be called up and sent against this demonic scourge which was perpetrating the cruelest of torturous acts against the soldiers, police and civilians it captured when it over-ran a village.
This situation was surpassed with the arrival of Hezbollah operationals from Lebanon, training by the Iranian Bassijis of civil defense units to operate against the terrorists, and al-Quds Iranian instructors for the Syrian Arab Army, preparing them for the specific nature of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations. Urban warfare as opposed to the conventional warfare for which the soldiers had been prepared. And fundamental was the arrival of the Russian Spetsnaz Special Forces.
With the arrival of these instructors, tactics were changed to suit the theater of combat - snipers were trained and installed on the tops of buildings to identify terrorist suicide bombers and prevent attacks against civilians by the hordes sponsored by the West and its allies in the Middle East, who were slicing the breasts off women in the streets, impaling little boys on metal stakes and gang-raping little girls before and after beheading them.
Although the terrorists were using western equipment, these tactics altered the course of the war and equipment more suited to the new tactics neutralized the western-made weaponry used by the terrorists, and delivered and maintained by Turkish forces and allies from the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The peace process and ongoing political negotiations with the democratically elected President Bashar al-Assad as a part of the process is a resounding and humiliating defeat for Washington and its poodles in Europe and the Middle East and a check to the hegemonic ambitions of the Fascist Erdogan in Turkey and the worst perpetrator of human rights abuses in the Middle East, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It is also a tremendous diplomatic victory for the Russian Federation of President Vladimir Putin, who has brought Russia back center-stage to be a main and major player in international events, aligning with international law and adopting a multilateral approach to crisis management.
Syria has an elected President. Saudi Arabia has an unelected King, the only reason why the West supports him being that Saudi Arabia is so rich in oil and therefore his Western masters turn a blind eye. The moral of the story is that if the progressive countries which are members of the Realm of Right and Reason join together resolutely against the FUKUS Axis and the Evil Six Lobbies pulling its strings, the demonic forces of terrorism, their minions, can be defeated and peace can be returned to communities torn apart by Takfiri psychopaths.
In short, the West should be thoroughly ashamed of itself and democratic forces should begin legal proceedings against all of those who have taken part in FUKUS escapades in the last two decades.
Sources: Valentin Vasilescu's article The Return of the Syrian Arab Army in Volteira network, in the Portuguese version of Pravda.Ru; Agencies; Pravda.Ru sources in Syria. Translation from the Portuguese version of Pravda.Ru by Maria da Conceição Seixal Simões
Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey
Pravda.Ru
(timothy.hinchey@gmail.com)
*Timothy Bancroft-Hinchey has worked as a correspondent, journalist, deputy editor, editor, chief editor, director, project manager, executive director, partner and owner of printed and online daily, weekly, monthly and yearly publications, TV stations and media groups printed, aired and distributed in Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, East Timor, Guinea-Bissau, Portugal, Mozambique and São Tomé and Principe Isles; the Russian Foreign Ministry publication Dialog and the Cuban Foreign Ministry Official Publications. He has spent the last two decades in humanitarian projects, connecting communities, working to document and catalog disappearing languages, cultures, traditions, working to network with the LGBT communities helping to set up shelters for abused or frightened victims and as Media Partner with UN Women, working to foster the UN Women project to fight against gender violence and to strive for an end to sexism, racism and homophobia. A Vegan, he is also a Media Partner of Humane Society International, fighting for animal rights. He is Director and Chief Editor of the Portuguese version of Pravda.Ru.