Syria is giving Hezbollah "Game-Changing" weapons

[Quantum Windbag]

Gee, I wonder what kind of weapons that Syria has that would be considered game changing, and where they got that phrase.

yria will supply "game-changing" weapons to Hezbollah, the chief of the Lebanese militant group said Thursday, less than a week after Israeli airstrikes on Damascus targeted alleged shipments of advanced Iranian missiles bound for Hezbollah. Israel has signaled it will respond with airstrikes to any future weapons shipments, meaning it could quickly get drawn into Syria's civil war if the Hezbollah chief's declaration is more than an empty threat
Tension has been rising in the region since Israel struck targets inside Syria on Friday and Sunday. Hezbollah and Israel fought several battles in the past three decades, including a 34-day war in 2006 that left some 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.

Hezbollah: Syria to supply weapons to militia

 

[georgephillip]

Gee, I wonder what kind of weapons that Syria has that would be considered game changing, and where they got that phrase.

yria will supply "game-changing" weapons to Hezbollah, the chief of the Lebanese militant group said Thursday, less than a week after Israeli airstrikes on Damascus targeted alleged shipments of advanced Iranian missiles bound for Hezbollah. Israel has signaled it will respond with airstrikes to any future weapons shipments, meaning it could quickly get drawn into Syria's civil war if the Hezbollah chief's declaration is more than an empty threat
Tension has been rising in the region since Israel struck targets inside Syria on Friday and Sunday. Hezbollah and Israel fought several battles in the past three decades, including a 34-day war in 2006 that left some 1,200 Lebanese and 160 Israelis dead.

Hezbollah: Syria to supply weapons to militia

Not from the Syrian victims of the War on Terror:

"We seem under attack from the inside and the outside. As they say: when a prey falls to ground, slaughterers come in groups,” says Marwa, a lecturer at the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Aleppo University and a mother of four.

"She had to leave her flat at the heart of Aleppo in November when the fight escalated. One morning she woke up to a new checkpoint set by the rebels 100 meters from her residence.

"She feared for her four boys, the oldest of them is 16. 'If we stayed, and if we remained alive in the midst of the fight, our boys would’ve had to pick sides. I raised them to accept people’s differences. I want my children to be safe but I also want to protect them from the politics of this revolution [after a brief hesitating pause] it is discriminatory at large.'”

The Vulnerabilities of the Syrian People » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Maybe it was never a game?

 

[High_Gravity]

Doesn't Syria have its hands tied in their own civil war?

 

[Kondor3]

Yeah... I've seen some of the various news articles on this one from yesterday's (May 9th) feeds, too.

I really don't know what to make of them.

Given that Hezbollah (the Palestinian political and military organization in Lebanon, reinforced by varying numbers of Jihidist-sympathizers from scattered regions throughout the Muslim world) is in-bed with the dying Assad regime and perceived to be largely dependent upon it for armaments and logistical support and banking and political cover and permission to operate in Lebanon...

-----

When I had skimmed through a few of those headlines and partially read some of those articles, the impression that I formed, on the macro level, was that this Hezbollah blowhard might have made such a declaration for any of several reasons, including:

1. complete truth and accuracy: that is exactly what is unfolding.

2. public demand for more: looking to milk Assad dry while they still can.

3. smokescreen: on behalf of Syria, as a 2nd-hand warning to Israel, to stop airstrikes.

4. poker-table bluff: to make Israel think that Hezbollah is now strong enough to hurt them.

At first glance, my money is on (3) or (4) [or both], but ya never know.

-----

And, if there is even a shred of truth to what that big-mouth claims to be happening, such a Game Changing Weapon might include such things as:

a. higher-caliber rocketry: surface to surface and/or low-end cruise-missiles to hit Israel.

b. improved anti-aircraft technology (better missles, etc.) to ward-off the Israeli Air Force.

c. drone technology imported by Syria (if any); militarized as bombing platforms or launchers.

d. chemical or biological warfare weapons: I hope even Assad is not quite that insane.

e. low-end nuclear weapons: limited to conventional bombs augmented with radioactive material.

f. or some other genre or class that doesn't come to mind at the moment, or some combination of the above.

If there's any truth to this at all, my money is on (a), (c) and (b), in that order.

====================

Or, at least, those are my first reactions to such an announcement.

 

[georgephillip]

Doesn't Syria have its hands tied in their own civil war?

Maybe it's Syria's turn to go the way of Iraq and Libya with Sudan, Somalia, and Iran waiting in the wings?

Here's one leftist view on what Israel wants in Syria:

"Cutting through the fog is the fact that Israel has a bunch of serious motives to once again go rogue.

It craves a weak, chaotic Syria – deprived of advanced military technology. It craves most of all an all-out Somalization of Syria – a sectarian dystopia. What better justification for Israel to be up in arms 24/7 than hardcore Wahhabi terrorism right across its (non-delimitated) borders? On top of it, Israel wants to drag Syria, Hezbollah and ultimately Iran into all out war. It wants the whole package – and the sooner and better."

The Roadmap to the Destruction of Syria » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

 

[waltky]

If Russia gonna make money off sellin' weapons to Assad, den we oughta be able to sell weapons to the rebels...

Russia sends advanced missiles to aid Assad in Syria
5/17/2013 - 'Ship killer' likely to help deter establishment of no-fly zone, supply of rebels from sea

Russia has sent advanced antiship cruise missiles to Syria, a move that illustrates the depth of its support for the Syrian government led by President Bashar al-Assad, American officials said Thursday. Russia has previously provided a version of the missiles, called Yakhonts, to Syria. But those delivered recently are outfitted with an advanced radar that makes them more effective, according to American officials who are familiar with classified intelligence reports and would only discuss the shipment on the basis of anonymity.

Unlike Scud and other longer-range surface-to-surface missiles that the Assad government has used against opposition forces, the Yakhont antiship missile system provides the Syrian military a formidable weapon to counter any effort by international forces to reinforce Syrian opposition fighters by imposing a naval embargo, establishing a no-fly zone or carrying out limited airstrikes. “It enables the regime to deter foreign forces looking to supply the opposition from the sea, or from undertaking a more active role if a no-fly zone or shipping embargo were to be declared at some point,” said Nick Brown, editor in chief of IHS Jane’s International Defense Review. “It’s a real ship killer.”

Jeffrey White, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior American intelligence official, said Syria’s strengthened arsenal would “tend to push Western or allied naval activity further off the coast” and was also “a signal of the Russian commitment to the Syrian government.” The disclosure of the delivery comes as Russia and the United States are planning to convene an international conference that is aimed at ending the brutal conflict in Syria, which has killed more than 70,000. That conference is expected to be held in early June and to include representatives of the Assad government and the Syrian opposition.

Secretary of State John Kerry has repeatedly said that it is the United States’ hope to change Mr. Assad’s “calculations” about his ability to hold on to power so that he will allow negotiations for a political solution to the conflict. Mr. Kerry indicated that he had raised the issue of Russian arms deliveries to Syria during his recent visit to Moscow, but declined to provide details. “I think we’ve made it crystal clear we would prefer that Russia was not supplying assistance,” he said. “That hasn’t changed.” American officials have been concerned that the flow of Russian and Iranian arms to Syria will buttress Mr. Assad’s apparent belief that he can prevail militarily.

More NYT: Russia sends missiles to aid Syria's Assad - World news - The New York Times | NBC News

 

[skye]

This is a very new disturbing development ....not good news ... these missiles are top of the range, very, very advanced.

Not good at all.

 

[Connery]

This is a very new disturbing development ....not good news ... these missiles are top of the range, very, very advanced.

Not good at all.

I agree, however, that may be the trigger for NATO getting more involved in Syria hopefully getting Assad out.

 

[dilloduck]

This is a very new disturbing development ....not good news ... these missiles are top of the range, very, very advanced.

Not good at all.

I agree, however, that may be the trigger for NATO getting more involved in Syria hopefully getting Assad out.

And replace him with who---Islamic Radicals ?

 

[skye]

This is a very new disturbing development ....not good news ... these missiles are top of the range, very, very advanced.

Not good at all.

I agree, however, that may be the trigger for NATO getting more involved in Syria hopefully getting Assad out.

And replace him with who---Islamic Radicals ?

My God! aren't there any normal human beings in the Arab world?????

Do all of them have to be bloodthirsty and fanatic radicals??????

 

[Connery]

This is a very new disturbing development ....not good news ... these missiles are top of the range, very, very advanced.

Not good at all.

I agree, however, that may be the trigger for NATO getting more involved in Syria hopefully getting Assad out.

And replace him with who---Islamic Radicals ?

No Free Radicals....


Actually someone from the "Free Syrian Army" who are opposed to Islamist tactics and do not want to live under a sharia regime.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

This is a very new disturbing development ....not good news ... these missiles are top of the range, very, very advanced.

Not good at all.

I agree, however, that may be the trigger for NATO getting more involved in Syria hopefully getting Assad out.

Why would NATO put their ships at risk?

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I agree, however, that may be the trigger for NATO getting more involved in Syria hopefully getting Assad out.

And replace him with who---Islamic Radicals ?

My God! aren't there any normal human beings in the Arab world?????

Do all of them have to be bloodthirsty and fanatic radicals??????

Both sides are killing the normal people.

 

[ekrem]

I agree, however, that may be the trigger for NATO getting more involved in Syria hopefully getting Assad out.

Why would NATO put their ships at risk?

Are the ships even at risk?
And why would there be even ships?

RIM-162 ESSM - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[ekrem]

One Ticonderoga Class can launch 122 of these missiles.
The non-USA NATO ships fire them between 8-32 at a time.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

I agree, however, that may be the trigger for NATO getting more involved in Syria hopefully getting Assad out.

Why would NATO put their ships at risk?

Are the ships even at risk?
And why would there be even ships?

RIM-162 ESSM - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Because ship based missiles have a shorter range than land based missiles, and the Russian cruise missiles are specifically designed to avoid the Sea Sparrow.

Do they actually work? No one actually knows.

 

[georgephillip]

"Operation Orchard[2][3] was an Israeli airstrike on a nuclear reactor[4] in the Deir ez-Zor region[5] of Syria carried out just after midnight (local time) on September 6, 2007. The White House and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) later confirmed that American intelligence had also indicated the site was a nuclear facility with a military purpose, though Syria denies this.[6][7]"

A number of North Korean nuclear techs were killed in this strike a few weeks after a freight train mysteriously exploded in North Korea, killing a number of Syrian nuclear nerds and, apparently, scattering a significant amount of plutonium in the process.

Should an equal number of Russians die at the hands of the IDF in Syria tomorrow, how different would the Russian response be from the North Koreans in your opinion?

 

[waltky]

Skye wrote: My God! aren't there any normal human beings in the Arab world?????

No.

Do all of them have to be bloodthirsty and fanatic radicals??????

Yes.

 

[georgephillip]

Skye wrote: My God! aren't there any normal human beings in the Arab world?????

No.

Do all of them have to be bloodthirsty and fanatic radicals??????

Yes.

At the end of WWI (The War to End All Wars) the British and French drew the lines on a map that define much of the Middle East today. Countries like Iraq and Syria and Lebanon and Jordan were never stable to begin with even before 911 and the Arab Spring "changed everything."

It may be today's superpower acting through NATO is about to redraw those borders in the Middle East.
The map here shows Iraq divided into Sunni and Shia enclaves.
Turkey and Iran lose a considerable amount of their states.
Syria becomes Somalia.
"Free" Kurdistan is carved from the chaos.

The superpower's motive is control of oil pipelines running from the Caspean Sea to the coast of Syria.
Who gets rich from that, and how many more Muslims start buying pressure cookers?

 

[skye]

Skye wrote: My God! aren't there any normal human beings in the Arab world?????

No.

Do all of them have to be bloodthirsty and fanatic radicals??????

Yes.

exactly too many nutcase fanatics over there! ....and with the way it's going in the Middle East as we speak, it will all soon erupt into a full-blown regional war.

My word! things are not looking good.