I don’t expect to see a military confrontation with them any time soon, but here’s an interesting analysis of Syria’s military capabilities.
Summary: crappy conventional forces, some paramilitary, plenty of chemical weapons.
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No dominos
I don’t expect to see a military confrontation with them any time soon, but here’s an interesting analysis of Syria’s military capabilities. Summary: crappy conventional forces, some paramilitary, plenty of…
Funny – As there is this from the AP today
“UNITED NATIONS — Angry Arab nations decided Tuesday to push for a U.N. resolution declaring the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction — a move aimed at Israel, which they blame for escalating U.S. threats against Syria.
Syria plans to introduce a draft resolution on behalf of the 22-nation Arab Group to the Security Council on Wednesday. It again denied U.S. allegations that it possesses chemical weapons and is sheltering fleeing Iraqis who supported Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Arab nations have long pressed for the Middle East to be a nuclear-free zone, but the new resolution would also seek to eliminate chemical and biological weapons.”
Full Story Here
Funny. I’d always thought Syria’s weapons were of the “open secret” category, alongside Iraq’s.
I expect a repeat of Yemen, rather than Iraq. A group of Iraqis hear a lawnmower motor and then see a Hellfire missile care of the CIA.
Possibly. Though we have at least the ostensible cooperation of the Yemeni government, whereas Syria would be rightly torqued if we were offing Iraqis inside their borders, regardless of “whether” there are any there.
Also, Syria has been helping us in the “War on terror”…one of the places we send people to so that they can have a good “Talking” to.
Though I think that it is interesting that they would be willing to give up the one thing that keeps the Isreali’s at bay. But at this point it doesn’t make sense to keep up with the Third largest nulear power. Admit defeat and hope for a few good scrapes from the table.
Foreign policy regarding Syria (and theirs toward us) has been wildly erratic over the decades. They’ve been on the State Sponsors of Terrorism list for some time, but they’ve also “assisted” us (some) with the WoT, as you note. They’ve been engaged in a Cold (occasionally Hot) War with Israel, and their Hezbollah proxies have worked in conjunction with the Lebannese proxies against Israel (and the US) for years.
I’m hoping that their turning back of Abu Abbas at the border is a sign of, if not cooperation, at least a pragmatic recognition of which way the wind is blowing at the moment.
Here’s how we play it. We found some Iraqis. Now we KNOW they are uninvited because you said so. So, we got rid of your unwanted guests. Oh, they were invited? Well, I guess we will have to reconsider our policy….
My response was tongue in cheek. I suspect that the Syrians will offer a similar deal that the Sudanese attempted with the Clinton administration concerning bin Laden. They offered to give him up in return for sanctions being lifted. I could see a similar deal being done with respect to the newly shut off pipeline and some say-so concerning a Palestinian state. Syria can be the big hero of setting up a Palestinian homeland and we get rid of the Iraqis and other terrorists.
I don’t see the Syrian’s trying to be the big dog with the OT’s and the Palestinian’s, when they are still trying to get the Golan heights back and water from the Jordan River.
I can see a little bit of “lets make a deal” on everything else though.
A short note today from Reuters
Syrian foreign minister: “Syria won’t allow any inspection. It will only participate with its (Arab) brothers and all of the states of the world in turning the Middle East into an area free of weapons of mass destruction.”
I found it in the snapshot, but did not find a full story.
Since Syria (along with the US) did not sign the chemical, biological weapon ban treaty…they don’t have to.
(OT’s?)
No, they don’t have to. Though, a few days ago, they said they would.