It was Hezbolla’s entry into the Syrian war that decisively tipped the balance in Assad’s favor. Before that the rebels were quite confident of victory, basically knocking on Damascus’ door. Their financiers in the west were predicting Assad’s fall “anytime now”, and had even started planning for a post Assad Syria (coz post Hussein Iraq was going really well). There were unconfirmed rumours (most likely western propganda) that Assad was planning to flee Damascus and retreat to an Alawite enclave. Mr. Assad seemed to be well and truly fucked, until his Lebanese friends stepped in to help.
In all honesty Hezbollah wasn’t helping Assad out of brotherly love, it was entirely strategic. A Sunni leadership in Syria would have presented a major headache, or an existential threat at worse, to them. See Iran and Syria are ruled by Shias (even though Syria is ruled by Alawites, a minor branch of Shia Islam ). Iran, Hezbollah’s main financier, would never allow Sunnis (read Saudi arabia and Qatar) to take over Syria, as this would seriously diminish Iran’s ability to influence events in the middle East. Iran supplies arms and funds to Hezbollah via Syria, so Assad’s fall would have choked off Hezbollah. You now see why Hezbollah had to enter the Syrian war.
Anyway, I came across two videos on Youtube documenting a Hezbollah ambush of retreating Syrian rebels. These rebels had been trapped and were trying to sneak out, which presented the perfect setup for an ambush. The date (of the ambush) seems to vary but watching the two videos, it seems they’re doumenting the same event. I must say these Arabs have a very cavalier approach towards life. Watch:
The ambush
Tuseme ni experience. These fellows have been fighting, continuously, for longer than most Listers have been alive.In the Lebanon of the 80s, skirmishes between militias were like football matches.
True, Hezbollah is more experienced. I think facing a more superior enemy (Israel) has meant they can’t rest easy, they have to constantly up their game. They’re more organised and better funded. After the 2006 war with Israel these guys were going around rebuilding all the houses that had been damaged, while giving cash handouts to the affected families. It must have cost at least a few hundred million dollars I think Iran just gives them a blank cheque.
The rebels on the other hand are highly disorganised, going into battle while chanting allah akbar, like it’s some kind of military strategy.
Shida ya hawa watu ni kushika grudge. Hata kama mtu alikukosea 1930 unaswear kulipiza kisasi. Hata ukikufa wajukuu watamake sure wamerevenge. So it goes on and on forever.
Syria is better off with Assad in charge. Most of those top Sunni nations such as Saud Arabia, Qatar, Egypt, UAE and Kuwait are led by leaders who are American puppets. I watched Al Jazeera jana and it seems Saudi Arabia is not favoring renewed ties between Iran and the US regarding the nuclear enrichment program issue.
