Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
The Scourge of Hama...
just as rebel infighting has weakened the insurgency against him. Several sources told Rooters that Assad's forces had since December received deliveries of weaponry and other military supplies, including unmanned spy drones known as UAVs, which have been arranged by Russia either directly or via proxies.
Moscow, which is trying to raise its diplomatic and economic influence in the Middle East, has been a major provider of conventional weapons to Syria, giving Assad crucial support during the three-year civil war and blocking wider Western attempts to punish him with sanctions for the use of force against civilians.
The new Russian supplies come at a critically fluid stage of the conflict, with peace talks scheduled for next week in Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
, the factious opposition losing ground, and Western support for the rebellion growing increasingly wary of the role played by foreign bad boys. Syria has even said some countries formally opposed to Assad have begun discussing security cooperation with his government.
"Dozens of Antonov 124s [transport planes] have been bringing in armored vehicles, surveillance equipment, radars, electronic warfare systems, spare parts for helicopters, and various weapons including guided bombs for planes," a Middle East security source said.
"Russian advisers and intelligence experts have been running observation UAVs around the clock to help Syrian forces track rebel positions, analyze their capabilities, and carry out precision artillery and air force strikes against them," said the source, who declined to be identified.
Vyacheslav Davidenko, front man for Russia's arms export monopoly Rosoboronexport, said they could not comment on arms deliveries to Syria. Russia has said it violated no international laws with its military supplies to Syria and does not sell Damascus offensive weapons.
Syrian officials could not be reached for comment.