[News With Views] Hogan’s Heroes, an American television sitcom that aired from 1965 to 1971, portrays a group of Allied soldiers in a prisoner-of-war (POW) camp called Stalag 13 in Nazi Germany during World War II. The prisoners are led by senior POW officer Colonel Robert Hogan, who uses a network of tunnels underneath the camp as a base of operations to conduct sabotage and espionage activities with resistance forces and assist German defectors and escaping prisoners from other POW camps.
All these activities take place right under the nose of the clueless, inept, and vain Colonel Wilhelm Klink, the camp commandant, who is proud that no escape from Stalag 13 under his command has ever been successful. Hans Schultz, the camp’s first sergeant, is a bumbling but very affable man. He indirectly helps the prisoners in their clandestine operations by looking the other way or taking bribes from them for information.
One of the most interesting things about this television series was the stories of several of its primary cast members who were Jewish.
Robert Clary, who played prisoner Corporal Louis LeBeau, was a Holocaust survivor who was imprisoned at the Buchenwald concentration camp, where he lost most of his immediate family, until it was liberated by American troops in 1945.
Leon Askin, who played General Albert Burkhalter and Colonel Klink’s superior officer, lost both of his parents in the Treblinka death camp. He fled his homeland of Austria to the United States in 1940 and later served during World War II as a staff sergeant in the U.S. Army Air Forces.
John Banner, who played Sergeant Schultz, escaped from Austria and immigrated to the United States after Adolph Hitler annexed the country to Nazi Germany in 1938, where he later served in the U.S. Army Air Forces as a supply sergeant. He also lost family members to the Holocaust.
Howard Caine, who played the Gestapo Major Wolfgang Hochstetter, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II in the Pacific Theater from 1944 to 1946.
Werner Klemperer, who played Colonel Klink, was the son of famed orchestra conductor Otto Klemperer. Fearing for their safety in Nazi Germany, the Klemperer family immigrated to the United States in 1935. Later, he joined the U.S. Army and served during World War II in the Pacific Theater.
When Klemperer was initially told about Hogan’s Heroes by his agent and auditioned for the role of Colonel Klink, he was not informed that the show was to be a comedy. He took the role on the condition that he would never be portrayed as the hero, but that he would always be depicted as a fool who never succeeded in anything he attempted.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
12/09/2024 6:57 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Knew about Clary and Klemperer backgrounds but not the others - fantastic. A great show we took for granted and chuckled over. Head and shoulders above the crap pumped out today.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
12/09/2024 10:06 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Many Jewish cast members on Hogan's Heroes:
Jon Cedar - Cpl Langenscheidt (and other roles)
Norm Pitlik - various roles, to include the pilot B&W episode
Alan Oppenheimer - various roles
BTW, "Hochstetter" was an accomplished banjo player and lived in Tennessee.
It's a show you can rip apart the b.s., but it was a great show...I have watched the reruns so many times I have many lines memorized.
I also heard there are plans for a re-make. I hope not, not in this PC world. I can't see fat-shaming Schultz or saying "Heil H...r" in a modern day version.
#5
Robert Crane (Hogan) was big into making private video _orn.
He was murdered, beat to death in his apartment. No one was ever convicted for the murder.
[Federalist] I entered the cell of the Taliban commander. He had just been captured from the battlefield. I was aghast at the sight of him. Half his face was missing, his skull partially blown away in some battle. His wounds appeared to be old, so I asked him when this happened. "Fighting the Russians," he said through the translator. Yet there he was, 23 years after the Afghan-Soviet War ended, still fighting the jihad against the infidels.
Most of the Taliban could not read or write, and couldn’t even sign their own name, but in lieu of his signature, I needed his thumbprint on a document for the interrogation, or "interview" as we called it. I reached down to take his hand and press it on the ink pad, only to find out he had no thumb. What would drive someone in such shape to keep fighting us? This is the question I had spent the previous decade searching out answers for leading up to that moment in Afghanistan.
I was serving in the U.S. Army as a Liaison Officer to the Afghan secret police, and facilitated the interrogations of over 400 captured Taliban and Al-Qa’eda members while there. A Taliban leader once told me "You have me in a cage, my fight is over for now, but my children will fight you, and if they don’t win, their children will fight you. If It Takes a Thousand Years, we will win." Although it didn’t take the Taliban a thousand years to win the battle of Afghanistan, it demonstrates the drive that our jihadist enemies have. They fight generational wars against the West as a whole.
When analyzing our Islamic extremist enemies, it is important for the American people to understand the tribal mindset that so many of our enemies come from. Islam developed from tribal cultures, and many tribal cultures over the past 1,400 years developed under Islam. The Islamic world itself is divided into what I would describe as tribes; you have the Sunni tribe, the Shia tribe, and within that are thousands of other tribes, one of the most recent being the "Palestinian" tribe which has become somewhat of a self-appointed identity by various lost members of other tribes. But in Afghanistan, tribalism is at a level that is virtually unparalleled in the world.
#6
And yet, the "Religion of Peace" taqiyya meme continues and all the tools of the race canard are now used to attack anyone who sees the truth of it.
[IsraelTimes] The rebels’ lightning offensive did in days what 13 years of civil war could not: take down the government of Bashar al-Assad
Half a century of rule by the Assad family in Syria crumbled with astonishing speed after insurgents burst out of a rebel-held enclave and converged on the capital, Damascus, taking city after city in a matter of days.
Opposition forces swept across the country and entered Damascus with little or no resistance as the Syrian army melted away. President Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s ruler for 24 years — succeeding his father, Hafez al-Assad — fled the country. Russian state media reported that he was in Moscow.
It’s a stunning development in Syria’s devastating 13-year conflict. Anti-government protests in 2011 met with a brutal crackdown, escalating into a civil war that has killed more than half a million people and displaced half of Syria’s pre-war population of 23 million. Assad, backed by Iran and Russia, gradually regained control of more than two-thirds of Syria, leaving the rebels with one stronghold in the northwest of the country.
And there the conflict remained, largely frozen, for years until late November. Here’s a look at two seismic weeks for the Middle East.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 27: REBEL OFFENSIVE BEGINS
Armed opposition groups launch a large-scale attack on areas controlled by government forces in northwestern Syria and claim to have wrested control of over 15 villages from government forces in northwestern Aleppo province. The government and its allies respond with airstrikes and shelling in an attempt to halt the insurgent advances.
The offensive is led by the jihadi group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, or HTS. Formerly the Syrian branch of al-Qaida and known as the Nusra Front, HTS later distanced itself from al-Qaida, seeking to market itself as a more moderate group. It is classed as a terrorist group by the United Nations and the US.
The attack on Aleppo follows weeks of simmering low-level violence, including government attacks on opposition-held areas. Turkey, a main backer of Syrian opposition groups, says the rebels began a limited offensive to stop the attacks, but it expanded as government forces began to retreat.
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28: THE OFFENSIVE EXPANDS
The offensive expands to reach the countryside of Idlib province amid reports government troops are retreating.
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29: REBELS ENTER ALEPPO
The insurgents enter Aleppo, Syria’s largest city, for the first time since they were pushed out in 2016 after a grueling military campaign by Syrian government forces backed by Russia and Iran. They meet with little resistance.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30: ALEPPO FALLS UNDER INSURGENT CONTROL
The rebels say they control Aleppo, raising a flag over the city’s citadel and occupying the international airport. The Syrian armed forces claim to have redeployed troops and equipment in preparation for a counterattack.
By evening, the insurgents have seized at least four towns in the central Hama province and claim to have entered the provincial capital.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1: THE GOVERNMENT FIGHTS BACK
The Syrian military launches a counterattack with troops and airstrikes on Idlib and Aleppo. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visits Damascus, telling Assad that Tehran will support the counteroffensive.
But Assad receives little if any help from his allies. Russia is busy with its war in Ukraine, and Iran has seen its proxies across the region degraded by regular airstrikes. Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to shore up Assad’s forces, has been weakened by a year-long conflict with Israel.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 2 TO WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 4: FIGHTING RAGES NEAR HAMA
The insurgents push south, advancing within 10 kilometers (6 miles) of Hama, the country’s fourth-largest city and a key crossroads in central Syria, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Damascus. State media reports fierce fighting in the province, and both state media and a UK-based observer group say government forces, backed by Russian airstrikes, have recaptured some territory.
Turkey urges Assad to hold talks with the opposition.
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 5: INSURGENTS CAPTURE HAMA
After several days of fighting the rebels sweep into Hama. Dozens of jubilant fighters are seen firing into the air in celebration in Assi Square, the site of massive anti-government protests in the early days of the uprising in 2011. The Syrian army says it has redeployed to positions outside the city to protect civilians.
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 6: REBELS ADVANCE ON HOMS
Rapidly advancing now, the rebels seize two towns on the outskirts of Homs, Syria’s third-largest city. About 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Hama, Homs is the gateway to Damascus and the location of one of Syria’s two state-owned oil refineries. Capturing it would cut the link between Damascus, Assad’s seat of power, and the coastal region where he enjoys wide support.
The government denies reports that its military has withdrawn from the city.
Top diplomats from countries including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Iran and Russia, hold talks on Syria in the Qatari capital, Doha.
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 7: HOMS FALLS AND ASSAD’S GRIP WEAKENS
Opposition forces take Homs after government forces abandon it. The insurgents say they have encircled Damascus and are carrying out the “final stage” of their offensive.
The UN special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, seeks urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition,” as Syrian state media denies Assad has fled the country.
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 8: ASSAD IS TOPPLED
Syrian state television airs a video statement by a group of men saying that Assad has been overthrown and all prisoners have been set free. HTS commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani visits the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus and calls Assad’s fall a victory for “the Islamic nation.”
Russian officials and Iranian state TV say Assad has left Syria. Russian state news agencies later report he and his family are in Moscow and were granted asylum.
Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi Jalali says Syria’s government is ready to “extend its hand” to the opposition and hand over its functions to a transitional government.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Mikhail Zakharov
[REGNUM] On the night of December 8, 2024, armed opposition forces entered the Syrian capital Damascus, and the regime of the country's president Bashar al-Assad was declared overthrown.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Ghazi al-Jalali has announced his readiness to hand over power to a new government.
HOW EVENTS UNFOLDED
Back in late November, the Syrian opposition launched an offensive from the Idlib province in the north of the country, which it partially controlled at the time. The armed groups encountered virtually no resistance from government forces along the way.
The advance of Assad's opponents was swift. On November 30, they took control of Aleppo, the country's second-largest city, and its environs, including the international airport and the Kuweires military airfield. On December 5, the Syrian army abandoned Hama, Syria's fifth-largest city. By the evening of December 7, several more major cities had been captured.
That same evening, the first reports of fighting in the suburbs of Damascus appeared, and a little later, information came that government forces had left the city center. On the morning of December 8, opposition forces entered the Syrian capital. They then took control of television and went on air with a statement that they had established control over Syria.
WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY Ghazi al-Jalali
…more fully Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali, the Syrian politician and civil engineer who was stepped up as prime minister of the Syrian caretaker government after President Bashar al Assad bugged out of Damascus on December 7th…
noted that he last spoke with Bashar al-Assad on the evening of December 7. According to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the Syrian president may be outside the country. There were also reports that he may have died in a plane crash — Reuters made this claim, citing its sources. Meanwhile, TASS, citing an informed source, reports that Russia has granted asylum to Assad, and he and his family have already arrived in Moscow.
Al-Jalali announced that he had established contact with opposition leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (aka Abu Muhammad al-Julani) to discuss issues of governing the country during the transition period. He explained that he was ready to cooperate with any leadership chosen by the people.
"We are ready to work with them in such a way as to provide them with all possible assistance and gradually transfer government affairs, securing state facilities," the Syrian prime minister said. Ghazi al-Jalali also noted that he will not leave Damascus and called for the preservation of Syria's public institutions.
Despite calls not to cause pogroms, there were cases of looting, including at the presidential palace, and arson of police stations. The Iranian embassy in Damascus was seized after being stormed by armed men. In the wake of the events, the largest airports in Damascus and Aleppo suspended operations until December 18 and 17, respectively.
Those who seized power in the country also released prisoners from prisons, including from the largest prison in Syria, Seidnaya. Meanwhile, it became known that some opposition groups began military actions against Kurdish paramilitary formations in the northern city of Manbij - they had previously joined forces to overthrow Bashar al-Assad.
WHAT THE WORLD SAYS
According to the elected American President Donald Trump, the United States should not interfere in the conflict. There is chaos in Syria, but this country is not a friend of the United States, he emphasized on December 7. At the same time, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Daniel Shapiro said today that American troops will maintain their presence in the eastern regions of the country.
The UN, through its envoy for Syria Geir Pedersen, called on Syrians to “prioritize dialogue and respect for humanitarian law.” “ The special envoy underlines the clear desire of millions of Syrians to see stable and inclusive transitional mechanisms established so that Syrian institutions can continue to function,” the document says.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Syria needs international support to return several million refugees to the country after the events that took place. According to him, Ankara also expects the Syrian people to determine their own future.
Against the backdrop of current events, Israel has decided to declare the state's border areas with Syria a "closed military zone." At the same time, information is coming in that the Israeli Air Force has preemptively attacked weapons depots in southern Syria and Damascus.
WHAT THEY SAY IN RUSSIA
On the afternoon of December 8, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued an official statement that Russia calls on all parties to the Syrian conflict to renounce the use of violence and resolve all issues through political means. “We are following the dramatic events in Syria with extreme concern,” our diplomats noted. “In this regard, the Russian Federation is in contact with all groups of the Syrian opposition.”
From the very beginning of the conflict in the country, Russia has advocated for establishing a dialogue between various Syrian political and religious forces, associations and organizations. This was once again emphasized today by our Foreign Ministry, calling for respect for the opinions of all ethno-confessional forces in Syrian society and support for efforts to establish an inclusive political process based on UN resolutions.
The ministry also reported that as a result of negotiations with a number of participants in the armed conflict in the country, Bashar al-Assad resigned as president of Syria and left the country, giving instructions to transfer power peacefully. Russia did not participate in these negotiations, the Russian Foreign Ministry indicated.
It is reported that today all necessary measures are being taken to ensure the safety of our citizens in Syria. They also emphasized that Russian military bases are in a heightened state of combat readiness, and at the moment there is no serious threat to their safety.
The Russian Embassy in Damascus notes that there has been no information about Russians killed or injured in Syria, and the staff of the institution are also fine. There are no organized Russian tourists in Syria, the Ministry of Economic Development reported. The Russian Foreign Ministry reminded Russians of emergency contacts: +74 956 954 545 and e-mail dskc@mid.ru.
THE ONLY WAY TO SOLVE IT
In the past years, Russia supported the government of Bashar al-Assad in the fight against extreme terrorist forces, but our country did not intend to wage large-scale military operations for the government regime. As Russian President Vladimir Putin noted, “we are not going to be more Syrian than the Syrians themselves.”
In the situation around Syria, Russia has always proceeded from the priority of international law and has been a consistent supporter of diplomatic work. “It is necessary to seek ways to resolve crisis situations only on the basis of the provisions of the UN Charter,” the head of our state noted back in 2013.
In 2015, at the plenary session of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly, Putin emphasized that “we propose to be guided not by ambitions, but by common values and common interests based on international law, to join efforts to solve the new problems facing us and to create a truly broad international anti-terrorist coalition,” he said.
In 2018, when talking about the necessary steps to restore the Syrian economy, as well as to resolve “long-standing, complex, but necessary humanitarian issues,” Putin also emphasized that coordinated international work was needed here. “We count on the support of the United Nations and all countries that are interested in resolving the Syrian crisis,” the president voiced our country’s position at the time.
In 2022, Vladimir Putin once again emphasized that the Syrian crisis can only be fully resolved through political and diplomatic means, relying on inter-Syrian dialogue, as envisaged by UN Security Council Resolution 2254. Naturally, with strict adherence to the fundamental principles of respect for sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity.
“The future of Syria must be determined by the Syrians themselves, without any ready-made recipes or models being imposed from outside,” the head of state emphasized.
As the Vice Speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Konstantin Kosachev stated today, Russia will continue to provide support to the people of Syria if necessary, but the Syrians will have to cope with a full-scale civil war themselves. He noted that our primary task is to ensure the safety of our compatriots, civilians, diplomats and military personnel.
In addition, it should be noted that Russia today is concentrating its forces and resources on conducting a special military operation. Our army is fulfilling its goals and confidently advancing, breaking the resistance of the armed forces of Ukraine, and this remains a priority task.
[IsraelTimes] Syria’s former president Bashar al-Assad is in Moscow with his family after Russia granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds, a Kremlin source tells Russian news agencies, adding that a deal has been made to ensure the safety of Russian military bases.
Earlier today, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that Assad had left Syria and given orders for a peaceful transfer of power, after rebel fighters raced into Damascus unopposed on Sunday morning, ending nearly six decades of his family’s iron-fisted rule.
“Syrian President Assad of Syria and members of his family have arrived in Moscow. Russia has granted them asylum on humanitarian grounds,” the privately-owned Interfax news agency and state media quote the unnamed Kremlin source as saying.
Interfax cites the same Kremlin source as saying Russia favors a political solution led by the UN to the crisis in Syria, where Moscow supported Assad during the long civil war.
Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s ambassador to international organizations in Vienna, writes on his Telegram channel: “Breaking news! Bashar al-Assad and his family in Moscow. Russia does not betray friends in difficult situations.”
Syrian opposition leaders had agreed to guarantee the safety of Russian military bases and diplomatic institutions in Syria, the source tells news agencies. But some Russian war bloggers say the situation around the bases was extremely tense and the source does not say how long the security guarantee lasted.
Moscow, a staunch backer of Assad whom it intervened to help in 2015 in its biggest Middle East foray since the Soviet collapse, is scrambling to salvage its position. Its geopolitical clout in the wider region and two strategically important military bases in Syria are on the line.
[IsraelTimes] With Hamas and Hezbollah seriously weakened by Israel over the past year, the ousting of Syria’s president leaves Tehran’s bid for regional hegemony on shakier ground
For Iran’s theocratic government, it keeps getting worse.
It’s as if Allah is so disappointed in them that they are no longer his best beloved Lions of Islam.
Its decades-long strategy of building an "Axis of Resistance®," supporting terror groups and proxies around the region, is falling apart. First came the crushing Israeli campaign in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about oppression and disproportionate response... triggered by the October 7, 2023, invasion and slaughter in southern Israel by the Iranian-backed Hamas ..not a terrorist organization, even though it kidnaps people, holds hostages, and tries to negotiate by executing them,... That war spawned another in Leb ...an Iranian satrapy until recently ruled by Hassan Nasrallah situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozen flavors of Christians, plus Armenians, Georgians, and who knows what else? It is the home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers... , where Israel has pummeled Iran’s most powerful ally, Hezbollah — following its year of rocket fire on northern Israel, which it began unprovoked a day after the Hamas attack — until a shaky ceasefire took effect late last month. For the first time, Israel even openly struck inside of Iran, after Tehran launched two separate ballistic missile and drone attacks on Israel, in April and October.
Now Iran’s longtime stalwart ally and client in Syria, president Bashir al-Assad, is gone. As dawn broke Sunday, rebel forces completed a lightning offensive by seizing the ancient capital of Damascus and tearing down symbols of more than 50 years of Assad’s rule over the Mideast crossroads.
Ali Akbar Velayati, a key adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini...> , once called Assad and Syria "the golden ring of the resistance chain in the region."
"Without the Syrian government, this chain will break and the resistance against Israel and its supporters will be weakened," he said.
That break in the chain is literal. Syria was an important geographical link that allowed Iran ...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan. The abbreviation IRGC is the same idea as Stürmabteilung (or SA). The term Supreme Guide is a the modern version form of either Duce or Führer or maybe both. They hate JewsZionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol... to move weapons and other supplies to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Its loss now further weakens Hezbollah, whose powerful arsenal in southern Lebanon had put Iranian influence directly on the border of its nemesis, Israel.
Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas are all avowedly determined to destroy Israel. Assad, unlike his father Hafez, did not even contemplate ending Syria’s state of war with it.
"Iran’s deterrence thinking is really shattered by events in Gaza, by events in Lebanon, and definitely by developments in Syria," a United Arab Emirates senior diplomat, Anwar Gargash, said at the International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.
Iran still holds the card of its nuclear program. Though it denies that intention, it can use the potential for building a weapons capability to cast a shadow of influence in the region. And US intel officials fear it may indeed now seek to break out to the bomb.
A DRAMATIC REVERSAL
Only a few years ago, the Islamic Theocratic Republic loomed ascendant across the wider Middle East. Its "Axis of Resistance®" was at a zenith.
Hezbollah in Lebanon stood stalwart against Israel. Assad appeared to have weathered an Arab Spring uprising-turned-civil war. Iraqi bully boyz killed US troops with Iranian-designed roadside kabooms. Yemen ...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of... ’s Iran's Houthi sock puppets ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The legitimate Yemeni government has accused the them of having ties to the Iranian government. Honest they did. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews They like shooting off... ummm... missiles that they would have us believe they make at home in their basements. On the plus side, they did murder Ali Abdullah Saleh, which was the only way the country was ever going to be rid of him... rebels fought a Saudi-led coalition to a stalemate.
Syria, at the crossroads, played a vital role.
Early in Syria’s civil war, when it appeared that Assad might be tossed, Iran and its ally, Hezbollah, rushed fighters to support him — in the name of defending Shiite shrines in Syria. Russia later joined with a scorched earth campaign of Arclight airstrike ...KABOOM!... s.
The campaign won back territory, even as Syria remained divided into zones of government and Death Eater control.
But the speed of Assad’s collapse the past week showed just how reliant he was on support from Iran and Russia — which at the crucial moment did not come.
Russia remains mired years after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. For Iran, international sanctions over its advancing nuclear program have ground down its economy.
For Israel, breaking Iran’s regional network has been a major goal, though it is wary of jihadi fighters among the bully boyz who toppled Assad. Israel on Sunday moved troops into a demilitarized buffer zone along its border with Syria in what it called a temporary security measure.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Assad’s fall a "historic day," saying it was "the direct result of our forceful action against Hezbollah and Iran, Assad’s main supporters."
Iran’s theocratic rulers long touted their regional network to Iranians as a show of their country’s strength, and its crumbling could raise repercussions at home — though there is no immediate sign of their hold weakening. Anger about the tens of billions of dollars Iran is believed to have spent propping up Assad was a rallying cry in rounds of nationwide anti-government protests that broke out over recent years, most recently in 2022.
HOW IRAN COULD RESPOND
The loss of Syria does not mean the end of Iran’s ability to project power in the Mideast. The Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to launch attacks on Israel and on ships moving through the Red Sea — though the tempo of their attacks have again fallen, without a clear explanation from their leadership.
Iran also maintains its nuclear program. While insisting it enriches uranium for peaceful purposes, Western intelligence agencies and the ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency say Iran had an organized nuclear weapons program until 2003.
The head of the IAEA warned Friday that Iran is poised to "quite dramatically" increase its stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium, as it has started cascades of advanced centrifuges.
"If Iran would develop nuclear weapons, that would be a great blow to the international nonproliferation regime," said Thanos Dokos, Greece’s national security adviser, in Bahrain.
There remains a risk of wider attacks in the region, particularly on oil infrastructure. An attack in 2019, initially claimed by the Houthis, but later assessed by experts to have been carried out by Iran, temporarily halved Saudi Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat Frational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start... ’s production of oil.
"If, as a result of escalation, there are attacks against the energy infrastructure of Iran or Saudi Arabia, that would be bad news for the global oil supply," Dokos warned.
#2
Whenever American policy benefits Iran economically, their terror network grows. Keep the Dems out of power and Iran will fall. So will Cuba.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
12/09/2024 8:28 Comments ||
Top||
#3
I spoke to a medical doctor about Assad this morning. He was from Jordan. He indicated Assad was an A-H far worse than his dad. This will be a jumbled mess in that country for some time.
Turkey is licking their chops now. Erdoğan has wanted this for years.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat Frational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...
