The Dangerous Syrian Proxy War

The Syrian civil war was always a proxy war between outside military powers, but this week the proxy element became much larger and much more dangerous.
For example, today are forces are rushing to the Syrian-Turkish border to try to stop our two allies from shooting each other.

U.S. armored vehicles are deploying in areas in northern Syria along the tense border with Turkey, a few days after a Turkish airstrike that killed 20 U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, a Syrian war monitor and Kurdish activists said Friday.
Footage posted by Syrian activists online showed a convoy of U.S. armored vehicles driving on a rural road in the village of Darbasiyah, a few hundred meters from the Turkish border. Clashes in the area were reported between Turkish and Kurdish forces Wednesday a day after the Turkish airstrike which also destroyed a Kurdish command headquarters

In other words, they are peacekeeping forces in a war zone.

"The U.S. role has now become more like a buffer force between us and the Turks on all front lines," he said. He said U.S. forces will also deploy as a separation force in areas where the Turkish-backed Syrian fighting forces and the Kurdish forces meet.
It is a message of reassurance for the Kurds and almost a "warning message" to the Turks, he said.

On the opposite side of Syria another proxy war is developing. This one has different players, with different agendas.

Syria's military said Israel struck a military installation southwest of Damascus International Airport before dawn Thursday, setting off a series of explosions and raising tensions further between the two neighbors.
Apparently seeking to interrupt weapons transfers to the Hezbollah group in Lebanon, Israel has struck inside Syria with increasing frequency in recent weeks, making the war-torn country a proxy theater for Israel's wider war with Iran.
The increasing tempo of attacks risks inflaming a highly combustible situation drawing in Israel, Syria and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah, a staunch ally of President Bashar Assad's government with thousands of fighters in Syria.

This is bad enough, however, there is another piece to this story that needs to be considered.

Malbrunot reported that on January 12, Israeli F-35s took out a Russian-made S-300 air defense system around Syrian President Bashar Assad's palace in Damascus and a Russian-made Pantsir-S1 mobile surface-to-air missile system set for delivery to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The Syrian civil war is a massive proxy war with countless actors, all of them heavily armed and capable of taking the war outside of Syria.

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SnappleBC's picture

I can't imagine why we wouldn't want to do it over and over.

What always makes me even more angry is remembering that in the end, all of these body bags are about which plutocrats get to steal their oil.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

Hillbilly Dem's picture

@SnappleBC (and the Fish):

"And it's one, two, three what are we fightin' for?
Don't ask me cuz I don't know. Next stop is A-lep-po!"

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"Just call me Hillbilly Dem(exit)."
-H/T to Wavey Davey

SnappleBC's picture

@Hillbilly Dem When I asked him he seemed to think we were there as a humanitarian intervention. Apparently he's never heard of the whole terrorist gig. I know for a fact he doesn't know or care about geopolitical factors like pipelines and banks.

In short, he has absolutely no idea why were are there nor does he have any clue how many people we are killing. But he's 100% supportive.... or he was under Obama anyway. Now that Trump's doing it it's all evil.

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A lot of wanderers in the U.S. political desert recognize that all the duopoly has to offer is a choice of mirages. Come, let us trudge towards empty expanse of sand #1, littered with the bleached bones of Deaniacs and Hope and Changers.
-- lotlizard

Pricknick's picture

that the MIC would wait forever to battle test the biggest winged turd they've ever produced?

Israeli F-35s took out a Russian-made S-300 air defense system

The "Who's got is the biggest dick" competition is warming up fast.

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Regardless of the path in life I chose, I realize it's always forward, never straight.

CB's picture

@Pricknick
Maybe Israel will finally manage to drag the US into that full blown Middle East war they have been itching for in the last 2-3 decades.

Syria to buy latest Russian air defense system: Assad
28/04/2017

BEIRUT, LEBANON (3:05 P.M.) – The Syrian government is in the process of purchasing the latest Russian air defense system, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad told the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) on Thursday.

“It’s natural that we should have such systems,” he said.

Assad made these comments to SANA just hours after the Israeli Air Force launched airstrikes near the Damascus International Airport.

“It is natural for us to negotiate with the Russians now with a view to strengthening (our) systems, whether to face any Israeli threats from the air or the threats of American missiles.”

“That has become a real possibility after the recent American aggression on Al-Shayrat air base in Syria,” he added.

In the past, the Syrian government has considered purchasing these air defense systems; however, the arrival have such weapons have often led to unfounded rumors.

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detroitmechworks's picture

Have we ever tried...

Now just hear me out here, because this idea is completely insane, and has never been done in the last couple hundred years or so, but I think it just might work...

... not sending the poor to die for the rich?

I know, I know, totally unrealistic, because think of all the people that would lose their jobs supplying the MIC with all the toys.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

@detroitmechworks
How about giving hungry people food instead of guns?
Just a bizarro idea.

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detroitmechworks's picture

@gjohnsit Because if you give a person food, they might need MORE food at some point. Give them a gun, and they'll kill people and take their food, saving you the cost of having to feed them!

That's Entrepreneurship!

/snark

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

@detroitmechworks teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; give a fish a man and you feed it for three weeks.

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to make a nice al dente linguini with the fish and you've improved his diet forever. (attribution: Flying Spaghetti Monster)

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CB's picture

@detroitmechworks
if not canon fodder? They're next to useless as consumers or debtors and slavery has been abolished. Maybe we can cut off the bread lines and force them to steal so they will still have value in the prison for profit system?

There's also Soylent Green as an option. With a good advertising budget and some fancy packaging I'm sure we could make it profitable. I think we should go on Shark Tank to see if we can get some startup capital. Just think of all the problems this would also solve - immigration, famine, unemployment, racism, noisy neighbors.

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detroitmechworks's picture

@CB at least until the rich run out of food in their compounds. THEN they'll announce that the poor are selfishly keeping all the nutrients to themselves, and caloric debt must be repaid in pounds of flesh.

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I do not pretend I know what I do not know.

@detroitmechworks YOU SILLY GOOSE

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

GreatLakeSailor's picture

@detroitmechworks
I say we carpet-"bomb" food, water, cell phones, medical supplies and shelter. That'll confuse 'em.

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Compensated Spokes Model for Big Poor.

Amanda Matthews's picture

come out of a nuclear war any better than we will. If they're really counting on those underground survival shelters, they'd best understand that theIr spawn are going to have to be down there for so long they're probably going to loose their eyesight and develop long snouts and large claws for burrowing in the dirt.

Zager and Evans were optimists.

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I'm tired of this back-slapping "Isn't humanity neat?" bullshit. We're a virus with shoes, okay? That's all we are. - Bill Hicks

Politics is the entertainment branch of industry. - Frank Zappa

@Amanda Matthews Sir, I suggest you enjoy your wonderful achievement of becoming US president, and not progress to the greater glory of destroying the earth. After all, no one will remember you for it.

sfern

Thanks to everyone for the insightful (inciteful) posts.

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